043 Staging

It had to be my staging!

We sold our house in Florida!

We listed it on a Monday and signed a contract on Thursday of the same week.

It was probably just a lot of lucky coincidences, but I prefer to believe it was my staging

Watching all those HGTV shows was not a waste.  I knew from those terrible houses that they feature on the "turn-your-house-around-to-sell" programs (I think they make them worse before the filming . . .) that there are certain rules to follow for good staging:

• Declutter
• Depersonalize--no family pictures or accessories that are to personal or taste-specific.
• Create a story
• Make the folks they are at home and would like to live here
• Group accessories in sets of three or five

Searching websites brought a few more tips:

• No more than three pieces of furniture per wall
• Pile up beds with lots of pillows

We moved out excess furniture, painted a few crucial areas, and cleaned like crazy.  Then we began moving furniture.  I arranged everything and then would view from the door to see what was the first impression as one walked into each area.  That helped me group furniture and wall art to the best effect.  

I wanted people to feel as if they were coming to a beach vacation home and mainly achieved that with accessories.  I already had a ocean-blue hanging rack right inside the front door.  To that I added my thrift store purchases--a woven beach purse ($5) and a pair of matching flip flops ($1) with an old pair of sunglasses to set the mood.  I also purchased several prints with seashore themes to adorn the walls.  My criteria for these $10 or $20 purchases is that they had to be something I would use in the future.  I visited a lot of thrift stores!

( also bought a bed
comforter with two matching 
shams at a thrift store 
and then visited many
others to find coordinating
pillow shams and fabric. 






I did not have enough pillows to fill all the shams, but towels, sheets, etc., stuffed inside pillowcases worked.  (As long as no one tried to lift them, for they were very heavy pillows!)  I made cylinder-shaped pillows by rolling fabric around a towel and pinning in the edges.

Nor did I own enough accessories to depersonalize completely, but I wonder if anyone noticed how many statues of readers were in the hutch and in other locations.

I found another use for books--decorative objects.  Funny, I had always used them for reading!  They come in all shapes and colors and invite the viewer to curl up in a chair to read.  I even put out a book sale purchase, a Far Side paperback in case there were bored kids (or adults!) in the group.

Other thrift store bargains--matching coffee cups and tray and another tray to go with my own wine glasses.  I put pink flamingo glasses with colorful place mats on the kitchen table.  I wanted visitors to imagine having a snack in the kitchen, coffee in the living room, and wine on the porch.  Fearing the batteries would die in the decorative clocks, I removed the batteries and set clocks to 5 o'clock!  While at the thrift stores, you could observe me picking up and smelling a lot of candles--just to find the ones with strong pleasant scents that would override that stale empty house smell.

We were fortunate that we did not have to live in the staged house--much simpler!  I would not have enjoyed staging so much if I had to clean up after my husband and dog! But it was fun.  Now I think I will stage my house to live in . . . except for the depersonalization!  

Savvy Trish