There is really no end to the kinds of ideas and home staging recommendations we can dream up for any one project.
Trade offs have to be made, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
As a home stager, we have to weigh a number of factors before sharing our recommendations. In addition to being creative, we need to remember that if we’re not practical, no one will take our advice.
These constraints will influence how far you can go during a home staging consultation:
- How soon the house is going on the real estate market
- Budget available for home staging
- Willingness of the client to implement our staging recommendations
- Price point of the house
- Target market for the house
- What is practical if the home sellers (or their tenants) are living there while the changes are being made
Creativity Comes With Constraint
I’ve often found these constraints make my own home staging projects more creatively challenging. Anyone can throw endless time and money at a problem. What do you do when that’s not possible?
I have to find visually appealing solutions to decorating a house to sell.
I also have to find a solution that works for everyone concerned with the time and budge available.
For example, last week I wrote a blog post in which I shared my recommendations from a home staging consultation of a basement family room.
While the existing dark wall color wasn’t ideal (it was a dark basement with no natural light), I didn’t recommend that the owners repaint.
Instead I looked for ways to make it work.
One of the blog commenters, and a new Staging Diva Student, Tisa Law rightly wanted to know why I wouldn’t have just told them to repaint.
I’m so glad she asked! I know my explanation will shed light on factors that can get new home stagers into awkward situations if they don’t think through all the practical ramifications of what they suggest.
In this particular case, the house had to go on the market very quickly so the time constraint was upper most in my mind as I went through every room during the home staging consultation.
Home Staging Recommendations – A Delicate Balance
There’s a delicate balance we have to walk as home stagers. We need to recommend the most important things. We can’t overwhelm the client to the point where they think it’s hopeless and decide not to implement our suggestions at all.
In the house with the dark basement, the owners were living there with their two small children. There were practical limits to what I could expect from a frazzled mom in the few short days before her first open house.
In an ideal world, I would have repainted the entire basement and brought in all new furniture. But given all the constraints, working with what they had was the best option.
Since the current wall color was so dark, it would have required priming and several coats to cover with a lighter color. This would not have been easy since the room functioned as the kids’ playroom and the laundry would not be accessible with all the furniture piled into the middle of the room to allow for painting.
Next, I had to consider how long the paint odor would last since there were no windows that could be opened and I didn’t want a smelly open house.
While the wall color was not optimal, it was actually a pleasing color and in good shape.
I knew with the other changes I recommended, it would be fine.
My limited basement recommendations also meant that there was a safe and out-of-the-way place for the kids to hang out while all the other (more critical) changes were being made to the rest of the house.
In effect, I traded-off a new wall color in the basement for getting a bunch of more important stuff accomplished elsewhere.
For more information on how I do home staging consultations, check out course 3 of the Staging Diva Program, “Taking the Mystery Out of Home Staging Consultations.”
Home Stagers, I Want to Hear From You
Home stagers, have you ever faced a situation like I did?
What trade-offs have you had to make in your own home staging consultations?
Do you think I was wise to not even recommend repainting that basement?
Occupied Home Staging consultations are a definite balancing act. Throughout the consultation, the limitations related to cost, timeline, resources, skill-set and functionality, are running madly through the mind. Working with clients to come up with achievable solutions is key.
I agree with all of Debra’s reasoning for why this room does not need to be repainted. And I would like to add one more.
It is most likely that a basement, bonus room, or back bedroom will be one of the last rooms viewed by potential buyers. In this case, the room simply needs to be well defined and move-in ready. This is accomplished by decluttering, cleaning, proper lighting, and great furniture/art/accessory placement. The room should appear large and inviting, while being relatively consistent with the rest of the home.
If this were the front entrance, kitchen, master bedroom or bath, it might be a different story. But, since most buyers make up their minds to purchase a home within the first few seconds of entering, the less than perfect paint selection will probably have little to no impact on the overall impression and final sale of the home.
All excellent points Susan, thanks for adding them!
And you’re right the basement is usually the last thing they look at (so all they’re looking for is confirmation of a decision/opinion they’ve already formed), or depending on where the door down to it is located, they might visit the basement after touring the main floor and before going upstairs to the bedrooms.
Excellent advice Debra. I always see the ‘perfect home’ because of my background designing builder model homes. I love the extra challenge of a small budget, a quick turn around and less than perfect wall colors and furnishings. I think it brings out the core designer in all of us!
