“Home Staging Tips – Using Furniture to Stage Homes” by Karen Schaefer

Furniture seems to be the bane of existence for many people trying to unload their houses. How much do I need? Do I need it at all? If so, where do I get it? Do I have to buy it? The questions go on and on. It never fails – on each and every Wednesday morning tele-coaching call to my VIP students, someone asks me about furniture.

So today, I want to address the infatuation, or lack thereof with furniture in regards to staging. I rarely use furniture in staging, not because I don’t like it, but I think more often than not, it is unnecessary. The reason that most staging companies use a lot of furniture is because they don’t understand who their customer is and the difference between selling vs. decorating. Yes, I realize that comment may make some of you angry, but my job is to help you sell your properties and continually learn more about the real estate industry on the whole, so there you go. I can tell you that most stagings we do as well as nearly all of our Property Designers yield fantastic results with very little furniture.

Let’s first discuss when you need to use furniture. Generally in very large rooms or very large homes, you will need some furniture. Or if you are trying to make an odd space work, you might also need to use furniture. Finally, furniture can also give people directions in the house. In other words, you can use furniture in such a way that it creates flow and helps to guide the potential buyer through the home in the way that you wish them to view it.

In large rooms or even in large homes, sometimes you will need furniture since you need to fill a larger space. What I see people try to get away with are really small accessories in a large room making the room look bigger which is not a bad thing, but the downside is that the staging items look puny-which is never good. In an over large living space, some good and easy furniture items are chaise lounges placed in the middle of a room at a diagonal on a rug with the appropriate décor or a couple of arm chairs with a great coffee table works too. The arm chairs and coffee table depend on the home, but of course, many variations of this will work. You can do anything from Wicker chairs and wicker trunk to leather arms chairs with a tufted oversized leather ottoman.

The other clever pieces of furniture that I like to use are sofa tables. These are great tables when you need a dining room table but don’t want to bother with an enormous dining room set. Basically, you can take this long sofa table, place it in the center of a rug that should be centered under the dining room light fixture, put a great table runner on it (this can be an easy Pocket of Emotion, by the way, so pay attention to your table runners) and then adorn it with multi-colored wine glasses, interesting place settings or a unique center piece.

You have an excellent opportunity to fill the space, add something unexpected, and not break your back or your budget by trying to move in a huge dining room set. Just a little tip-even a homemade table with a floor length table cloth will work and then just do the same thing we mentioned above.

The last few pieces of furniture that I do like are oversized bean bag chairs for kid’s rooms as well as basements and small tables that have a multi-purpose. They can be used to collect keys at a front door, for art or plants, or to hold a Pocket of Emotion. You can also use them to suggest a desk or a table in a breakfast nook, so I always keep an eye out for pieces like this.

Okay, so if you need furniture, where do you get it? Well, you can go to all the logical places, like your own home, good will, the discount stores and the rental stores. If you buy it, no problem, just make sure you know what to do with it when the house sells. If you rent it that is fine because usually they will absorb the liability if it is damaged or you will at least know the terms if it gets stolen or damaged, all of which is very unlikely.

The third option you have is to negotiate a deal with a furniture or décor store. You will use their item at no charge but they get to advertise at no charge. It is a win-win situation except for pick up and returns-and damages. These things can put you in a tough spot so make sure you go into this arrangement with your eyes wide open.

And of course, many of you already know my trick to create instant beds with blow up mattresses, milk crates and plenty of comforters. You will also need a roll of duct tape to shorten the length of the bed skirt, from the center. Make sure you have a full sheet set, at least 3 decorative pillows and at least 4 regular pillows. You will also need 2 comforters or duvets and inserts to give it a rich and lush appearance.

So, as you can see, furniture is not hard to come by, but generally speaking you don’t need it or don’t need a great deal. There are always exceptions to the rule.

Karen Schaefer is an Investor, Writer, Speaker and Property Designer. She is the founder of Simple Appeal, Inc., the Premier Nationwide Staging and Design Company as well as APSD, The Association of Property Scene Designers. She is known nationwide as the Expert on selling properties in ½ the time at full market value.

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