Many people ask why we place things where we do in our staging. The long and short answer is: it’s all about the photograph. Every home buyer’s first look at a property will be through listing photographs viewed either on their computer or cell phone. That picture will be their first exposure and first impression of any property. That is why the photograph is so important and why we spend so much time meticulously crafting that tableau.
Spade and Archer Home Staging in Los Angeles
We intentionally place art lower on the wall than you would if you were living in a home in order to get that art in the shot. A photograph should tell the story of the room in one brief glance. Art placed out of the frame or too high to relate to the furniture in the room will seem disjointed. It will actually call attention to itself and distract from the room. That is something we do not want. We believe our staging should be the back-up dancer to the main show -- the home you’re selling.
We try to think of where the best angle for the photo will be taken and what elements of the room as well as the staging that will be in the shot. We obviously take into account the 3D space when a person will be walking through it, but we pay very close attention to the 2D space of the photograph and the impression it gives as well. We want the space to make sense to a buyer when they walk through it, but we also want it to be easily relatable when looking at a tiny online photo.
BEFORE — this unstaged space is not optimized for photography.
AFTER - Spade and Archer home staging filled out this space making it camera ready in Wilsonville, OR.
We place furniture and art so that it will fill up a photograph and accentuate the architecture of the house. “Windows sell homes” is a trope we hear all the time and it’s true. We want to place furniture in a room to highlight those windows and not necessarily cover them up. If a window is in a shot, we want a little something there as well to anchor it. Our placement actually draws attention to the architectural features while not distracting from them. You may not place your bed or sofa near a window when you move in, but that is the difference between staging a home to sell and living in a home the way that suits you. What we do as home stagers is not design a space for the practical everyday life of a homeowner, but rather we craft an environment to highlight the architectural features and real-life dimensions of the property. The buyer is responsible for placing their furniture how it pleases them, we are responsible for placing furniture how it pleases the house.
The thoughtful subtleties of where and how objects are arranged is our greatest asset. We take into account how the space will look in person. We are concerned with the feel of an environment when a buyer walks through it. We are also salesmen and our job is to get as many people into this house as possible so that it sells. To that point, we pay very careful attention to the photographs, how they attract a buyer and ultimately how they are the best advertising tools to sell this home.
Spade and Archer Professional Home Staging in Seattle, WA.