Lisa, I agree, it does bring out the core designer in us! Thanks
Happy New Year, Debra! Just read your blog on the trade-offs that are many times required in order to showcase a property well in the time frame and for the budget available. That certainly has been my experience, and that’s something that I discuss right up front with my clients as we become acquainted. BEFORE I step in their front door I’ve asked when they are planning on listing, when the first photos will be taken and when the open houses will be held. I inquire as to the anticipated listing price as well. I research the neighborhood demographic – family neighborhood where small children are the norm or a condo complex more geared to adults?? That makes a big difference on what mindset I’m going to appeal to. Then the house itself will tell me as we walk and talk. And while there are many general tasks that have to be accomplished no matter what the specifics – like getting rid of clutter and creating a great focus on each space – every home is a canvas and has unique energy. THAT’s what’s so fascinating about our work!! Love it! All my best, Pat
Pat, Happy New Year to you too! You’ve summed up the proper way to approach a home staging consultation with a new client beautifully!
I love what you said “the house itself will tell me”. I totally find that too and connecting with that home’s unique energy IS a big part of what’s fascinating about being a home stager.
Thanks for sharing your views.
Debra, I fully agree with your decision. The frazzled mom would have freaked out at the thought of painting this much used room. By emphasizing the “home cinema” aspect of the room and de-emphasizing the playroom aspect, the dark color became an asset instead. I have to constantly compromise here in rural France due to very restricted budgets; unavailability of rental furniture and the fact that the average time on the market for a decent house is 2 years here. With people living in the house and having maybe 8 viewings spread out over the year it is a whole different ball game from staging for open houses and short marketing periods. The way you staged this room represents how I have to stage. I use what’s there in a better manner; edit furniture and de-clutter and add new accents such as throw pillows, new lamps and wall art. I do recommend painting when absolutely necessary and use clay paint or other zero VOC paints so that even nurseries can be painted while occupied. There often are some damp walls here and clay paint or lime wash also helps this issue. These natural breathable wall finishes then become a selling point! Clay paint can even be painted over existing acrylic based paint. Highly recommend it!
I look forward to your next post!
Sophia
Sophia, thanks for sharing your experiences from rural France…. can I come visit? 🙂
Hi Debra! Thank you for your recent blog on trade-offs and thanks to others for your fantastic comments. I recently worked on a home with a HUGE trade-off. The home was already on the market with no interest and the owners had a limited budget. So, I had time and money working against me. The home was built in ’77, was immaculate, well-maintained, but only had a few updates. The trade-off in this situation was to paint rather than do a bunch of other stuff throughout the home. I believe this was the right decision , and here’s why. The entry and stairs were painted a bright blue and sponge painted with big white polka-dots. Other rooms either had outdated wallpaper or odd colored paint. I chose to remove the wallpaper and paint a dozen rooms and halls. Painting gave the owner more “bang for their buck” than doing a bunch of other stuff in the house. I am sure that this trade-off will be successful. The home took on a brighter and more updated appearance just from these changes. There was no way that any potential buyer would have been able to look past the walls to even care that the rest of the home was outdated. I am still trying to convince the seller to make other changes as they are able to.
I would of looked for a bright picture with one or more of the wall colors to hang up. As well as a mirror on one of the narrow walls to brighten it up and make the space appear larger with out having to paint. Work with it. Dark makes me think a cozy place to curl up and watch TV.
Kelly, Those are great suggestions! Thanks for sharing them.
Thanks for writing this follow-up! It’s very difficult to give staging recommendations without having all the information. Without knowing that the house would be on the market in a week or two, or that there were no windows, it’s hard to make an accurate “diagnosis!”
I much prefer vacant home staging to occupied staging, but the challenge presented for either is what makes this home staging business so interesting.
As the owner of Perfect Home Staging Denver, I’ve seen it all! It’s a great business all the way around, challenges and all!
Debbie
If my clients were staying not selling there would be no end to the (expensive!) suggestions I could make. But when they sell it’s all about return on investment (cost and time) and getting the house sold. Often the trade-offs we need to make aren’t perfect and am sure can be endlessly critiqued by others who don’t know the whole story. Importantly the changes we do make are often all it takes to get the house sold and for a good price – and that’s all we’re trying to do as stagers.
So well said Imogen. Really appreciate you commenting!
Recently a real estate agent contacted me on behalf of his clients. Because of our “remote” location, renting furniture is very costly. I have been able to work with a local furniture retailer for vacant stagings but it’s an insurance nightmare! The agent wanted to list the house next week; hold off on offers for one week; and then have an open house. He asked me to give him a rough estimate of what it would cost to bring in new furniture and stage the house. I couldn’t give him a reliable estimate without seeing the home but told him that at the very least, try to get the owners to edit down to the basics and we could work from there. He told me he would talk to his clients and get back to me if they wanted to proceed…haven’t heard anything. The trade off? I was not prepared to give an estimate on a home sight-unseen. You’re right Debra, we have to be practical about things and sometimes that means we simply can’t do it all 😉
So glad you shared your experience Jackie, thanks for commenting!