A Project in Review... An Accessory Stage in Worcester

A local agent reached out to me to discuss their upcoming listing… A charming 1930s colonial in Worcester that sits along the banks of a small lake. Imagine coffee by the water and the ability to fish, kayak and ice skate… Sounds like an easy sell, right?

Long story short: The sellers tried to list their single-family home the year prior with another agent and it did not sell.

In this market, if a property doesn’t sell, it’s typically one of two things: price or presentation. Unfortunately, it’s usually both.

I shared my thoughts with the agent and she agreed… She booked her sellers a Home Staging Consultation. During my initial visit with the sellers, I learned the previous agent asked the sellers to do two things to prep their home for photos:

1) Clear of all their surfaces.

2) Remove their personal photos.

Many agents and sellers think this is the definition of staging – decluttering and depersonalizing – when in reality, these are just the first steps.

A professional home stager follows industry trends and understands the demographic of the buyer they are working to attract. They carefully curate an overall cohesive look that will resonate with buyers both online and in person. Stagers help create the potential for a buyer, often highlighting a lifestyle with the selections of furniture, artwork and décor.

In this case, the issue was specifically layout, flow and furniture selection in statistically one of the more important rooms to buyers: the living room.

Take a look at the before and after photo above… The before photo is the previous listing photo from the year prior. I’m not surprised this property did not sell.

The issue is obvious: The living room is longer than it is wide and the fireplace is not centered in the room. There’s also not a lot of wall space… Instead, there’s three large doorways. People often look for walls to place their furniture against….

Where does the sofa go? The T.V.? What is the focal point of the room?

These sellers admitted they struggled with the layout. They to divide the living room into two spaces: one that centered around the fireplace and another around the T.V. While this may have worked for their every day living, it’s not an ideal set-up to stage and sell the space as it makes the room feel smaller than it actually is and in order to accomplish this design, all the rugs and furniture are too small for the space.

The sellers agreed to remove all their personal belongings from the living room so it could be staged as a vacant space.

The result? Multiple offers and the property went under agreement in 7 days…

Ready to stage? Contact me today. Email: HomeStagingbyAbigail@gmail.com