I recently featured a master bedroom in desperate need of help and asked home stagers for their tips when it comes time to decorate a house to sell.
This room is very typical of the problems you’ll see doing a master bedroom home staging consultation.
I shot this photo in my own client’s home.
You might be worried about doing your first consultation, that you won’t know what to recommend.
The reality is that most people move into their home, plunk their furniture down and never get around to decorating.
When it comes time to put their home on the real estate market, they suddenly realize the current look won’t attract buyers.
So here’s what I recommended to this client in this master bedroom home staging consultation. You can use many of these tips too!
Move the bed into the middle of the wall and put night tables of equal height and matching lamps on each side of the bed.
The night tables don’t have to be identical, though their style should be complementary. The matching height is key though so that one lamp doesn’t end up looking taller than the other.
Different heights make the room look unbalanced and cluttered.
Moving the bed into the middle of the wall makes it more comfortable for a couple to imagine sharing the room. Not many adults want to crawl across a bed that’s against a wall.
Raise the bed up off the floor by adding a metal frame under the box spring, or replace the box spring with a headboard/sleeping platform.
Adding a metal frame and dust ruffle to cover the box spring will be the least expensive solution.
If this was a second or third bedroom that belonged to a child or teen, the bed would be fine on the floor. But for a master, it’s just not appropriate.
Make the bed a focal point.
The above suggestions will help make the bed more of a focal point, as it should be. The bedding in this case looks fine. I’d add some accent pillows to dress the bed more thoroughly.
One way to make do without a headboard (which would be more polished), would be to add artwork over the head of the bed.
One horizontal image with a width of 48″ to 60″, or two or three smaller pieces in a row will work. If you use two or three pieces side by side, use matching frames to pull them together.
Clean up the clutter.
It’s not unusual to see piles of stuff on the floor, and even boxes in a room. Once you get out there as a home stager, you’ll realize that almost no one lives in a house that looks anything like what you’ll see in a magazine or any TV show or movie.
In fact that’s one of the reasons people desperately need our help when it comes to home staging or interior redesign.
It’s fine to have a few books on display, especially in a bedroom, but not a whole wall of them unless it’s a huge room.
Though not shown in the above photo, dressers are often a dumping ground for too much stuff. Remove family photos, brushes, makeup etc. (to depersonalize the room).
Create a warm and relaxing setting appropriate to the price point of the home.
Home Staging Consultation Requires Trade-Offs
There is no end to how far you can take any room. The key is to stage the house in a way that’s appropriate for the price range that the house is listed in.
If you are doing a home staging consultation for a house that is at the higher end of the market, then there should be more of a feeling of luxury.
If it’s a very inexpensive home, you can still make it feel warm and relaxing, but you won’t have to look like you spent as much on the contents.
The photo of the room above is from an inexpensive condo, which is why I’d leave the bedding as is but add some pillows to dress it up.
In a more expensive home I’d also recommend painting the room. White walls tend to look pretty cold and sterile.
Here’s a sample master bedroom floor plan from the Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide: Home Staging Tips, Tricks and Floor Plans.
This is a comprehensive resource for home stagers who are completely new to the field or others who feel they need a bit of help with design principals and ideas.
The contents will also give you lots of ideas for interior redesign clients. If the bedroom you are staging isn’t as large as the one in this floor plan, you can omit the upholstered bench at the end of the bed.
The Ultimate Design Guide also includes sample before and after photos from many of my home staging projects.
If you’re curious about the approach I use during a home staging consultation, you can also check out the Staging Diva Home Staging Consultation Checklist with Room-by-Room Client Planning Forms.
Share your staging ideas for this master bedroom
Home stagers, what else would you recommend for the bedroom in the above photo? Have you run into similar rooms in your own home staging consultations?
Even if this is an inexpensive property, I would add some greenery. At least one little piece of life, even if it’s a dead piece of life as in an artificial plant! Nothing war.ms up a space as fast or as inexpensively.
The furniture placement works well in this room. I suggest hanging a mirror above the dresser. The room will appear larger and will reflect the color from the wall art above the bed. Pull an accent color from the art and/or the pillows on the bed. Incorporate this color in an accessory on the dresse, or a pillow or throw on the chair. Repeating the color through out the room ties the room together.
