In a blog post last week, I asked how you would handle a home staging consultation in the home office shown here.
Lots of houses you’ll encounter throughout your home staging career will have offices like this where furniture, equipment and papers are kind of crammed into whatever space in the home isn’t being used for something else.
The office here certainly wouldn’t do much to woo a potential buyer who really depends on a home office to operate a business. The goal for a home office should be to give you a feeling of order and calmness so you can sit down and work! When you’re surrounded physically by clutter, your mind is cluttered too.
Thanks to those of you who took the time to offer your recommendations on the original post! The following is my complete list of recommendations for this cramped home office:
Depersonalize
The home office is probably the most important space in a home to depersonalize. Not only do you need to take down family photos and diplomas which give away too many clues about a family for someone with bad intentions, but you also need to remove all personal files for privacy reasons. It wouldn’t take someone long to flip through a couple of bills and get enough information to steal a homeowner’s identity. (Read more here about keeping your clients’ safe.)
Change and Rearrange Furniture
It’s nice to have a seating area in a home office but this corner looks really crowded. I would replace the love seat with a chair and I’d move it to the left to allow for more ‘breathing room’ around the desk. If space allows, create a nice reading corner with the chair by putting a standing floor lamp behind it and a small table beside it.
Several readers of my original post suggested that they consider replacing the outdated computer monitor with a sleek flat screen model and to take out the old fax machine, replacing it with a more modern all-in-one model. In the ideal world, I agree!
But in a home staging situation, I would never ask a home seller to disrupt his/her work flow to that extent. Listing and selling a home is stressful enough, especially if you work from home. Trying to research the right new computer equipment to purchase and then get it all set up while running a business and trying to sell a home, would be enough to push most people totally over the edge. This is a good example of the need to balance what we’d like to see as home stagers, with what we think a client might be reasonably able to cope with. I wrote more about this in Home Staging Recommendations Often Require Trade Offs.
De-clutter
Get rid of all visual clutter from the top of the desk, the shelves above desk and the floor. There’s only a small part of the rug showing in this photo but always consider removing area rugs from small rooms when the floor is in good condition. Rugs often make floor space appear smaller.
A few stagers commented on my original post asking for ideas that they would remove the shelf that’s on top of the desk. I think that’s a great idea if the home seller can live without it, replacing it with a piece of art on the wall. If it’s kept however, all the clutter on it needs to be removed because it really does emphasize the relative lack of space in this room.
Accessories
I would hang a nice piece of art suitable for home staging on the wall above where the love seat appears now or hang a mirror in an attractive frame. A mirror will visually expand the space and it would also reflect more light into the room.
For more home office staging advice get yourself a copy of the Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide: Home Staging Tips, Tricks and Floor Plans. It’s chock full of home staging advice and sample before and after photos, all from my own home staging projects.
Home stagers, is there anything I’ve missed that you would recommend for this home office?
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager. She developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love and she continues to develop ebooks and other home staging resources to help stagers on their path to success.
De clutter the entire room especially the desk area. If can remove love seat and place a single chair with small side table with lamp. Place greenery in corner by the chair. Maybe refresh paint color, add throw rug and last add art work.
Great staging ideas Barbara!
I agree with Barbara, decluttering the desk is a must! I noticed the door entrance is very close to the desk. It appears that upon entrance, someone could hit the desk with the door. So, I would rearrange the furniture by placing the desk where the love seat is, and placing the loves seat where the desk is. I would put a cover over the seating and add decorative throw pillows that would tie in the colors of the furniture and walls. I would also add a piece of art work or a mirror over the seating, and some sort of decorate floor piece, such as a faux plant in the corner to replace the table and fax machine. I would add a few more changes as well. If the furniture can’t be rearranged due to electrical issues such as location of the outlets, I would slide the desk farther left.
Wow Monique, those are great ideas! Are you already a home stager?
Regarding moving furniture and worrying about electrical outlets…. If the home is in a hot real estate market, you could put furniture where stuff couldn’t “really” be plugged in for photography and showings, since it would be a temporary situation. The only thing to consider is that lamps need to be where they can actually be plugged in if more lighting is needed for showings.
Thanks for taking time to share your ideas with everyone!!
I bought an inexpensive but colorful document box on Amazon. It looks like a photobox but holds st papers. When I am done working on admin stuff at my desk or get interrupted for a home showing, I shove the papers in there and leave it as a decoration on my desk. They come in different colors and shapes. I got one for the living rm too for remotes and coasters
Great idea Debby!
