24 home stager suggestions to make our house more inviting

August 11, 2011 by Heather Lucier Stanley Comments Off

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Our realtor hired a home stager and personal friend, who we subsequently hired as our interior decorator for our new house, to come over shortly before we listed our current (now former) house to determine if anything needed to be taken away or added. In most situations, our home stager had mentioned that she suggests that home sellers hide several things in their garages. However, in our case, she had us hide only a few items and add several items. This made me laugh because it is a minimalist’s nightmare to add back stuff to sell his/her home successfully. However, I bit my lip and did what she said. Here are our home stager’s suggestions:

01. Add a pillow to the chair back of each patio chair on the front porch
02. Add a plant on the front patio table (soft suggestion)
03. Add a plant on the red entry hall table
04. Add a plant on the front dining room table
05. Change the orientation of the red ottomans in front of the leather arm chairs
06. Move the bamboo plant from on top of the refrigerator to the main bar
07. Add a red throw to the sectional sofa to draw the eye through the room
08. Change the orientation of the main bar stools to add interest
09. Add a pop of color in kitchen cabinet that is on the same wall as the kitchen sink
10. Add a pop of color to the side bar, such as bananas
11. Buy fresh flowers and put them on the breakfast nook table
12. Add a plant in the laundry room
13. Remove everything on the shelf above the washer and dryer
14. Add a cream pillow to the guest bedroom
15. Add a basket of towels in the downstairs bathroom
16. Add a large plant in Alan’s office to hide the wiring
17. Add a basket of towels in the upstairs guest bathroom
18. Add something of interest in the corner of the master tub
19. Add a candle in between the 2 master vanities
20. Replace all the wire hangers with white plastic hangers in the master closet or at least group all similar types of hangers (soft suggestion)
21. Hide all the toilet brushes in the garage
22. Hide the laundry basket in the garage
23. Hide all bathroom toiletries in wood baskets
24. Put away any towels that are being used – for example, hand towels in the bathrooms

I spent approximately $150 to buy almost all of the items that our home stager suggested. I did everything that she said, except buy more wood baskets for our toiletries; instead I used some clear bins that I already had because I do not know what size wood baskets I will need at the new house and I did not want the wood baskets to be bought and discarded so quickly. Several of the items I purchased for house staging, I plan on bringing to the new house to make it more inviting from the beginning.

suburbia

About Heather Lucier Stanley

Heather Lucier Stanley grew up in Central Massachusetts and lived in New England until she started studying at the University of Michigan where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and Literature. In her early 20s, she moved to San Antonio, Texas and started studying business and accounting. In her late 20s, she became a Certified Public Accountant. She has held many varied and interesting business and volunteer positions: public accountant, internal auditor, systems implementer, project manager, business analyst, tax preparer and Austin Skiers board member. While traveling 35% for a position she held, she earned her Master of Information Systems (MIS) at the University of Phoenix. She is enthusiastic about learning and trying new things. A few of her passions are personal development, fitness, snow skiing, and travel. She is outgoing and real. She feels that success is easy to attain if the individual defines what success means to her and then has a plan to achieve her individual success. No two definitions of success are the same because each of us is unique and has something original to share with the world.
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