The Staging Fashionista Blog

Does your home have CCTF?  CCTF stands for Color, Continuity, Theme and Flow.  These are the four basic concepts that an APSD certified home staging professional like myself has to understand to properly stage homes and create memorable scenes.  Understanding these four basic concepts can get a home sold faster.

Color - you should chose a color that is pleasing to most palettes, these are normally jewel tone colors such as emerald green, ruby red, amethyst purple, topaz yellow, and sapphire blue.  Unless you are selling a home near the beach or near water jewel tones work best when staging a home for sale.

Continuity - make sure that you have continuity in your staging.  Bring at least two or three colors from another room into the rest of the rooms to create good flow and color continuity throughout the home.  This will make your home feel more cohesive and appealing.

Theme- create one theme throughout a home.  You need to know who will be buying your home (empty nester, professional, family, etc) and your theme should reflect your potential buyer.  It is important not to create different themes for each room.  For example don't make the bedroom an Asian theme and the living room a modern theme.  This creates confusion for a buyer and instability. 

Flow - make sure your rooms flow with proper color, continuity and theme.  Also ensure that furniture is arranged properly so buyers can move around a room easily, when staging less is more.  The furniture placement should direct buyers from room to room with ease and create a nice balance of color, continuity and theme to appeal to buyers. 

If you follow these 4 simple concepts (also great feng shui ) your home will appeal to the right buyer and will sell much faster.  If you are not sure if your home has CCTF you should consult with a professional home stager that understands these four basic concepts and can stage your home for the right buyer and a faster sale.

Most of you that have seen my previous two blogs on origami towel folding know that I love creating towel desgins and I use them in my home staging projects as signature props.  I want to share how I used one of my creations in an actual home staging project.  I love staging areas that most folks ignore or don't take the time to stage but I find areas like the laundry room and closets a perfect place to add some extra interest that buyers will remember.  So here is how using origami towel objects in home staging helped me with this laundry room.  The owners loved this as it added something different, unexpected and interesting to the laundry area which is ususally ignored.

This origami towel shirt was made with one bath towel and the buttons are 3 pennies.  How cute is this and definitely a conversation starter!

Are you adding that element of surprise or that something unexpected to your home staging?  If not you should.  By adding that element of surprise a home will stand out and be memorable to potential buyers.  When buyers go out to search for homes they see so many in a day that if there were no homes that stood out they most likely will not think about it again.  However, if you stage a memorable home by adding the unexpected, or something that will make them laugh, smile or even say awwhhh, then you have made the home stand out from the rest.  Try it one time and see what happens I bet the home sells faster.  Happy Staging! 

This is a good example of something unexpected.  When buyers walk into the master bathroom and walk up to what they think is just another tub they will see this little element of surprise inside the tub! 

Make sure you hire the right home stager to properly stage your house.  Home staging is not just decorating or "fluffing" a home or just making it look pretty.  Home staging is the art of selling a home faster.  In doing so the right home stager should be setting a scene throughout a home for just the right buyer.  In other words, they should know who is buying the house.  Staging a home like a model home or showroom every time does not appeal to everyone, therefore it may take longer to sell a home. 

The question to ask is: Who is the buyer?

• Is it a family with kids?
• Is it a professional couple?
• Is is a first time homebuyer? Or
• Is it a empty nester? 

If your home stager doesn't know who the target buyers are it will not matter how pretty the home looks it will simply not sell fast enough.  For example, a model home look will most likely not be practical for a family with kids.  However, if you set the right scenes for the family with kids throughout the house (family room, kitchen, bathroom, etc) then you are bound to get the home sold faster.  After all, the purpose of home staging is to sell the house.  The right home stager will know the target buyer, will do their research and will understand the overall demographics of a particular community.  If realtors and sellers are hiring a home stager who doesn't understand demographics and how to appeal to a particular buyer then you are doing yourself a disservice.  Make sure you hire the right home stager to get to your end result which is getting your home sold. 

Are you marketing your home properly?  1) Are you getting more traffic then you can handle to your property? 2) Did your open house yield several offers?  If you answered no to either of these two questions it is time to switch marketing strategies.  Properly marketing your property in combination with the right listing price and proper home staging will result in a faster and more profitable sale. 

It is important to work with your real estate agent and talk with them about what marketing strategies they are using to sell your home.  Make sure you thoroughly understand what is or isn't being done.  Here are some questions you should be asking:

• How are you marketing my property?
• What is your unique marketing strategy to get traffic to my house vs the competition?
• How will you advertise for the open house? 
• Will you distribute flyers? If so how many and where?
• How can people find out about my listing and how many people will see it or hear about it?
• How are you tracking the marketing results so we know what is working and what is not?

These are just some of the questions you should be asking your real estate agent and as you ask these you may come up with some others.  When it comes to selling your home you must have the right marketing strategy, the right price and the right home stager to get your house sold.  A good real estate agent will know how to properly market and price your home and a good stager will know how to properly stage your home to get it sold faster.  So don't be afraid to ask questions to ensure you are marketing your home to sell.

I had to share some of the great deals I get by shopping at flea markets and thrift stores.  Home stagers have to really fork out alot of money for accessories, furnishings, linens, lamps, etc.  In order to keep my costs down but still have quality items I shop for things in the thrift store or flea markets.  I have found some great deals and some beautiful pieces to use in my home staging business. 

Not only is this being thrifty, but shopping at local thrift stores like the Salvation Army, Goodwill and Acts, is also a way to help others.  Purchases from the thrift stores help people in need and help people to get trained so they can get jobs to help support their families.

Finally shopping at thrift stores and flea markets is being green.  By repurposing used items you keep them out of landfills and give items a new home.  I am always amazed at the things I find at a local thrift store.  I have staged some beautiful homes with my finds and people are always asking me where did you get that?  Here are some of my favorite finds all of the items below cost me a total of $12.00, seriously!!!  Gotta love those bargains!   

So next time you pass by a thrift store - check it out!  You never know what kind of treasures you may find and for me as a professional home stager, being thrifty pays.