Winter Staging Tips

Having your home on the market is hard enough but add cold, snow and early nightfall to the situation and it becomes even harder.

I often tell my clients that having their home for sale is not a natural lifestyle as everything has to be kept in tip top shape at all times.  It’s a new year and the perfect time to be resolved about selling your home for top dollar.

Involve the whole family in keeping a routine that keeps your house clean and clutter-free on a daily basis.   

Sometimes it is much easier to implement staging techniques than to actually maintain them.

 

. Now that the holidays are over it is imperative that all remnants of the festivities and other seasonal décor is completely removed and packed away. And that means the outdoor lights and decorations as well!

The problem with this is that your house will suddenly feel drab and a bit barren.  But you can transform your home into a warm, cozy and inviting space by doing a real estate redesign.

By applying the following tips your family will enjoy spending time by the fire on those long, wintry nights AND potential home buyers will emotionally respond to the newly created ambience.

 

• Rearrange the furniture to create intimate seating arrangements
• Create a good traffic flow
• Cover the floors with rich, dark area rugs such as Oriental ones
• Add a touch of black to ground the room and for a touch of sophistication (try a black lampshade or paint a small accent piece of furniture)
• Choose warm, warm, warm colors
• Add corduroy floor cushions stacked by the fireplace
• Place a basket filled with birch logs and sugar pinecones
• Toss more pillows and chenille throws on sofa and chairs
• Buy stacking baskets with lids to contain family room clutter
• Add vanilla or cinnamon scented candles and place throughout the house
• Replace a few light bulbs with amber tinted ones to create a wonderful soft glow to your rooms
• Use accessories sparingly but what you do use should have a dramatic impact
• Soften cocktail table or sofa table with a piece of rich fabric that compliments your décor
• Add live greenery
• Place copper pieces on countertops that will gleam under kitchen lights
• Keep a large bowl of fresh pears or apples on table or counter
• Spruce the bathrooms up with new shower curtains and fluffy hand towels

 

And even though the north winds howl you will have to brave the elements to make certain the outside of your home is just as appealing as the inside.

 

• Keep snow and slush cleared from door and on walks
• Eucalyptus wreaths are excellent winter choices to hang on the front door
• Add color to the landscape with large potted winterberry shrubs
• Choose planters that match your home’s style to fill and layer with a variety of fresh evergreens and large sugar pinecones (replace greenery as needed)
• Buy an attractive but sturdy new door mat
• Strategically place spot lighting to highlight shrubbery and light walkways
• Replace any door hardware that is showing any tarnish or wear
• Tighten anything “flapping in the wind”
• Hang a feeder in the back yard to attract colorful birds
• Cover the grill
• Make sure there are no summer items laying forlornly around the outside

 

Now go back inside and reward yourself with a cup of hot chocolate and daydream about selling your house and moving to Florida!

Staging During the Holiday Season

Selling a home in winter brings its own set of specific problems.  Not only is the cold weather a detrimental factor, so is the early nightfall.  Then if the home is for sale over the holidays a whole new set of issues arise.

 

A family with their home for sell during the holidays cannot be expected to refrain from decorating.  However the home can reflect the festive season without overwhelming the space and can actually enhance the home’s appeal.

 

Here are a few quick ideas:

 

• Add a welcoming holiday door wreath
• Follow the outdoor holiday decorating scheme of the neighborhood (i.e. decorate if everyone else does or don’t if the neighborhood doesn’t)
• Use less ornament collection within the home
• Don’t over-crowd the rooms
• Use holiday décor that compliments the setting
• Stick with one theme
• Use amber-colored lights to infuse a rich warm golden glow to rooms

Consider hiring the professional stager or interior redesigner to come in and make your space truly magical.  This service will generally start with a consultation to determine the scope of the job.

Take this opportunity to evaluate your existing holiday décor and what can be used from this inventory. 

If new accessories are to be purchased then this will be the time to determine what to buy, who is doing the shopping (you or the stager) and a dollar amount set for your budget.  

To avoid any misunderstandings you will also want to make sure that you understand and agree with the stager’s fees for his or her services.

 

Staging for the Holidays is just one more example of why the stager must possess solid design principles.

 

In addition to the basic design elements the professional stager will know how to apply the following principles into their staging or redesign:

 

• Adding texture, why and where
• Coordinating patterns
• Determining and applying formal or informal degrees
• Selecting Holiday theme
• Selecting color scheme
• Threading the color scheme
• Repetition of elements
• Using proper scale and proportions

 

Feel free to contact Victoria Palmer with any of your staging or decorating dilemmas.  Visit her websites at www.NationalRedesignInstitute.com and www.Urbane-Interiors.com

 

 

 

The Staged Home vs. Living A Natural Lifestyle

I often tell my staging clients that living in a “staged home” is not a natural lifestyle. Many homes can be brought up to show room ready in a relatively short time. However, keeping up appearances can pose a very real problem.

I provide my clients with TWO lists. The first one is the follow up of the consultation. This is a bulleted list that addresses each room with a set list of items that need to be addressed.

An example would be:
Living Room
• Stretch and clean carpet
• Replace broken blind
• Remove large recliner to provide better traffic flow
• Update and add additional lighting as discussed
• And so forth…

Categorizing by space (i.e. Family Room, Billy’s Bedroom) and keeping the list abbreviated in content, you will be providing your client with a doable plan of action. It also provides a handy checklist for the homeowner and helps them stay on track.

The second list is referred to as the Maintenance List. Start by discussing this at your initial consultation. Encourage your clients to enlist the help of the entire family, especially any teen-agers in the home. Explain that everyone should be involved and have the same game plan – which is selling the home quickly and for more money! Even very young children can be given responsibility for a chore or two.

Explain that by following the Maintenance List on a daily basis the home will always be presentable for realty showings. In addition, these action items need to be addressed in every morning before leaving the home for work and school.

Here is an example of how to maintain that unnatural lifestyle:

Bedrooms
Make beds
Hit the clothes hamper
Tidy surfaces
Empty any open trash cans

Bathrooms
Hang towels – do not leave on floor
Clear sinks and vanities
Store personal items away
Wipe down vanity countertop
(For quick clean up keep a glass cleaner and paper towel under bathroom sink)
Empty any open trash can
Remove all dirty clothes
Put toilet seat down

Family Room
Tidy all surfaces
Pick up toys, games, remotes, magazines and any left-over snack remains
Fluff any toss pillows
Fold throws
Close entertainment center doors
(For quick clean-up keep a small swivel type sweeper handy in coat closet)

Kitchen
Load dishwasher – do not leave any dirty dishes or pans out
Put small appliances away
Clear countertops and wipe down
Wipe fingerprints from fridge
Clear and clean up any eating surfaces
Sweep floor and wipe up any spills

Front Porch or Steps
Sweep debris
Keep any snow or ice removed

While this list covers most major areas of the home it actually does not require that much time to accomplish. Again, with encouragement on your part, a family can divide the chores and only forgo about 15 minutes of extra sleep!

As stagers it is our job to give our clients as many tools as possible to help them achieve their goal of selling. What is interesting is that I have had clients continue to use the Maintenance List after moving into their new home!