everyday staging
While we are all patiently working our way through 2020 and all of the extra hours we spend at home, let's take a trick or two from the pros on how to make our personal spaces the best they can be...with a little elbow grease and TLC! This is staging for everyday living.
The Coronavirus experience (for many) has taught us a thing or two about taking pause. Getting creative. Sitting with our thoughts. Coping with an extraordinary amount of multi-tasking. Feeling human. The experience has further developed our ability to pivot mental focus in an environment when change is one of the only constants!
This inward adjustment has many of us staring at our interiors and personal environments through a new lens...and perhaps an overly critical eye. Fret not, for there are some quick fixes we can all employ to make our home life more harmonious, from a visual perspective and a practical one, heaving those virtually loaded schedules.
Luckily, I get to informally pick up a few tricks of the trade from the stagers that we work with all the time in real estate.
Did you know that you can hire a professional to stage your home for everyday living, not simply for the purpose of a pending sale!?
Costs vary by the professional, but consider a low end estimate of $165 for a consult up to $1,000 or more for an in-depth collaborative effort.
See, for example, the offerings of Linden Creek Home Staging, below. Their team is amazing and great fun to work with.
Moving right along...let's look at some of the tips our stagers use to help our homes shine:
1) Refresh your front door with a new coat of paint or stain...this is a DIY type project that can be done in a few hours.
Don't forget to swipe a brush across sun-faded light fixtures while you are at it!
2) Bring the outside IN with fresh flowers!
Vary vase height, shape, material
When in doubt, grab a few bundles of the same shade florals from your grocery store...a collection of greens or greens/whites are foolproof
Commit to fresh flowers by recycling the fake, plastic blooms permanently.
3) Never block a window with furniture...allow the light to shine in whenever possible.
4) Remove more (not ALL, since this is the home you live in) personal effects from view.
Anything smaller than your fist will read like clutter, according to my peppy pal and staging talent, Lyndsay, of Lindsay the Stager. Trust me, decluttering your interiors will feel cathartic.
Amazon and Target have been saving graces for me, as they have plenty of organizational buckets and bins to suite nearly any style for the items you still want to keep, but are best left out of sight.
TIP: hunt under "Baby" category on Amazon to immediately jump to the more Instagram-worthy styles that you might have in mind vs the straight up industrial options that appear from your first search attempt.
Just mind your screen time and don't get lost down the rabbit hole.
Mental health needs you to check-out and remain offline for more hours than you likely do!
5) Be sure all of your lightbulbs are fully functioning...focus on light and bright in your home.
6) Keep music playing when you are home...music does sooth the savage beast, whether it's work stress, angry Covid drivers, or mask-acne.
7) Keep your counters clean and clear as much as possible. Or at least clutter them with something beautiful or delicious! It's amazing what a blank slate feels like when there is chaos in life...it reads as hopeful and full of possibilities...consider this your visual resting place.
8) Make your bed! Your mom told you to and now so does The Edit.
9) And back to Target we go...I know, I know...but they deliver when it comes to reliable stock during a pandemic for some pretty fantastic throw pillows. And they really, truly DELIVER: drive-through, pick-up, or same-day with Shipt.
This is my current fluffy favorite:
Remove any old decor - including those pillows- that show extreme wear and tear or is simply too soiled to revive. Replace with a few well-chosen pieces atop:
- Outdoor furniture and hammocks
- Front entry chairs
- Sofas
- Beds
10) Play around with your accent pieces. Accent pieces can be stunning in color or intriguing in design. Move one stand-out piece near the best attribute in the room it lives in...and remember to group collections of items in odd numbers so your eyes move around the space, taking in more details and enjoying the arrangement.
Speaking of color...use a little discretion in each room, using one main color for a little more than half of the space, a secondary color, and then a third, accent color sparingly...to create harmonious flow.
If you are looking for a bigger project, the best and least expensive way to make your interiors feel new is to pull out the paintbrushes and slather up a fresh coat of color (or lack thereof) to your walls and trim. Even the most "lived in" homes will have a new lease on life when all the walls are energized with a little extra touch.
Some of my favorite interior shades include:
SW Alabaster
SW Sea Salt
BM Smoke Embers
BM Chantilly Lace
BM Revere Pewter
BM Classic Gray
Farrow & Ball Hague Blue
Farrow & Ball Dead Salmon
Farrow & Ball French Gray
Chromotherapy to the rescue!
Some shades are best left to the original brand creator. While many paint shops can replicate another brand's paint chip, some tints are just really difficult to get right. So I like going to Benjamin Moore for BM colors, Sherwin Williams for SW colors, etc.
I do also like supporting the creativity behind the creation of that color. Color copyrights??
11) Float your furniture. Indoors and out.
If you aren't doing this already, give it a try and see how the simple act of moving furniture AWAY from the walls actually makes your space appear larger!
- LASTLY...let's not forget the fruits of your labor -
12) Introducing...the allure of APPLES! Placing a bowl of green apples appears fresh and pleasing in photos, adding a pop of color when listing a property...but it's actually a really nice focal point for a kitchen that is being lived in for the long-haul.
Go crazy and swap for Yellow Delicious or red Gala varietals. Substitute fresh limes if your spaces are already gleaming and shiny and bright, for some nubby yet colorful texture. In our own home, where windows frame views of treetops, I prefer to weave similar colors throughout our home- the greens, browns, and blues. But you do YOU.
On a sentimental note, try to find just a single gesture that could simultaneously infuse your home with an association that brings a smile to your face. Maybe its a memory from the past or a dream of something for the future.
Since one of my dearest friends has always had a bowl of fresh fruit on her counters symbolizing, to me, her forever welcoming and nurturing nature it's a simple hack back on my home front.
That's it for this month's edit.
Wishing you and yours wellness, from the bottom of my heart.
Truly yours,
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