We know there are a few DIY’ers out there and more power to you – it all comes down to time, money and energy. We get to see a lot of properties in our travels and quite a few attempts at pre-staging before we arrive on the scene, and we thought we would take a moment to identify a few SELF STAGING DON’T’S
NEGLECTING THE DEEP CLEAN – really, the cleaner the better. Hire a professional cleaner to do a deep clean of your space or if you are working on it yourself make sure every surface, nook and cranny are clean and the whole house smells fresh.
DE-CLUTTERING TOO MUCH – striping their home of its soul. You want people to be able to imagine themselves living, loving, laughing in your space – paint a lifestyle picture… create vignette’s that show a lovely nook for reading or sipping a latte.
HANGING ARTWORK OF THE WRONG SIZE/PROPORTION OR TOO HIGH – we see this allot in our visit’s to client’s homes. We think it’s a result of the husband being the logical choice to wield the hammer… guys, you are taller and when you hang the art to your eye-level it may be too high for the rest of us. Artwork should be hung at gallery height on open walls and 8-10” above any furniture pieces.
FURNITURE THAT IS THE WRONG SCALE FOR THE ROOM – when we buy furniture for ourselves we pay the most attention to comfort and then hope it will fit in the space and what tends to happen is we get a great couch to stretch out on, but it blocks the room. A sofa should fit on the long wall in the room and there should still be enough room for side tables at either end.
FORGETTING THE FRONT DOOR – your introduction to your home should begin at the front door. A clean walkway and stairs, a new front door mat, a clean fresh front door and a planter with seasonal greens or floral to welcome all who approach.