The Various Levels of Home Staging
Updated: Nov 15, 2019
Written By Grace Campbell, Industry Expert in Home Staging with Dawn's Designs
The Various Levels of Home Staging
Home staging can be a controversial notion in the real estate world. Many realtors and clients don’t understand the need for home staging- It costs money and seems to be just one more person in and out of your home. However, it is proven that staging can guarantee you and your client more showings, quick sales and top dollar offers. Dawns Designs has been staging and designing homes since 2016, and our goal is simple: get the house sold, quickly and for top dollar. Many times, a home sits on the market for weeks because the coveted open floor plan leaves too much room for imagination and clients just can’t visualize how they will fit their furniture, photos, and family into that space. Home staging creates a sense of warmth that invites buyers in and shows off the potential of a home. How they could use the space, how a couch might fit into that awkwardly shaped living room, and how to make an empty house feel like a home. At its core, home staging sells a lifestyle. With new modern furniture and clean but exciting Décor, it shows the buyer the lifestyle they could have and creates the illusion that this house is the first step to living that life. Home staging truly operates on a case-by-case basis. Every home and client are different and so every stage will be unique. To help begin the process of choosing how much staging help a home needs, Dawn’s Designs divided our services into four packages. which helps realtors and clients determine how much staging a house needs. Occupied staging takes up three of those packages and begins with the consultation. During a consultation, a team member will walk through your home and discuss what could be removed or rearranged to best sell your home and to appeal to as many clients as possible. After a consult, the realtor, client, and stager will together decide if any further staging is needed. If so the two options are Photography Prep Session or Accessory Stage. A Photography Prep Session requires no Dawn’s Designs inventory and is a quick and painless process. A team of stagers will come into the home and during our two-hour hands-on process we will rearrange furniture, art, and decor to maximize flow and aesthetic to appeal to the maximum number of buyers. The second option is an Accessory Stage. If you select an Accessory Stage, Dawn’s Designs will first take photos of your home and then bring in Art, Decor and soft goods to fill empty spaces on walls or countertops and to help create a clean desirable look that works for all types of buyers. The largest and most complex stage Dawn’s Designs offers is the Vacant Home Stage. Each home and stage is different, but the most commonly staged rooms are living, dining, kitchen and the master bedroom and bathroom. Vacant homes can be intimidating to buyers because it’s often hard for them to visualize their own life fitting into that big empty space. Here’s a few examples of how vacant home staging has worked for clients and realtors in the past. The stage pictured below had an awkward open living area. And after a Property Preview, our team of stagers carefully selected furniture, décor, and art to fill the space, and create a combined living and dining space, filling the room and creating a formal dining space, which increases property value.
This home from earlier this summer also had some extra spaces that made it hard to visualize how to place furniture, so with some helpful suggestions from the realtor, Dawn’s Designs turned the extra living space into a home office which clients love.
Another helpful benefit of staging a vacant home is the ability to make a specifically themed home neutral and more approachable to an assortment of clients. This Valley Center home had a very distinct Farmhouse feel. However, the Dawn’s Designs team added modern art and furniture, mixed with a few rustic touches to create a more approachable feel that targeted a wide range of clients.
One of the most valuable benefits of staging a vacant home is modernizing. Many homes in Wichita are very traditional, a style that no longer appeals to certain demographics who are currently buying homes in Wichita. Home Staging can help create a modern or transitional style and can show buyers that all homes have good bones and that the heavy traditional style that is so common to many Wichita homes can be just as appealing with the right mix of décor. This home from Harbor Isle was heavy with honey oak and brass light fixtures, but with the help of the Dawn’s Designs design and stage team, we created a fresh new feel for the home and accentuated the amazing features of this beautiful and unique property.
A big part of selling the lifestyle to buyers is exposing them to new, modern styles that they were too afraid to try before. This home was very traditional before our stage team brought in bright colors and abstract art pieces, modern décor that many new buyers find intimidating before they see it in front of them. This fresh look helps the buyers to get excited about new styles and helps to push them to a new property in hopes that this house is just the right fit for a modern, clean look.
Home Staging is about more than just creating a visual for buyers, it truly brings results. This beautiful home was staged and sold all in 24 hours! The staging in this home was selected to accentuate the amazing kitchen as well as bring attention to the fireplace.
The truth about home staging is it works. Staging a vacant home will bring buyers from all walks of life to a home and help them to see themselves living in it. Real Estate is truly about teamwork, the clients, agents, photographers, and stagers. Dawn’s Designs hopes you add a stager to your selling team!
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Grace Campbell, Administrative Assistant and Home Stager with
Dawn's Designs
