I recently published a post on this staging business blog asking for your design advice for the busy living room pictured here.
This is a tricky one because there is a lot going on in the space and some of the details are small in this photo.
Thanks to those of you who took the time to leave comments and ideas on that post!
It’s pretty clear that this is a classic case of:
“The furniture looked great in the showroom, but my room must have shrunk since I went shopping” syndrome.
QUICK TIP: This is a common homeowner error and one way you can sell your interior redesign services. In other words, you save your clients tons of money by keeping them from making these kinds of expensive shopping mistakes!
Now, back to the home staging consultation
This home was going to be listed at over $1 million and they had done almost nothing to it in the past 20 years. My client’s living room is far too crowded despite its more than adequate size. For real estate showings, this room needs to look much more spacious.
The following are the recommendations I made for this living room during a staging consultation with this client. I focussed on the key problems of too much furniture and too much clutter— something home stagers see in at least 85% of the homes they visit.
Furniture Placement
Remove the chair and ottoman from the corner and move the couch under the window with the end table/lamp to the corner where the chair is now.
QUICK TIP: When you are recommending removing furniture from a room, see if you can use it elsewhere in the house, otherwise it should go to off-site storage.
Move the love seat (shown in the right of the photo) so it faces the couch and put the glass coffee table in the middle (centered in front of the fireplace). Remove the black table (where that Tupperware container is).
This will leave space between the window and the couch. A sofa table could be used behind the couch and a limited selection of their decorative items used there.
There is a decorative statue only partially visible in the photo to the left of the fireplace. This can be used in the center of the coffee table.
De-clutter the fireplace area
Remove the pile of stuff from the left of the fireplace, except for the fireplace tools which should stay. Clear all of the clutter from the fireplace mantel and from in front of the fireplace.
Rearrange the mantle so that there are only a few decorative objects at each end, perhaps using the 3 candle sticks that are currently on the end table to the right of the couch.
These candle sticks should be placed together at one end of the mantle (or use only two as a pair and use one of the smaller figurines for the third object).
QUICK TIP: Items are always more attractive when arranged in groupings of three, and varying the heights and shapes of the objects adds to the interest. More on this can be found in the Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide.
Move the art over the fireplace to the right by about 6 inches so it is centered.
Replace the art on the left of that same wall to something that works better with what’s over the fireplace. It’s not the art itself that’s a problem here, but the two frames don’t work well together.
The piece on the left (if it’s something the home sellers want to keep) can be re-framed to match the other piece. The current bulky white frame looks very discount bin 1980s.
Accessories
Replace some of the throw cushions with new ones that pick up colors from the rug. My staging clients pay me to shop for these for them, something I cover in course 3 of the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program.
Color recommendation
The current wall color is not ideal. It’s too bland with the current furniture and fireplace marble but for showings it’s not too bad. I would not insist on repainting this room. Partly because the client had made almost no improvements to their home in over 20 years and there were far more complicated issues to worry about in the kitchen and bathrooms.
As with most staging projects, I made the decision to trade off repainting the living room (which would be challenging with so much furniture in the way) with being more insistent about the kitchen and bathrooms.
If this had been a redesign consultation rather than a staging situation, I would have recommended a new color palette.
You’ll find more home staging advice for living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, attics and every other space in a home in the Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide: Home Staging Tips, Tricks and Floor Plans.
Share Your Staging Tips For This Living Room Below
What additional recommendations would you have for the living room pictured here?
Would you have insisted on a new paint color before putting this house on the real estate market? If so, which one?
Thank you for this chance to learn more, Debra. It was interesting how you angled this article to show the difference between a redesign consult and a staging consult.
Thanks for that feedback Loi, I’ll try and contrast staging versus interior redesign solutions more in the future!
If the sellers didn’t want to invest in repainting the whole room than maybe just painting the wall with the fireplace a few shades darker would work making it an accent wall. I would also consider putting a darker frame on the picture and instead of hanging it just setting it on the mantle.
Great tips Joyce. I often set paintings on a mantle, rather than hanging. This is especially helpful when using heavy mirrors that are a big hassle to hang.
New paint maybe one accent wall as well, remove clutter everywhere, remove personal pictures. Place a plant on clean coffee table. Freshen up carpet. New throw pillows. Remove additional furniture.
Thanks for your staging ideas Barbara, I’m not personally a fan of painting an accent wall though.
De-clutter top of fireplace, all but 2-3 items. Move the photo above a bit higher and update with a modern/simple photo. Remove corner chair, remove table next to it. Place a tall plant in that corner, then replace the picture on the large wall (left of fireplace) with a proper size & framed mirror. Change the angle of the rug. Move couch by the window, place loveseat in a diagonal position. Replace all but 4 throw pillows from couch & loveseat, replace with colors that tie in will new photo above fireplace. Coffee table in the middle with a vase on top. Vase could be floral in making or branches with colors that bring throw pillows & picture frame together. Either update the lamp, or get a standing lamp. Ottoman could stay if it has storage space (for games, photo albums, etc) Definitely add a soft comfy throw blanket across couch….?
Fantastic suggestions Christy! Are you a home stager?
