Denver Fresh

When preparing your home to sell it’s a no-brainer that you are going to do everything possible to present it well.  Home staging is a great way to do this, giving the buyers the opportunity to see a well-kept, well designed home that they can visualize themselves owning.   

I am a big advocate of home staging however it’s important that buyers realize it is exactly that – staging – synonymous with theatre, acting, substitute to reality.  Homes are staged to get sold and often highlight great features that will always exist and other times staging is to bandage flaws – major or minor.   It is easy to get whisked away with the calming colors & flowing Feng Shui put together by a professional home stager but it is more important that buyers examine what’s below the surface.    

Rooms can appear larger with mirrors, halogen lights & smaller furniture.  Buyers should take notice of ‘true’ room sizes, measuring to ensure your life-sized furniture will fit and flow well in the room.  Lighting, when used appropriately,  is a subtle effect which gives expansive effects to a room so focus on the rooms features while taking note of the lighting.  Furniture foolery — Love seats as couches, full beds in master bedrooms. 

Focus on the home’s location & layout which will keep you in check with reality.  Well decorated homes, staged or not, can be distracting and that’s the point.  While showing handsome homes to buyers I sometimes find myself asking my clients if the home still gives them warm fuzzies when they visualize their own stuff in the home.  Once they really think about it they realize that the busy street out front DOES out weight the great countertops and built-in shelving.   

Looking past the surface will allow you to thoroughly  explore a home and figure out if it is right for you.   Home buyers should mind the gap – between reality and the staged effect.