I agree with the others, definitely declutter the desk! I would remove the remove the seating all together and move the desk to the other wall. Paint the walls a rich vanilla color and paint the desk either black or dark brown. Colorful art work in black frames can be hung on the either wall to tie into the desk color. Taking into account being able to open the door completely, I would move the table and fax machine to the center of the wall the desk is currently on and put a potted plant in the corner where the fax machine currently is. If space allows, put a chair in the corner of the room that can’t be seen, basically where the person taking the picture is standing.
All very good ideas Cathy! That’s just the sort of advice your clients will pay you very well for (once you know how to get clients, how to charge them, etc.). Are you already a home stager?
Declutter and depersonalize the space. I would rearrange the furniture . Change the computer desk if possible with one that does not have the hutch. I would use décor boxes or baskets for the paperwork. I would add a rug to help soften the area bring out the colors of choice from the rug and accessorize with those colors add a throw pillow to the chair . I would add a mirror on the opposite wall and the wall above the desk would be artwork that would pull the colors together
Since this is an office, would the placement of the desk from behind the door not be better suited elsewhere if possible?
Hi Judy, Great question. There isn’t a general rule about this. When you’re staging a home, it’s more about how the room will look best when you walk in and whether the function of the room shown makes the most sense given the rest of the house and the likely buyer.
For example, if it’s a family neighborhood and there are only 3 bedrooms, you might not want to show any of them staged as a home office and instead have an obvious master bedroom and two kids rooms (whether or not the people currently living there actually have kids).
Declutter for sure in office. Put all papers bills etc in safe drawer or filing cabinet. It would be nice to see things lifted up. Maybe shelves up above to make it a little more inviting and charming not just a room with a desk. Couch makes it too cramped.
I’m not sure the layout of the room – windows, etc. I’d get rid of the dated computer desks and cabinet, and sofa. I’d get one of those glass top Ikea desks on legs to make it more airy and fluid. I’d also add a sleek rolling file drawer. Also would add a tray on the desk to hold a pen holder and maybe a vertical magazine holder. I’d repaint the room in a soft gray, use sliding panels on the window. on the wall behind the door, consider cube shelves mounted to the wall as not to have a footprint with matching storage boxes. lighting, a sleek desk lamp. A light airy lounge chair with footstool, with a side table, reading lamp and a throw. Also, a tall narrow container with some kind of greenery – palm, or branches. a mirror on the wall opposite the desk and some stunning art above the desk.
Elizabeth, you have a great ability to imagine how something will look and pull together your recommendations. Are you a professional home stager yet?
First of all I will de clutter the room and depresonalized it and remove all unnecessary stuff from the table put on a book shelf in the corner where there is fax machine, put all files and office stuff in there or in a storage decorative boxes and put in book shelf by arranging it and giving a nice look if possible change the fax printer and computer but in staging we tried to accommodate what homeowner have specially if they working from home and I will get rid of sofa and put a chair in that corner with floor lamp behind the chair and beside will putt a side table and on the same wall in center I will put a round beautiful clock to enhance the importance of home office and will decore the wall of table with art hanging will also get rid of rug in the room and question where we will put the fax machine?where person taking picture if that wall is empty we can put a two drawer file shelving and we can move fax on top of it
This office would look so much better with your ideas Nuziha!
Put all copy paper in the cabinet under the fax cabinet. I would move the desk and cabinet so the door can open maybe put a colorful club chair in the corner with a reading lamp. with wall art. declutter all desk, make sure nothing of valuable is in the desk.
Clear off the hearth and the table beside it, get different colored furniture it’s too white, get a smaller ottoman and lamp, change the pictures to something smaller, remove the things near the coffee table.
All great ideas Carol, thanks for sharing!
Get a different desk setup with more storage space in it, get a flat screen computer, get rid of the love seat and use chairs instead, repaint the walls like mint green, and hang up non distracting pictures.
Because I cannot see the entire room, I may not be accurate in this. The door to the room seems to collide with the desk. Is it possible to move the desk to the wall where the loveseat is and put the loveseat (or smaller replacement seating) under or by the window? I feel that the door hitting the desk gives the room an even smaller feeling.
Completely agree with your thinking here! Great job Leslie!