Last week I wrote Home Stagers Set The Table to Sell a House in which I discussed the fine balance between romancing home buyers and not being so over the top with props that our staging becomes the focus instead of the house itself.
There were some great comments from home stagers, both new and experienced.
What emerged from this was an excellent new topic about whether you find a house “speaks” to you when you are decorating it to sell on the real estate market. Staging Diva Graduates Donna Dazzo and Leah Fritz both raised this and it’s something I’ve definitely experienced.
In fact it’s one of the things I love about home staging, because it makes every home staging project a unique creative experience.
The majority of my home staging projects have always been in resale homes. I’m working primarily with what the client already has, adding, subtracting or modifying the furnishings as needed. Often when I first walk into a home, I don’t care for it because the architecture or the decor is really not my taste.
This is the difficult part of the home staging consultation because I haven’t “bonded” with the house yet. I realize this sounds weird to anyone who hasn’t experienced it yet. But I’ve literally been in thousands of houses (large and small), town homes and condos in at least 10 different cities and I have always found that if I really pay attention, there is a point where the property does speak to me and tell me how it needs to be.
At that point, I am able to see the beauty in almost every home even when it’s filled with items that I’d never personally choose in a million years! At that moment, something switches inside of me and I can see what needs to be done. I can rearrange the less than ideal contents into something that just works. Or I can immediately see what needs to be sent away to offsite storage and what might be added to change the flow. Often at that point I’m noticing details in the home that the owner isn’t even aware of. I’m finding hidden “treasures” just waiting to be revealed, or discovering new ways to look at the same space.
This is part of the magic that makes home staging such an awesome career, filled with creative challenge and variety every single week!
Of course vacant homes speak to me too and I’ve staged hundreds of them. It’s just harder to hear the house “speaking” when it’s already filled with stuff!
Do you find that houses “speak” to you? How do you find it different in a vacant home or one that is already furnished?
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould has been a home stager since 2002. In addition to developing the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, she is the author of the best selling Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide: Home Staging Tips, Tricks and Floor Plans.
Debra, you are absolutely right – houses do speak to you. Even furniture pieces have a way of saying “take me away” or “find me a new home (in another place in the house)”. What is really rewarding is when you are putting those finishing touches on the room during a staging – you can almost hear the room say “Ahhhh” and then you know you have completed your transformation. Staging is such a rewarding career and so therapeutic. I love what I am doing!
Sandy Earnhart, Owner – Highland Lakes Staging, LLC serving the Texas Hill Country and Surrounding Areas
Sandy, thanks for your comments. “Ahhhh” that’s a great way to describe it!
I’m so glad you decided to follow your talents and dreams into a career that gives you such satisfaction! After all, isn’t that a big part of what life is all about?
Yes, we do get clues from the houses we stage! In a way, they “speak” to us, but we have to be open to hear. I guess as a home stager, we may be more tuned-in so we get it! An occupied house is definitly more difficult to get the feelings from until you spend a little time and really look at the “bones” of the house. This is what they are really selling and this is what we as home stagers need to feature.
There’s a fine line between staging a house to perfection and over-staging the house. It comes with experience, which is why I’ll always recommend a professional home stager over doing it yourself.
Debbie Fiskum, Perfect Transformations Home Staging, Denver
Wow, yes…..the houses do speak! I never thought of it quite like that before, but I do know what to do and I do “bond” with the house!
I just finished a job that was currently occupied. This was my first job that wasn’t vacated! I found it a bit more challenging because instead of a “blank slate” to work with, I had to consider the home and it’s contents. The house itself is an airplane hanger below with house above (quite common in Alaska- the Last Frontier) complete with animal heads and bear skin rugs, etc…. which the owner didn’t want removed. I didn’t argue! I know that those things would be a “no-no” in the lower 48, but here in Alaska it is very appealing to buyers! So, working with all that was interesting, but I decided that whoever bought the place would most likely be interested in the same recreation: hunting, planes, etc…so I tried to balance the masculine with the feminine and appeal to both. It turned out quite nice & I’d post a picture, but I don’t know how to do that!
Susan, that sounds like an interesting project, would love to see it! You can’t post a photo here on my blog, but you can share on the Staging Diva Facebook wall at:
http://facebook.com/TheStagingDiva
Oh, and thank you Debra. This really is a great topic.
Then there was a 1920 vacant bungalow that really upset me. I did a consult (what colors to paint the walls, should the counter tops be replaced, is the hardwood under the aged carpet recoverable, etc) for the investor just after he purchased it.
It was run down, tired, but very livable. Rehab – stage – sell should have been a slam-dunk. But as I walked through the house, I got more and more, I don’t know, nervous…upset. I made my notes about presentation rehab and what was needed to stage, but I couldn’t leave. Realized I was really, really upset and uncomfortable about something.
Finally, I traced the feeling to cracks in the wall in the central hall and a noticeable unevenness in the hall floor. I had them in my notes already. But I couldn’t stop looking at them (yes, in stagerese the house was screaming at me). I finally managed to – ugh – scramble into the crawlspace (why do we stagers always carry everything we might possibly need with us? Without that flashlight, I never would have gone into the crawlspace.) Anyway, when I got out, I called the investor to say, “Did you really, really look at that foundation? Because this looks like a tear-down.”
Yes, my fellow stagers, sadly this house told me it was dying.
(Bet you thought this was going to be ghost story.)
Nancy, I’ve been in houses too that I knew were tear-downs. I recommended against staging in those cases. You are brave though, flashlight or not I don’t think I would have ventured into that crawlspace!
The occupied furnished homes really get me Debra. It’s like some of them are crying out as soon as I step inside. I hear, “Help me! I’m beautiful under all this stuff! Save me please!” Maybe I need professional help. We’re talking about buildings not human beings! I see some places as being depressed and sad when I first arrive, and finally free and happy when I’m done. Heck, sometimes I don’t want to leave!… That’s when I know my work is done and the home is exactly how it wanted to be. (Now it’s official… I really DO need help
Leah, isn’t it nice (a relief?) to discover we all hear them?!?
You are right so many homes really are “sad” until we’ve done our magic and made them “free and happy” again. Now you’ve given me yet more inspiration for another post related to this!
Thanks for getting the ball rolling and your continued comments.
I never even gave it a thought until it came up in the previous discussion. But, houses really are noisy things, aren’t they? Not only does every room shout it’s own story to me, but I suspect good staging finds a way to tell the story so buyers can hear it and understand how their own story will fit into it.
Color and pattern on the walls especially tends to scream at me. Oh, how many rooms have I walked in to and heard, “How can I be beautiful for everyone when I am wearing this wall paper?”
I completely agree it is harder to ‘hear’ in occupied homes. After all, the seller’s story overlays whatever the house has to say.
Nancy, I love the way you put this, “Not only does every room shout it’s own story to me, but I suspect good staging finds a way to tell the story so buyers can hear it and understand how their own story will fit into it.” EXACTLY!!!
This is such a juicy topic, I love it!