Tomorrow For Sure~

I bet you thought I'd never get around to talking about home staging. Can you believe that I'm actually going to start today? That's because I'm a big believer in photos...and my house has been in a complete shambles for the past several days while the Hubby and I repainted the entire main floor. But now that it's put back together, I have some pics to share!

Since I had to move everything to paint anyway, I took the opportunity to declutter and depersonalize.
Those two "d" words are two of the cardinal rules of home staging.

Decluttering actually helps your home to feel larger. But you want to avoid the stark feeling of a furniture showroom...you know what I mean...nice furniture, no personality! You need to walk a fine line between having too much "stuff" around, and not having enough. My rule is to remove about 1/3 of the stuff you have lying around. This includes family photos.

That brings us to Depersonalizing. Here again, a fine line needs to be walked. The Hubby is a photographer...we have lots of amazing family photos around our house...mostly because I can't decide which ones I like the best and I have a difficult time "editing". But for the sake of selling my home, I took almost all of them down. Notice I used the word "almost". Let's get real here people...those who come to look at your home realize that a family lives there. They expect to see at least some sign of human life...in my house that equals photographs. I have one portrait of each child up on the wall in my living room. I don't think they will keep anyone from buying my house. Now I know someone out there will try and contradict me on this...but I'll stand my ground. Depersonalize, but do NOT dehumanize. "Nuff said.

Today, I want to share some photos of my "staged" dining area.


We neutralized the color scheme in here. We painted the walls the same color as they were before (Cathedral Gray by Ralph Lauren)...they were in dire need of touch ups. I love the calming whites and beiges with a touch of black for accent. And hanging the drapes all the way up to the ceiling really enlarged the space.

We also took one of the leaves out of our dining table to help the space seem larger. (We can still all fit around the table, it's just a little cozier than before.)

I removed my bay window cushion but still added a few pillows for softness. All in all, a job well done!

Join me Monday for the living room~