I’m having so much fun with this series on silly home staging tricks.
I would also love to see more comments with examples of silly staging tricks you’ve seen. Please share below!
Earlier this week I shared some creepy staging tricks and some silly staging tactics which happen in the kitchen and dining room of many homes.
Today’s post is all about something I’m very sick of seeing and buyers are becoming very aware of:
The obviously staged bedroom
How many times must we be forced to see a throw ”casually” draped diagonally over the foot of a bed with a tray sitting on top holding a couple of wine glasses or a teapot with cups?
This might be okay for a hotel honeymoon suite, but normal people don’t live that way.
Speaking of diagonals, I can’t understand why people place a bed diagonally in a space. I’ve never seen a case where it worked. It usually just makes the room look weird and crowded.
Worse than a bed on a diagonal, though, is an imaginary bed.
Some home stagers will put a rug in a room with throw pillows and some books to represent a bed.
I once watched a hysterical YouTube video in which a so called home staging expert advised setting up a picnic blanket in a master bedroom with a little vignette when there wasn’t sufficient budget for furniture.
She recommended a scenario that would look like a marriage proposal, complete with ring box, love note, picnic basket and stem ware. Seriously, not kidding!
Talk about a silly distraction from the main point of decorating a house to sell!
When it comes to the ever-important master bedroom, if the buyer can’t walk in and see how their bed will fit or how they can live in there with all their other furniture, they’re going to decide that the room doesn’t work for them.
Make sure there’s an actual bed with usable night tables on each side and nice bedding.
Ideally, there should be one long dresser (usually with a mirror on top) and one “high boy” dresser or tall chest of drawers.
To fit all that in, you may need to use a double bed rather than a queen or king.
Be careful with sleigh beds or tall canopies, they shrink a bedroom faster than any other piece of furniture. Only use them in an exceptionally large bedroom.
Monday I’ll be posting about silly staging tricks that buyers would never fall for – in the bathroom.
Hi, Debra
I just recently go my first staging job, and had a question about the bedrooms, I did see your post about staging with a long dresser, and chest of drawers. Is the dresser a have to, the rooms are smaller, and I feel it crowd things up a bit. I would like your advice. Thanks, again for such a great program. I am so excited, about my first staging project, but feeling a little nervous. Merry Christmas to you and a Happy New Year!!
Great question Melody. I always recommend using furniture that is proportional to the size of the room. High boy dressers are an excellent way to go in smaller bedrooms.
Not sure if you’ve seen it, but the Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide has sample floor plans for every room in a house along with before and after photos. It also happens to be on sale right now at: https://stagingdiva.com/store
Congratulations on your first staging job and thanks for commenting!
I have a particular aversion to throws on the diagonal on a bed (or draped over a chair) I use throws when I stage but they are always squared off. The longer I stage the more confident I become to leave things alone, and stop faffing around with distracting little bits and pieces. And, like Coco Chanel I always go round the house before I leave and take a few pieces out. Less really is more but it takes confidence and experience to understand this.
SO well said Imogen, thanks for commenting!!
I am a realtor who is secretly obsessed with interior design and am considering a change to home staging. I worked for over 10 years as a new construction agent representing an upscale builder in my area. This means I have heard firsthand what buyers like and what they don’t when they entered my model home. One thing with regard to bedrooms I heard over and over again if the bedroom was empty (and on the small side) was concern that a KING size bed would not fit. If our decorator put a queen size bed in a master bedroom, even if it fit better and made more sense, many people would rule out the entire floor plan, thinking they could not have a king bed. It seemed to be one of those “hot buttons” in our area. Our decorators then began to include a king bed often with only one night table and a floor lamp on the other side nearest the wall to show that it would indeed fit. Interestingly, I cannot recall ever hearing anyone say the room felt cramped with a king. I like the look of a more proportional bed (like a queen) but I found that homes sold better when shown with the biggest bed possible. This only matters in the master bedroom BTW, they didn’t care at all the kids bedrooms had twin beds as long as they looked cute. 🙂
That’s an interesting perspective Susan, I’ve found exactly the opposite in the many markets I’ve staged homes in. Many people don’t even know what size bed they’re looking at, or don’t give it a lot of thought.
I honestly can’t imagine someone standing in an overcrowded bedroom with a king bed and only enough room for a single night table and thinking that was preferable. Since most people can’t envision things, to me that immediately says “not big enough”.
If on the other hand, a queen were used, they either wouldn’t notice/think about it, or seeing it with lots of space around it would assume a slightly bigger bed would fit.
In my experience the same logic would hold for closets. If you have too much stuff in them, people assume there’s insufficient closet space. On the other hand, if you prune the items back, they think it’s fine. Not stopping to think they have 20 coats and they’re only looking at 12.
I appreciate you sharing your thoughts, always good to get a dialog going about these sorts of things because I don’t think you can make very many hard and fast rules that would apply everywhere in every situation. That’s why if you gave 10 home stagers a turn on the same house, they would each come up with different results and they all may still be effective.
I can totally relate to your comment that you’re secretly obsessed with interior design snd considering a change to home staging! I have many agents take the Staging Diva Program for that reason. Plus many of them are burned out from working nights and weekends, on 100% commission, working for months at a time with a client without every getting paid because they don’t finally buy or sell anything. Like you, they’ve realized their true passion is the decorating or home staging, rather than actually selling homes, and all that comes with that.
You might find these articles helpful as you contemplate a change to home staging:
Home Staging Lets You Do What Comes Naturally
What If I Have a Real Estate License and I Prefer Home Staging?
When You’re a Home Stager With a Real Estate License
https://stagingdiva.com/homestagingbusiness/home-stagers-hired-before-agent/
Hope that helps Susan, thanks for commenting!