Preparing Homes For Sale in Rockland and Bergen

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We can help you prepare your home for sale. To sell your house in weeks not months, start with an evaluation by a professional home stager.

The Art of Home Staging

It's More than Decluttering

Home staging is often misunderstood to be the same as decluttering and removing excess furniture. But it’s more than that. It especially involves highlighting a home’s best features to make it attractive to a buyer whose tastes are unknown (but likely not the same as yours).

We are pleased to describe some of the essential elements of home staging using before and after photos of staged rooms.

The Foyer. The foyer or entryway to your home is the first room that buyers will see when they enter, so it is particularly important. In addition, several other parts of the house are visible from this room. Even if you don't have a foyer, the entryway where your front door opens has the same effect of making a first impression. It must be a good one or you risk losing the buyer before he takes one step into your home.

Before:


After:

Several simple changes were made in this foyer: A cluttered bookcase was replaced by a colorful urn that the client had in her living room, and a nice fern was purchased to put in it; a side chair was brought in; personal photos were removed; art works (nicely framed woodcuts and a landscape photo from elsewhere) were rehung at a more comfortable viewing height; and clutter was removed. The room appears more spacious and more inviting after staging. Accessories cost was $20 for a plant.

Living Room. The living room is typically a somewhat formal room where you entertain your friends, which buyers consider an important function. (Entertaining can also be done in a family room or great room.) The key to showing that your entertainment room is spacious and useful is to keep it uncluttered, maintain wide access routes, use harmonious color choices, and provide a cosy seating area.

Before:


After:

Not only was there too much furniture, but it obstructed traffic, interfering with the way prospective buyers would move through the room. The piano on the left was moved to a corner to open traffic flow, the loveseat with its back to the entry was removed, and the remaining loveseat was turned toward the window to highlight the view. The carpet was turned to provide space on it for the two chairs. Also removed were the coffee table, one of two occasional tables with a lamp, and the two etageres. Two prints from elsewhere were hung on the far wall, and a large print with a white frame (from elsewhere; not seen here) replaced a very large painting that hung over the piano. Live plants were added to blend the various greens and leaven the dark loveseat, and the curtains were raised to let in more light. With the piano and side chair repositioned, the room has better traffic access and appears more spacious after staging. Accessories cost was $50 for plants. We recommended that the dated window treatment be replaced with shear curtains to let in more light.

Basement. A finished basement can add value if buyers can see it as space they can use. Some buyers look for a safe place for kids to play, a workshop, a home theater, and/or space for storage on shelves or racks. If your home has a finished basement, it should be staged to show it as an asset, not a place that requires extra effort to clean and maintain.

Before:


After:

Here we rescued a finished basement room that had exercise equipment and assorted stuff stored in it. We staged it as an extra bedroom/guest room and added a desk to show that it can be used as an office. This was particularly important to sell this house, since it had only two bedrooms upstairs. The seller borrowed the bed, moved the desk in from the master bedroom, and moved in an extra chair from the kitchen. Cost was $0.

More Before and After Comparisons

Here are several more before and after comparisons. You will see that some rooms can be staged easily just by rearranging furniture, while others require some supplemental furnishings.

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