Staging To Sell - Space, the final frontier

Studies show approximately 80% of people cannot accurately judge whether their furniture will fit in an empty room. And, of course, if they are feeling good about a potential house purchase, they try to make that judgment. That is the reason houses staged with furniture outsell vacant houses: buyers use the staging furniture as a guideline then imagine their own furniture in it's place. If they can "get" the mental image, they feel even better about living in the house. This is a major step towards selling the property.

So, one of the primary goals in Staging is to make each room "feel" like it is the right size to most potential buyers. Well, one buyer wants a small, cozy living room, and the next person needs enough space for five people to sit comfortably. Conflicted? Yes. Impossible? If there is furniture in the room, it is less difficult than you might think.

One key to making the buyer perceive the space as being "right" is the art of choosing and arranging furniture and accessories. If the room is small, I take most of the furniture and decorative items out, then arrange what is left to give the impression of lots of space. This is best accomplished by keeping the furniture well away from the walls, removing all rugs, and using no more than three large decorative items. If the room is oversized, I leave more furniture in the room. I still keep the furniture off the walls but I arrange two separate furniture areas in the room, and I use five or seven middle to large sized decorative items.

In no case do I bunch pieces of furniture up against each other: big or little, the buyer needs plenty of space to move around. If they have to turn sideways to walk, the room is going to "feel" wrong, no matter what size it is.

So, small rooms seem to expand. And large rooms seem to contract. And, each buyer perceives the space according to their own needs.