In staging I always try to simplify the home. Remove bulky furniture and excess clutter. Repaint the walls, because while that cheerful yellow your child loves is great, it does not attract most buyers. So instead walls should be painted lovely creams, whites and greys to appeal to the masses. Now that you have a home that is neutral, with minimal furniture, and you have removed the photos of your family and toys that litter the living room floor, we can bring in potential buyers. I can already hear everyone saying that the house is now naked. If the home were an ice-cream flavor it would no doubt be vanilla (boring)! That's because the home has nothing to give buyers a sense of warmth, that a real family lived here and loved it and they will too! This is where accessories come into play. They are the jewelry to your home, the last item you put on that elevates that little black dress, or in this case white bedding into something that makes a statement. Accessories such as art, baskets, blankets, candles, floral arrangements, mirrors and pillows, infuse your space with a sense of style and create interest throughout your home, inviting buyers to sit and hopefully stay a while.
Fresh accessories are an inexpensive way to transform a space. They can be changed seasonally and are small and storable. Can you imagine having to change out a whole couch each time winter or summer rolls around? That would be back breaking and leave your wallet too light. Instead, change out those fur or wool pillows for linen. Two totally different looks for the same room without breaking the bank. The interchangeability and diversity of accessories is great but is not their only role in staging. Putting bold and large art or mirrors on walls can make the room look bigger and draw attention to natural light. While rugs can either highlight those amazing hardwood floors or disguise that tile that you just can't replace. Rugs ground your room and add a sense of hominess that puts people at ease while house hunting. Accessories are not limited to the textiles that dress your home, but include those things in your kitchen you use every day. These are my personal favorite. Everyone loves kitchens. It is that part of the home that people gravitate to, whether the cook wants them there or not. That's why I love to use common appliances or kitchen utensils while staging this area of the home. That beautifully expensive Kitchen Aide mixer deserves to be seen. The serving platters that get stuck in some cupboard until you have a party are beautiful and should be displayed. But the part I like most is using edible objects as accessories. The bowl of apples and those herbs from your garden bring in a living aspect and remind buyers of what the purpose of the kitchen actually is.
The key to staging is not the uniqueness of each individual accessory but in using accessories that bring the whole home together cohesively. Each room should have something that is carried over throughout the home whether that is a color, texture or pattern. Depending on the style of your home there is an endless array of accessories that you can use to bring a fresh and updated look that will entice buyers. So while the major pieces of furniture are, of course, key to indicating what a room is used for, it is in the details that a house becomes a home.