Show Us Your Best Staging Photos!

Calling all stagers! Realtor Magazine is on the lookout for great examples of staging a space in some of today’s most popular home styles, from farmhouse chic to modern or contemporary. I’m looking for some real estate professionals and stagers who would be willing to show off some of their favorite staging styles.

If you have a great example of a home staged in one of the styles listed below, please contact Melissa Dittmann Tracey at mtracey@realtors.org. Share with us a room photo and some of the staging accessories you used to enhance the look. We’ll be sharing some of our favorite submissions in an upcoming guide at Realtor Magazine online.

Design Styles for Staging Photos

  • Modern
  • Farmhouse chic
  • Rustic
  • Beach house
  • Industrial
  • Traditional


Source: National Association of Realtors

Light it Up: Add a Party Vibe to Your Outdoor Staging

By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine

Outdoor lighting isn’t just for the holidays. You can illuminate your outdoor living areas anytime of year. Stringed bulbs are becoming a “hot” outdoor trend this year. These outdoor clear, vintage lights have big rounded bulbs that can really create a festive flair in a backyard. They’re reminiscent of the lights used at an outdoor street fair.

Homeowners are draping them across the top of their pergola, or along their back deck. Some owners may stretch them above and across their yard to create a canopy of lights.

Watch out that they don’t become an eyesore during the daytime. The glow at night are when these lights shine. Tuck them into the top of a pergola. Or, for a photo op, drape them temporarily across a courtyard. Take a picture of it at dusk for a listing photo that shows off the entertainment space of a backyard.

Or, string the lights to illuminate the backyard during a twilight open house. Check out how these designers used them.


Source: National Association of Realtors

Does the Color Purple Have a Place in Staging?

Pantone_purpleBy Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine

Pantone selected Ultra Violet as its 2018 Color of the Year. The vibrant color is popping up in more fashion, but when it comes to home design, is it just too bold for staging? After all, no one wants to deal with a purple elephant in the room when trying to stage a home for sale.

But designers are showing tasteful ways to weave in shades of purple to brighten otherwise neutral decorated rooms. Purple up against a mostly all-beige or all-white room can be just the colorful statement to welcome in the spring buying season.

Purple painted rooms still may be a harder sell in a home for sale, but purple hues in pillows, throw blankets, accessories, florals, or even accent chairs or a tufted couch may just be the touch of purple that takes a room from blah to memorable.

Below we feature a few examples from the popular remodeling site Houzz that show how purple accents can be used in a chic way to brighten up a space. What do you think? Will purple be a hot accent for your spring-time staging?

Purple Velvet

Purple velvety accent chairs against an otherwise neutral backdrop helps make this room more eye-catching.

 

Purple Pattern

The lime green patterned bedding helps to offset the purple statements in this bedroom design.

 

Purple Accents

All shades of purple help spice up the décor in this living room, from the flowers to the ottomans, pillows, and blanket.

 

Purple Accent Walls

If you do purple on the walls, you may want to make it in just a small spot–careful not to overpower the room. Check out this example below, in which the designers use purple wallpaper to accent a fireplace nook in the dining room. The purple hue is then repeated in the lighting fixture and curtains.


Source: National Association of Realtors

Home Staging Could Pay for Itself and Increase Seller Equity

According to 31 percent of REALTORS® who work with buyers, staging a home before listing it for sale on the market could have a price increase of up to five or 10 percent. On a $300,000 home, that could add between $15,000 and $30,000, paying for the cost of home staging and increasing a seller’s equity.

In a new NAR report 2017 Profile of Home Staging, 59 percent of REALTORS® who work with sellers said that staging a home could increase the dollar value buyers offer. Twenty-nine percent said it can increase the dollar value offered by one to five percent and 21 percent said it could increase the dollar value offered by six to 10 percent. If there is no impact on dollar value, home staging can help speed up the time it takes to sell a home, 62 percent said it slightly or greatly decreased a home’s time on market.

valueHow to Stage a Home

Forty-nine percent of agents representing home buyers said that home staging positively impacts their view of the home. Seventy-seven percent of agents said that home staging made it easier for buyers to visualize the property as their future home. The living room was listed at the top as rooms that are very important to stage (55 percent), followed by the master bedroom (51 percent), and the kitchen (41 percent). Thirty-eight percent of seller’s agents suggest that sellers stage all homes for sale and 37 percent recommend that if a seller does not stage that they should declutter and fix property faults.

Paying for Home Staging

Most often, the seller pays before they list their home on the market, said 25 percent of agents. In some cases, the REALTOR® personally offers to stage a home (21 percent). A REALTOR® can also offer to recommend a reliable and affordable home staging service (14 percent).


Source: NAR Economic Outlook

10 Staging Tips for Holiday Decor

By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR(R) Magazine

You don’t have to go all Clark Griswold to show your holiday spirit. Decorations can be subtle, tasteful and inviting when a house is up for sale during the holiday months.

Sure, there are two sides to this: Some staging and real estate professionals assert that you shouldn’t decorate at all during the holidays, careful not to offend those who don’t celebrate the holiday. Others argue you should definitely decorate and that a festive house can welcome buyers. How much or how little you decorate may be open to debate with your home sellers. But if you are looking to add in some tasteful holiday decor this season to a home, here are some ideas:

1. Dress up the doorstep with a wreath and planter. Silver is shiny and can reflect the sun, making it a great choice to get others to stop and take notice of a home.