I agree with Patricia about some greenery. I always think of plants as calming and a bit of nature inside a home. I also agree with Sharon about the mirror and in addition to making the room seems larger, it may also make a darker room brighter. For the accent color that Sharon also mentions, I would chose a contrasting color so it makes the room come alive. Maybe not a red, but something warm, cozy, calm. With this in mind, I might use art or lampshades that compliment the contrasting color of pillows or throws. My suggestion for this bedroom would augment Debra’s comments on the bedside lamps. The lamps in the photo above look like they belong in the home office, not the master bedroom. Even though this bedroom is not at luxury level, lamps shades should be appropriate for a bedroom. They could also offer color and texture to the setting without costing a lot.
The debbind works, but an additional throw adds another layer.
Raising the bed, better bedding maybe more pillows and throw at end of bed, centering the bed with a least one night stand and table lamp, especially clearing clutter as well as non personal picture on wall.
Thanks Barbara, appreciate you thoughts on this!
I would remove everything from the room for a clean slate. Center the bed in the room. Add headboard and frame night stand with lamps on each side . bring the natural light in with white sheer curtains to give it a bright clean and tranquil feel. new comforter and pillows and throw , Change wall color and in the outdoor colors (yellow and green) for accent. Add accessories to dressers that would help balance the room and add a rug.
Great ideas Monique, thanks for sharing them! You’ve certainly got the eye of a home stager! Have you started your business yet?
I like the update however; I will move the chair a little closer to the nightstand and not by the dresser. The reality is that most people use their tall dresser as bedroom T.V stand. You will imagine being able to watch the T.V sitting too. A plant/flower matching wall paint is always welcoming to any room.
Thanks for your input Lilypat! Have you started a home staging business yet?
remove all clutter. Center the bed on the wall. Add a nice piece of art over the bed. Add a headboard, new sheets and comfort. Add end tables with lamps. By adding these item,it will make the room more inviting. I would also add, depending on the size of the room a dresser and some decorative trunks or a shelf with decorative baskets to store the personal items.
I like all your ideas Tina, though I wouldn’t add a shelf (if you mean one that has to be hung on the wall), since this is for a home for sale.
I suggested to add bed frame, clean up clutter and some art over head of bed.
A bedroom needs to be stressfree and light and airy when you walk in. This screams boring and messy. I could never sleep at night. It needs a headboard i like rustic maybe an old door or a soft gray fence type look headboard. Some tracklighting and soft colors and a couple tiny indoor plants on some shelves. Eyes need to shift this room up
Great ideas Dawn, though whether to go “rustic” would very much depend on the rest of the house, location and who the likely buyer would be.
i just love to stage and decorate bedrooms. I helped a friend of mine with her house. I definitely would add more decorative pillows, new comforter and bed sheets and make it more inviting.inviting. I would add a nice small plant, like an orchard or another type of small plant. Also get rid of the clutter. That will make the room look a lot larger
Those are all great suggestions Yvette and how great that you’ve already had the experience of staging someone’s home. I hope you’ll let me teach you how to make money from this talent of yours! You can learn more about the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program here.
First I would like to add a headboard to the bed and move the bed in the middle of the wall and put nightstand on both sides with table lamps on both sides as these lamps r more likely to be used in family room or study room,I would like to de clutter the room as much possible I can do and will hide the personal items and one more thing I will add some art to the wall so it will give a inviting look to the room bedding is fine though but will add some cushions and no wires should be prominent in the room if they want to put books in room it should be less in quantity in a thin shelf not too big
Thanks Nuziha!
Put a warm color neutral in the master bedroom add a headboard and a footboard and some nice wedding including a comforter or duvet add a rug to Center the room we situate the bed possibly out of diagonal one floor lamp 1 nightstand lamp with multiple lighting’s dim medium bright with fresh lamp shades
Great ideas Jules!
Declutter and removal everything that you can see in this picture except the bed. Either paint or wallpaper behind the bed. Need a headboard, some art on the wall above the bed. Two nightstands or accent tables with lamps. A dresser and mirror with a floral arrangement and lamps. Change out the bedding and place decorative pillows on the bed with perhaps a quilt on the bottom. Coordinating window treatments. An area rug centered under the bed. An easy chair in the corner.
These are great ideas Linda, thanks for sharing!
Get a double bed with foot and headboards and move it to the middle of the room, hang up pictures on both walls, get different lamps and don’t have them pointed right at the bed, get rid of the flat boards on the wall and put up shelves or crates for the rest of the stuff.
Like all those ideas, though I’d stay away from adding shelves for stuff (when you’re trying to sell). Better they should just get rid of the clutter altogether 🙂