North Fork Real Estate's Staging Expert: Staging Your Home

A Sanitized Home

Sellers often ask if personal items and mementos should be removed when putting their house on the market for sale.  Most realtors say yes.  I, however,
believe that a home on the market shows best if not, personally sanitized!!!   By personally sanitized, I mean cleaned and scrubbed of your personal photo’s,
items and treasured belongings.  When staging a house, if all the homeowner’s
favorite things are put away, rooms can look stiff and uncomfortable.  Staging
sometimes can make a room look and feel like a   page from the Pottery Barn
Catalog.  A pretty room can still look and feel stilted and unfriendly.  Buyers
are looking for a home not a house.  Send a subtle message that wonderful times
were had in this house.  Let potential buyers see a glimpse of those treasured
moments, through artfully placed photographs and mementos.  Buyers will be
thinking they too can create their own memories in this home.  Entice those
buyers by leaving a few choice personal photos and belongings cleverly
displayed, creating true warmth that only a real lived in and loved home can
portray.

Here are a few suggestions on how to achieve this with your home.

Photographs

Photos displayed in a bookcase or table should have matching and uniform frames.  Try to mix up sizes and shapes always using like colors and finishes.  Personal photos should not be displayed above  the fireplace.  Your favorite antique mirror, an old water color or salvaged piece of architecture will make a better impression.  Remove personal portraits from stairways, they often are too prominent and distracting.

Heirlooms

You should only display antiques that can be used or serve a function..  Set the
table with your vintage china.  Fill the antique vase with flowers. An empty jug
or vase may appear to some buyers as just clutter.  Paint the back of an old
china cupboard a trendy metallic color to display your collection of cut crystal.  Add a light for a glistening effect.  It will also brighten up an otherwise tired piece of furniture. Create the look and feel of a romantic nostalgic past for your house.  Dust off those vintage purses and hang them on a peg in your room or closet.  Hang pretty costume jewelry in your bath or close or better yet from a glass bedroom lamp.

Personal Belongings

There is a difference between a few carefully chosen items to displayed and
clutter.  School pictures, calendars and mail should be put out of sight.  One
or two homemade cards or pictures are sweet.  A bulletin board full of reminders
notes and artwork is distracting to buyers.Newspapers articles, diplomas and
sports memorabilia can also be displayed if framed and placed on dressers or
bookshelves.As long as they are cleverly displayed, a collection of childhood
balls, baths and helmets can send out happy house vibes to potential buyers. 
Dirty cleats, socks and piles of Sport Illustrated do not!

-Sheila Izzo, North Fork Real Estate, Inc.