Homestaging Do's & Don't | Picket Fence Preview Real Estate | Buy Sell

Responses provided by Melissa Jordan. She is an Accredited Staging Professional and owner of Jordan Home Services.

Q: We have a beautiful stone fireplace in our living room, but the furniture is faced away from it toward the TV on the side wall (no windows).  Someone told me we should orient the attention to the fireplace, not the TV.  What do you recommend?

A: Yes, the furniture in most cases should be oriented toward the fire place and not the TV. Furniture should be used to draw attention to the primary selling feature of the room, which is your case is the fireplace. In fact, I recommend experimenting with placing the furniture on a diagonal or an 'L' so that buyers can see themselves enjoying the fireplace while watching TV. TV may be intrusive, so minimize its presence by placing it where it is not
prominent.

Q: Do you give advice on paint colors? We let our kids paint their room whatever color they wanted. Now that we're ready to sell, I¹m wondering if I should leave them as is, or repaint them a basic neutral color.

A: Yes, I do give advice on paint colors and am a certified color specialist and, yes, I think it is wise to repaint your children¹s rooms a neutral color. Color can evoke powerful emotions, not all of them positive, so now that your home is for sale, you need to make it as easy as possible for buyers to imagine making the space their own. And neutral colors will make this possible. A neutral white, beige, or gray in a warm tone will do the trick. Hiring a professional or using a volunteer who knows proper prepping techniques is critical, as a sloppy job will cheapen the feel of the space, no matter what the color.

If repainting is not in the budget, remember that strategic staging with lights, pillows, rugs, and other accessories can tone down the impact of a vibrant color and likewise create more impact in a drably-colored room.

Q: After our kids left, we sold the bedroom furniture in one of the rooms and used it as a hobby/storage room (exercise equipment, etc.).  I plan to declutter it to make the room presentable to show.   Your  thoughts on showing a multi-use "flex" room where a bedroom normally would be?

A: It depends! Bedrooms are major selling features of a home, with three being the optimum number according to some experts. You need to make your house appeal to the widest pool of buyers, so you want to show the possibilities.

An option would be to stage the room as a bedroom with possibilities as a hobby room, instead of the other way around. You can achieve this without much expense by adding a day bed, pull-out futon couch, or blow-up mattress staged with bedding. Minimize the number of hobbies on display, placing them in cabinets and/or decorative baskets on open shelves where possible. Low-profile decorative screens can also also help to camouflage a neat stack of plastic bins containing hobby supplies and storage items, without making the room feel small and cluttered. These can often be purchased on-line or at quality consignment, unfinished furniture, and large furniture stores.

Q: My husband hunts and has trophy mountings on the wall in our den. Is it okay to leave these on the wall when showing our house, or will this hurt our chances of selling?

A: No. Rustic design style has been very popular nationwide over the past few years, and animal parts such as hides, antlers and skulls represent an element of this interior design style. However, the presence of animal parts such as trophy mountings in your home runs the risk of turning off potential buyers who may be vegetarian, vegan, an animal rights activist, or someone who simply does not share your taste but otherwise loves the home.