The Uninvited Stager Series

Happy Easter and Passover to everyone!

Taming Odd Architectural Details in Your Home
It'll be a quiet weekend in the real estate market.  But, for those of you with homes for sale, perhaps you can take some tips and suggestions from this post to improve your listing.  This week I found some photos of homes for sale that could use some help...and not even much help to improve their online appearance.  I'd like to focus on how to tackle corner fireplaces and other odd details in your home that may put off a potential buyer.

Corner Fireplaces: When you have an odd architectural detail, like a corner fireplace, you should try to have some furniture in the room.  It's best if the room is staged professionally, but you need to show the buyer where to place furniture.  Most people looking at this room will be baffled as to how to use the room and furnish it. This room would look great with a TV over the fireplace, some tall vases on the ledge above it...plus a sectional in front of the fireplace and perhaps a game table and two chairs and some artwork on the wall on the left and maybe a tall bookcase on the right side of the room - with a chair and small side table in front of it.

Corner Fireplace and Odd Window in the Corner: This room below would look so much better furnished.  It's a dual purpose room - living and dining area.  At first glance you may not notice that. Some carpeting and an angled sofa with a sofa table in front of it - plus a TV or a colorful piece of art over the fireplace - would start to warm up the space and show how it functions.  For the odd window - I would add sheer window treatments to all the windows - then to the left of the odd corner window, I would place an off white bookcase - with a height that is similar to the window - it would give the room balance.  Then I would add a round table and chairs in the dining area and some bar stools for seating at the counter. You need to give a prospective buyer a picture of how to live in a house.  Most people do not have the vision to do this.

A Corner Fireplace and a Glass Sliding Door: Below you'll find a very difficult room situation.  Having both of these elements in a room make it difficult to design a functional room.  But when you are selling your home (or marketing it for someone), you need to turn an obstacle into an opportunity.  I would place the TV over the fireplace and I would have the sofa angled directly across from the fireplace and I might switch the chair to the other side (where the TV is - but angled so that you could see the TV).  Perhaps I would add a small chair and table where the large chair is - just for a little reading spot. I would place a sofa table behind the sofa. I'd angle the carpet the other way...and place it in front of the sofa (it makes no sense the way these owners have it) and then add a coffe table. On the right wall (where the fish is - and I'd take the fish off the wall!), I might place a small desk. I would also remove the tacky palm tree.

So - before you market your home, make sure that you show a buyer how to live in your home.  This is especially true if you have odd architectural features.  Remember, most buyers do not have the vision to see what a room can become and that's especially true when it's vacant and when there are some problematic features like corner fireplaces and oddly placed windows.

If you need some help arranging your funriture in a room or if you'd like to learn more about renting furniture from my company, please give me a call at 631 793-1315.