Staging your home can make a big difference in how you feel about the spaces – it isn’t about spending money, it is about, paying attention to these key staging concepts. It also makes a big difference in how much you can sell your home for since less than 10% of buyers can visualize changes to a home so the stats show that staging can help a home sell quicker and on average, for 10% more.

Consider how you want to use the room and how many people will be in there at any point in time, to determine the type of furnishings and amount of seating you will need. When you stage for living, a “bedroom” can be a bedroom, office, TV room, playroom, etc. When staging for sale we typically stage a room for what it was designed to be so you get full marketing value for each room.

Focal Point

Identify the room or area’s focal point – a fireplace, view, TV – and arrange the furniture accordingly. The ideal distance between the TV and your seating is three times the size of the screen (measured diagonally).  So, if you have a 40-inch TV, your couch should be 120 inches (10 feet) away.

Start with the largest pieces of your furniture and position it to face the focal point. In family or living rooms, establish conversation areas where a couch and a loveseat or two chairs face each other over a coffee table, keeping the space intimate. When staging for sale, we want to maximize the key selling features of a home and create memory triggers with the wow kitchen, cozy family room, fun playroom, etc.

Symmetry and Space

Symmetry

This affects the feel of a space – the more symmetrical it is the more formal it feels and asymmetrical spaces feel casual. Having the same bookshelves on either side of a fireplace, two of the same chair, lamp, or couches versus a variety of furniture, lamps, tables.

Rule of thirds

You want to fill two-thirds of the space, so for a bookshelf, you want one-third books, one-third accessories, and one-third empty space to keep things from feeling cluttered.

Left to Right

People read left to right so to encourage the movement of the eyes and flow in a room, for decorative items you want to place tall items on the left and shorter on the right.

Traffic Flow

Create a flow through a room by having a 30-48-inch path for the door to door traffic and 24 inches for movement around a room.  If possible, do not place furniture along the walls. Optimally you want an 18-24-inch perimeter around your living/family room conversation groupings so traffic flows around not through it.

Area Rugs

A 5-by-8 rug is the smallest you should use An 8-by-10 is optimal if the room size supports it. Smaller rugs make the home look and feel smaller. In a living/family room, you should have two legs of your couch and chairs on the rug and two off if space permits.  Bedroom rugs should extend at least 18-24 inches on both sides so that when you get out of bed you are fully on the rug.

Wall Art

In rooms where you are standing (like the foyer or hallway) you generally want to hang wall art at 60 inches. In rooms where you are generally sitting (like the dining or family rooms) you want to hang art at 54 inches.  Another good rule of thumb is to hang art 6-9 inches over an anchor – which might be a couch or console table – and the optimal width of the art is two-thirds of the anchor piece.

Variety and Contrast

A room is more visually pleasing if you have some variety and contrast. Having furniture pieces of different sizes throughout the room causes your eyes to move up and down as you scan the room and make it more interesting.  Avoid having two tall pieces next to each other. Another way to add variety is to combine straight and curved lines – whether it is the fabric pattern on a rug, upholstery or wallpaper – or the shape of each piece of furniture (curvy or angular).

Article Published in the Woodinville Weekly Real Estate Section. Since 2017 The Blue Team has written the bi-monthly Real Estate Column sharing their expertise in this community publications. Sharing their Tips for Home Buying, Tips for Home Selling, Tips for Investors, Buying & Selling Luxury Homes, Real Estate Transitions (Including Relocation & Senior Real Estate Tips), and Equestrian Real Estate.