The Art Of Staging: Negative Space continued

TWO successful closures on two staged properties! A rental house that had been vacant and 'for rent' for months, rented two weeks after I staged it. A 'for sale' house, truly beautiful but in a location that is improving (and the 'improving' stalled/slowed when the economy stalled) had been vacant without offers for a lot of months, almost a year. It went under contract two months after staging.

Of course, this means I am in process of bringing two houses' worth of furniture and accessories into my basement.....help

Negative space.

We were talking about negative space before reality in the form of two houses interrupted me.

Okay, let's all imagine standing in the living room in your house. Everybody there, mentally? Now, let's get started. For purposes of this discussion, let's assume the house is not being sold furnished. Let's remove everything that is not part of the sale.

Toss out the tschotkes. Rip the pictures down from the walls. Stand on a chair and tear the amusing diorama - half a plastic duck, crashing through the ceiling. Transport the furniture into the back yard. OUT goes the TV. The rugs shimmer and vanish. With a series of popping sounds, the books vanish from the books shelves. Unless the book shelves are built in, they follow the books outa there. The gold cup you got 1976 for outstanding achievement in field hockey lifts off the mantle and glides out of the room. (Mentally clearing a room is SO much easier than actually packing, isn't it?)

In your mind, take the room down to bare walls, bare floor, bare ceiling. What is left? Windows. Doors. Fireplace. Built in book shelves. Flooring (carpet, wood).

One more thing. In your mind rip up the carpet, the wood, the flooring. Smooth over it to make it mentally easy to walk on.

What a coincidence! When we remove everything that is not for sale, we are left with everything that defines the shape and size of the room. Negative space.

This, my friends, is what you are selling. This is where the staging starts.

Tomorrow, we dig into this idea.

Have a great Tuesday.