Staging To Sell vs Styling To Stay

There is a BIG difference….

Since I offer both Staging & Styling (Designing/Decorating/eDesign) Services…I’m often asked why there’s such a difference in how I go about getting to the desired result of making a home look pretty & presentable. The two P’s so to speak.

In the most simply way I know how to put it……..

Staging to Sell = the goal is to appeal to as many potential buyers as possible, to get the property sold fast and for top dollar. Helping a home appear soothing to the eye. To show off a home’s best features. To appear to as many buyers as possible as move in ready.

Styling to Stay = it’s your home, style/design/decorate it to your liking. Well, to a degree anyway- I normally say. I still like to see big ticket items stay classic when choosing design details for let’s say a bathroom or kitchen remodel or when choosing new hardwood floors. Those are for sure big ticket items. Cha-Ching!

Classic never goes out of style. So whether you are staying & enjoying or deciding to sell…if you stay classic, you won’t find yourself replacing backsplashes, countertops, flooring, etc. down the road.

Accent the great features of your home & keep things simple.

With Staging…you’re trying to appeal to as many potential buyers as possible, right? 100% RIGHT! This is how you’ll sell fast & for top dollar. The more people your home appeals to the better. Get those bidding wars started! The more neutral (not just color wise but also decor wise as well) the better.

When Styling/Designing/Decorating to stay, you’re going for a look, a vibe, what have you that appeals to you (and whoever shares your home with you). With Staging, it’s almost the opposite. Think model home. Model homes are staged to appeal to the masses, right? That’s what you’re going for too and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune either.

You don’t have to re-do bathrooms & kitchens (two things that sell homes over everything except location & size of home). IF your bathrooms & kitchen are currently outdated then let the new buyer renovate those to their liking. Just be prepared to adjust your selling price to reflect those needed updates when it comes time to negotiate with buyers. IF you decide to renovate before you put it on the market…remember, clean & classic.

Stay classic & timeless with big ticket items even if you aren’t selling anytime soon…you may want to OR need to sell one day and you don’t want buyers picking your home apart because they’re adding up all the upgrades and changes they’ll have to do like replacing busy backsplashes or very color specific tile in the bathrooms. What’s trendy today is old & dated tomorrow (or eventually anyway).

Even if you’re now in your forever home, you don’t want your home to become dated and have to re-do all those big ticket items someday down the road. Keep it classic and timeless. You can always bring trends & color in with paint, rugs, artwork, decorative pillows, bedding what have you if you aren’t planning to sell right now.

Color changes everything!

When sellers are getting their homes ready for the competitive market of Real Estate, I always recommend a fresh coat of paint throughout the entire house (if budget allows for it). Walls, baseboards, trim, doors & ceilings too if needed. Closets too folks! It’s actually the one thing that makes the biggest difference and gives the most bang for your buck. Consider it a top budget priority and put it at the top of your Staging 101 To-Do List.

Go with light and neutral as far as your new staging paint color goes. Choose your color carefully. Everything from floor tile or hardwood color and the amount of light that you get in your home should come into play. I always suggest painting every single room in the house the same color. All one color, room to room, makes any house feel/look larger. It also helps the rooms to flow since there’s no jarring color change from room to room. This is for staging remember (you do you if you’re staying and not selling).

Color is tricky so before you go out and buy all that paint and hire a painting crew…at least do large color swatches on the wall of each room and look at them during different times of the day & night. Remember all whites are not created equal and the same goes for creams or beiges. You have to consider the undertones (some go yellow, some go pink, some go gray, etc.). A paint color rarely (more like never) looks the same on the tiny paint chip as it does once it’s on a wall. Lots comes into play that changes paint color immensely once applied in large quantities.

Feel free to contact me for a color consult if you aren’t sure which paint color to go with. I also do eStaging (virtual) and can do a Color Consultation too to give you ideas of paint color shades to try and how to best stage your home. Just go to my CONTACT page, reach out and we can discuss your project in detail.

Nothing freshens up a home faster than a fresh coat of paint. It makes everything clean and gives a nice blank slate for buyers to come into. It’s also a great time to take down all the family portraits & photos as well as probably most of your wall art. No matter how beautiful your family is…once you decide to sell it, it’s now an investment. No longer your home. You’ll always have your fond memories and you’ll have ALL OF YOUR PHOTOS packed up and ready to go to your new home.