Christmas Holiday Decor

2. Highlight the fireplace mantel with holiday décor to get this amenity to take center stage in the room. But don’t overcrowd it with decorations. Less is sometimes more, in this case.

Holiday Decor

3. Make a flower box more festive. Try adding berries or ornaments.

Holiday decorations

4. Offer up some holiday treats to visitors. Filled candy bowls and cookies will be a welcome surprise and may make buyers want to linger.

Holiday Decorating

5. Put up a tree but have it blend into the style of the home. The tree in this dining room below compliments the subtle hues used in this French Country styled room. Have the tree coordinate with colors already used in the home’s decor.

Frenchflair

6. Consider day and night appeal. Keep the holiday decorations looking as good in the daylight as they are in the dark.

Rustic Luxe Holiday

7. Stage the table for a holiday feast. Show off the entertaining aspects the home has to offer.

Christmas/Holiday Decorating

8. Use garland to highlight a feature. For example, get them to notice that curvy stairway with some festive garland wrapped around it.

Christmas Interior

9. Add in some poinsettias. The holiday plant aren’t only festive but the red-popping color can add to a room’s tables or doorstep.

Christmas Decorations

10. Draw from greenery. Use nature-inspired green to enhance a room with subtle décor.

Christmas In A Conservatory

Source: National Association of Realtors

View the Same Property Staged 3 Different Ways

By Saghar Setareh, CoContest guest contributor

How can you know the best style for staging a property? After all, you’ll need to satisfy home buyers’ various style tastes as well as make sure you’re showing the property in its best light.

Thanks to the power of the Internet, we wanted to see just how much the point of view in staging of properties can vary. We asked for designers to upload their take on one floorplan at the CoContest website. All designers staged the same room, but recreated it differently based on their own style and taste and interpretation of the client’s request in the contest.

The challenge: This modern apartment in Connecticut needed to be renovated, in a way to enjoy the artwork during the gatherings of family and friends.

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Photo courtesy: CoContest

Design 1: Classic Vibe

CoContest_2

Designed by Decolite Design

This room offered up a more classic appeal. The designer Decolite Design used a crystal chandelier for the main lighting, colonial furniture for the main living room, black chesterfield sofas with white armchairs, and a large, white rug. The artwork is also from the classic period. The pallet of colors is black and white, and a piano along the wall also helps to complete the look.

Design 2: Bold Artwork

CoContest_3

Designed by Marta Valence; Photo courtesy: CoContest

This designer Marta Valente above used bright and saturated colors in the artwork to compliment the two dark sofas and white and mustard color chairs. In order to add a more modern and industrial look to the space, a wooden table with metal legs was brought in. To complete this look, the wall has gray bricks and there’s a colorful buffet in stripes along one wall.

Design 3: A Modern Touch

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Designed by BIVIO Architettura. Paula Godoy & Celia Cardona; Photo courtesy: CoContest

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Designed by BIVIO Architettura. Paula Godoy & Celia Cardona; Photo courtesy: CoContest

Another designer BIVIO Architettura. Paula Godoy & Celia Cardona used very modern furniture from the late 20th Century, puffs, and large paintings to work as a separator. Texture is also used in the modern furniture and couches to match the abstract paintings on the wall. Low, coffee table and cushions are also part of this look. But the most distinctive feature of this project: The vertical bars that divide the living room in two separated parts.

These are only three design ideas from many, that present the property in three, completely different styles, made possible to imagine how the property would look like, with a convenient price.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Saghar Setareh is the Content Manager of CoContest, the first crowdsourcing platform for interior design and architecture online. She is an enthusiast about home decor and all forms of design.
Source: National Association of Realtors

My Favorite Staging Accessory: Greenery

Styled Staged & Sold will be featuring staging professionals’ favorite staging accessories and props over the next few weeks. (Do you have a favorite? Submit your favorite for consideration to mtracey@realtors.org.)

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Photo credit: Michelle Boyle, California Chic Staging

Go-to prop: Fake tree or plant

Stager: Michelle Boyle, owner of California Chic Staging Co., Roseville, Calif.

Why I love it: “So many people use awful and outdated greenery in homes. Spending the money on really great greenery makes all the difference when creating a look and feel for a home. You want a fresh, modern piece to help accessorize the space.”

boyle_1

Photo credit: Michelle Boyle, California Chic Staging

Make it work tips: 

  • Learn the difference between a “good” fake tree and a “not so good” one. Typically, the better ones cost a lot more, but not always. Scout out places like Home Goods or Target. Some types of trees and plants can pull off being fake versus real much better, such as succulents, grasses, and Boyle’s personal favorite — the fiddle leaf fig tree.
  • A great place for adding greenery in a home is large empty corners of a room, coffee and side tables, and in bathrooms.
  • Don’t overdo it. Use fake greenery sparingly, such as one or two pieces in the main living room and one in each room thereafter.
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Photo credit: Michelle Boyle, California Chic Staging

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Photo credit: Michelle Boyle, California Chic Staging

Source: National Association of Realtors