Home Staging Blog

Driveways; we all know how we use them for everyday life.  We park our cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, RV’s, bicycles, and other miscellaneous items there everyday.  Oftentimes there may be more than one or two of them parked at a time, and occasionally, they may not even be operable.

But something to consider when staging your home either everyday life or for sale, is that first impressions count.  The impression that buyers and other visitors get when they come to your home, and the impression you get when you come home each day.

Your home is your retreat, your space to enjoy.  When you arrive each day, do you smile and begin unwinding as you park your car and start walking up to your door or do you have to duck and dodge the obstacles on your driveway just to get to your front door?  Can you even see your front door from the street?  Is your driveway clean or is it full of oil stains or spills?  When visitors come to see you, is your address clearly visible? 

Start off by making sure your driveway and walkway to your front door are clean.  If there are any shrubs or bushes that have overgrown and are blocking the path, trim them back.  Check to see if any grass or weeds are coming up in the cracks and pull them.

If you have any items stored on the driveway that belong elsewhere, put them away.  Be sure your address is clearly visible from the street.  Maybe it is time to replace or repaint the numbers declaring your address.  Have your hose neatly coiled and if you have any leftover electrical cords from holiday decorating, be sure to get those put away too.

Next time you come home and pull your car up into your driveway, enjoy how much better it looks and feels.

If you are preparing your home for sale, you will want to remove the boat, RV and other large vehicles from your driveways.  Ask a neighbor or friend (preferably not right next door) if you can park these large vehicles at their house while your home is on the market.  If not, you may need to store these at a rental lot for the time being.

If possible, park your car on the street so the buyers will be able to get a full view of your home when they pull up.  Let them imagine their own vehicle in the driveway.  After all, staging a home for sale starts at the driveway, right?

Part I of this Series can be read here.

People get excited when they walk into a staged property that is for sale.  The furniture is laid out just so, towels folded artfully, not a wayward piece of clothing to be found. 

Staging a home for sale is different than staging for everyday life though.  So I thought I would do a short series addressing some of the main differences and help with a few suggestions on how you can simplify things at home without going to the extreme of reducing your belongings to the minimum of those in a staged home.

These past couple years, people have had the opportunity to see several of the homes we have staged for sale.  But I began to get concerned when I visited someone to find they had taken their prized collection and gathered it for a garage sale. 

They began walking me through their house asking me what they should get rid of.  I started to hear my own words coming back at me and realized they were beginning to think that all homes should like a model home, devoid of anything too personal. 

My suggestion to them and I will make it here, regarding collections, if you love it, keep it.  If you have already enjoyed it and now feel it is time to let it go, let it go. 

If you have an extensive collection that is too large to display at one time, pack up most of it.  Choose the pieces that feel right in your life now.  Display just a few at a time.  You can then later update the display as the mood strikes.

If you have a display cabinet, the key is not to completely fill every shelf.  Keep some space between items so each piece can be appreciated on its own.  Depending upon the size of the item and the size of the shelf, you may end up with just one to three items on a shelf.

Your home should reflect your personality, your values and your lifestyle.  If you have a large collection that dominates your home or requires lots of dusting (dominating your time), decide if you still love it.  If you do, then pack part of it up and display your favorites and enjoy them. 

When you put your home on the market for sale that will be the time to depersonalize and remove your collections. 

Most of you probably know that Get Staged 2 Sell is a family business.  We have a lot of fun staging homes together, shopping and keeping our inventory organized and just having the time to spend together. 

My daughter Amy and son in law Joaquin are regular Stagers here at Get Staged 2 Sell; even my grandsons help us out from time to time.  But this past week, my mom came to visit for a few days and guess what; she wanted to be a home stager too!  

Mom is a good sport!  I’m not sure she was prepared for what lay ahead until I opened the door to the warehouse of inventory, but she just dug in and helped pull together the pieces we needed for our job in the Pacific Palisades.  She really helped out big time at this project!  Not only did she take over the job of steaming the wrinkles out of the bedding, but she made us lunch!

Thanks Mom!  Here are a few after photos to show the results of your staging…

Thanks Mom, I miss you already!

This homeowner in Westwood contacted us to see if we would be able to help her stage her home by adding some furniture and accessories to her existing pieces.  We met and took a look at what she had to work with and put together a plan to cost effectively create a really cozy design that showcased the character of her home.

The homeowner worked hard to get the home ready for staging and open house.  She had all the repairs made, landscaping and paint spruced up and professional cleaning done.  She purchased new linens in a modern color palette for the existing bed to give it a fresh look.

We came in and added some additional furniture pieces, artwork, silk trees & plants and a few colorful accessories.  This home really made a dramatic impact on buyers.  Within the first two weeks of this listing, she was in Escrow with eight offers!  The buyer that opened Escrow was there for the first Open House.

I love Staging Success Stories!