Studies show that people feel uneasy when they view a home and some other family is staring back at them constantly. They don’t want to see your family photos! They want to think of themselves living in the home, not what the current family looks like. REMOVE EVERY SINGLE PHOTO NO MATTER HOW BIG OR SMALL!!!! NO MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY YOU SPENT ON THOSE BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS BY THAT FANCY PHOTOGRAPHER. You can thank me later!

Keep it clean, both in design and literally!

Most people’s homes are very style specific (as they should be, they reflect who you are, right?). Well, that has to all change when you put your house on the market. ALL personalized photos, artwork, signs, collections, team memorabilia, what have you…HAS TO GO!

I’m not saying to throw it away or donate it, although this is a GREAT time to go through everything and decide what you truly want to bring to your new home. Some items probably just won’t work style wise in your new home, no use boxing that stuff up for it just to stay boxed up once you get moved, right? Go through NOW and purge.

Any specific style of signs, ie: ‘Fresh Eggs’, ‘Kitchen’, ‘Kiss The Cook’, ‘Welcome’, and especially a ‘Family name’ (I know…I like some of them too) HAVE GOT TO GO! All these signs will have buyers doing is reading and probably leaving. WAY TOO STYLE SPECIFIC. You don’t want potential buyers coming in to look at your collections either, you want them to be able to see themselves living there so they make an offer (hopefully for full or over listing price).

Certain styles, let’s say Farmhouse Style, is not for everyone. Some say, it’s already out of date. I personally don’t think Farmhouse Style is going anywhere. I believe it’s here to stay, on one level or another. Especially for those who actually live in a farmhouse. Even those who don’t live in an authentic farmhouse but just love the vibe of this style will see that it may not be going anywhere but like all styles, it will change some over the years and maybe even morph into a combination of styles. Already there are a variety of Farmhouse Styles. There’s everything from true Farmhouse Style to Sophisticated Farmhouse Style to French Farmhouse and lots in-between too.

With Staging, even if you live in a 100 year old Farmhouse…err on the side of more Sophisticated Farmhouse while your home is on the market. TRUST ME ON THIS ONE! Even the most die-hard Farmhouse enthusiast doesn’t need to see your particular Farmhouse Style in ALL its glory. A little goes a long way in all styling.

Like all homes of every style, your objective is to showcase the positives of your home. The good bones, the beautiful moldings, large windows, the views, the gorgeous hardwood floors, the high ceilings, the large walk-in closets, etc., etc. Whatever your home’s positive attributes are…play those up.

Such a lovely view….

The minute you decide to sell, and before you ever have Realtors getting involved in looking into Comps (Comparable homes that have sold recently in your market), do as much as you can to declutter, depersonalize, deep clean, etc. Have your home looking as good as possible when the realtor comes for a first look. This is when you should ask about them paying to have your home staged if you give them the listing. If you have already packed away all of your personal items, neatly stowed away the kids toys, cleaned top to bottom…the Realtor will likely see that it’s just a few tweaks here and there (including maybe a fresh coat of paint throughout if you haven’t already done that as well) and they will more likely include the staging at their cost in order to get your listing.

Keep it CLEAN all the way through till closing day. Even buyers who have agreed to buy will do a walk through normally the morning before closing or the afternoon before. They can pull out of the deal at anytime, change their mind for any ole’ reason right up till closing. Don’t give them an excuse to back out or start bartering because you haven’t kept the house up since they last saw it. Keep it move in ready!

Your home should look as much like a show house as possible during your selling period and all the way through the final walk-thru. This is tough with kids, I know. You just have to do it. No one wants to look at other people’s clutter (including toys) and they surely will be turned off by dirt and mess.

If you need to, you can purchase slipcovers for furniture that has seen better days (like the cat REALLY loves that one sofa arm in the family room). OR…you can have your furniture moved to storage and new furniture moved in for the staging. This is much more costly of course so consider using your own furnishings IF it’s in good condition and of current style or can be slipcovered.

The old saying is true…”it takes money to make money”. A good staging is well worth the cost. Hiring a cleaning crew to come in once or twice a week during the time your home is on the market is well worth the cost too. Clean homes just sell faster and for more money in most every case, that’s a fact.

Renting a storage unit or two to move items & furnishings into that you want to keep but shouldn’t be in your home while you’re trying to sell it is again a good investment.

Be in touch if you have any staging questions.

Happy Sprucing!

Scarlett