I like to chose an item of interest within the space initially. Almost to serve as a point of inspiration. For this room, I chose the settee. I love the curved lines, tufts, & the straight pleat details.
The staging I envisioned is as follows:
-clear mantel (leaving nothing), walls, floor (leave only furniture), tabletops & throw pillows (stashing those accessories to the side to then make your final accessory selections At the very end)
-remove black table entirely
-angle the settee to run parallel with the fireplace wall. (hear me out here) And position it so that the very end of the footrest just barely runs past the outer edge of the fireplace. And it should be pulled out from the fireplace wall so that it does not sit on the base of the fireplace at all. (I believe it’s about 10-15″ from the wall.)
-flip sides of the couch & the loveseat. And position both to run perpendicular to the fireplace. The chair should sit at least 10-12″ from the settee, but not cross outside of the rug lines. And the couch should sit with it’s outer armrests aligned (closest to the camera. furthest from fireplace).
-hang thick, richly gray curtains just outside of the windows. So in this photo they would hang behind the tufted chair. I think it helps both balance & showcase the rug. Which is gorgeous!
-add a very tall mirror to lean on the wall above the fireplace- the wider the better. but not to extend past the mantel itself.
-accessorize the mantel with 3 small/medium sized round shaped simple potted plants. Round will be appealing to balance all of the squared edges. Green will bring in nature & a pop of color. The pots could range from a ‘safe’ white; to a contrasting color pop of like an ‘Hermes orange’. Because both green & orange are perfect colors to coordinate with the purple in the floor rug.
-use side table & lamp next to the couch & positioned on the fireplace side (space permitted). again, not to sit onto the fireplace base at all.
-add a simple, clean lined, floor lamp if possible for next to the settee
-sofa throw pillows should be kept short and few. (I’m thinking maybe even just 1 centered lumbar pillow on both couch & chair). In either a simple big tonal-gray striped fabric, or in a contrasting tonal color.
-style the coffee table with a few simple, and short, stacks of fun coffee table books; maybe on art/photography/travel. (Fashion books may be skewed a little too young for the overall style of the room.)
-choose one of the homeowners favorite flowers (& some greenery) to have in a low, but large, bouquet in the center of the coffee table. Because not only is it stressful to welcome strangers walking through your home, but it evolves into something more personal to welcome in a Staging professional. They have agreed to let this person re-design the spaces that they have loved & lived in, for what is usually many many years. I think it allows the home owner to see a familiarity, or an ‘i chose that’, into what is now a stylistically different room.
Does anyone else like the idea of my settee placement? I could totally imagine that many will not…but I had to be honest about what I initially envisioned.
Hope I didn’t forget anything…
Jill Johnston
Great ideas, thanks for sharing!
I would declutter the room . Sofa table in front of the window the fireplace is the focal point , iwould put the sofa where the black table is so that your able to sit in front of the fireplace and the love seat can stay in the orginal location and add a trio of candles the table . Add a rug and throw pillows, throw pillows would be the colors from the rug . Add a faux rug in front of the fireplace for cozy feel and I would baskets to accessorize . Mantel I would use trio candlesticks and add a mirror above the fireplace. The chair and ottoman can stay where it is with a pole lamp behind for lighting.
Rearrange furniture, clear clutter, and add updated art over fire place
Way too much going on in this room. Too small for this area rug. A chair needs removed. Too many little things on the mantle. It needs a tall decoration at each end. Eyes fix on mantles you need to put bigger but fewer things on it to not take away from its charm. Furniture needs color i see a sage green or country blue and accent pillows.
You’re absolutely right Dawn!
Too crowded,heavy furniture but it’s good that single sofa and ottoman don’t belong in this corner needs to go,fireplace with mantel needs to be de clutter and the table on the side on fireplace needs to go only
Fireplace tools can stay.frame on fireplace needs to centered and other needs to be used in some other room the couch should be recenter under the window and other should go opposite the couch and the coffee table should be with one decoration and cushion should be in darker tone well paint is blending too much with furniture if possible it needs to be changed too if not we can work with it
Are you a home stager Nuziha? You sure sound like one 🙂
Remove clutter from fireplace, remove the cabinet next to it. Remove chaise lounge, change pillows, maybe up carpet. depersonalize, I was think maybe move the couch over to where the love seat and move the love seat around with the side table in between them like and L shape pattern. from my perspective I don’t like either table. I would remove the industrial one altogether. Move the glass one in front of the window with a plant. Statue can go in the corner. Also move that one white frame picture.
Katherine, love your attention to detail, that’s so key for a home stager!
Using and seeing what I see and trying to be minimalistic, I would declutter everything except the sofa, loveseat, coffee table and area rug. Center the area rug in front of the fireplace. Place the sofa on one side the coffee table in the center and the loveseat on the opposite side. Place a nice floral arrangement on the coffee table. Pull a darker color from the area rug and paint an accent wall (or wallpaper) on the fireplace wall. Get some new artwork for above the fireplace and wherever else in the room. Get some candle sticks from the mantle. Some decorative coordinating pillows for the sofa and loveseat. If there’s room towards the windows, I would put a credenza with a lamp and some accents.
Great suggestions, Linda!