The Psychology of Staging

In what seems like a lifetime ago, I worked in the world of advertising. Here’s something I learned early on: a 30-second commercial is a total game changer. In that finite amount of time, you must seduce viewers into buying your product or you simply haven’t done your job.
 
Guess what? The same applies to selling a property. When potential buyers step inside, the goal is to grab their attention immediately; you want them to fall in love. The difference between a bad impression and a positive one is the difference between selling the property right away or having a long drawn out process filled with showings and price reductions. And nobody wants that.
 
Property owners who have the most success selling are those who realize their home is no longer their home— it’s a product on the market. Which means the way people live in their home and the way to market and sell a house are two completely different things. 
 
The first step to creating a dreamy “home product” is to define the target buyer. Knowing the ideal prospect is the foundation for staging a property.  This is where the fun begins. It’s called “lifestyle branding,” which basically means thinking about the entire day in the life of the target audience.  Back in the day, when Target (the store) wanted to reinvent their brand to appeal to a younger, more hip demographic, they did massive research — and that’s why they hired me. I worked on calculating the needs, desires, wants, dreams, trends, and habits of this audience. The result is that Target has expanded into an award-winning destination with bold, cutting-edge products ranging from toothpaste to coffee tables.

If you want to sell your property in this market, make sure to hire a staging pro who can guide you with these principles. It’s not about what you like or want, it’s what the seller wants. A stager can gently help you whip your home into showing style. I can’t promise it’ll be easy, but what I can promise is that the result will make the grueling work payoff— you will definitely sell your home for the best possible price in the shortest amount of time. Now that is something to be happy about.

Here’s a glimpse of one of my recent staging projects:

BEFORE:

The dining area in this loft was kid-central! Cluttered and un-organized, this area would not be attractive to potential buyers.

AFTER:

We staged this dining area so buyers could imagine entertaining and eating in this gorgeous space. The result? SOLD!

Start Stripping!

“Begin by thinking of your rooms in the nude.” — Dorothy Draper

Whew! Is it hot enough for you? As I think of ways to stay cool and beat the heat this summer, stripping down doesn’t sound like such a bad idea! In terms of your home, let’s discuss how to strip your home to make it feel really, really good. And I mean strip down to the barest bones.

First, envision your room completely bare – “see” its bones and find its curves. Discover the pockets of sun that make a room feel expansive and cheery, find that corner that was hidden by a large, domineering armoire and empty it so that the room feels balanced and graceful.

My definition of cheerful: a kitchen with just the essentials.

Simply put, the more stuff that’s lying around, the more claustrophobic a room feels. When it’s too hot in the afternoon sun, here’s a lil project with instant gratification: Strip your kitchen of tired utensils, dirty-bottomed pots and pans, and dishes in the sink. Make your floors shine so they reflect sunlight and rays will bounce happily around the room. Head into your bathroom and hide excessive grooming products. Discard dingy towels. Dress your shower with a new curtain and hooks. Pull out the paper towels and make your mirror sparkle.

Natural light and a sparkly bathroom mirror do wonders.

The stripping continues in your bedroom (woohoo!). Get rid of all those piles of clothes, books and bottles of perfume. Bedrooms should evoke feelings of love and intimacy, sleep and peace. Whenever I make over a bedroom, I think about how I’d like to feel – safe, relaxed, free and calm. Make your bed look neat, clean and inviting. Invest in a gorgeous pillow and plush linens (see link to JV products) that pull together the room’s appeal. I don’t like to see dirty laundry, threadbare sheets or shoes lying about. Who does?

This stripped down bedroom says “Serenity Now…”

Creating a Symphony in Your Space

Gestalt: The theory in which context is considered vital to perception, in which things are described as more than the sum of their parts. Christian von Ehrenfels wrote an essay describing this in terms of music. When a melody is played in one key, and then in another, the listener recognizes the tune as the same song, even though the notes are entirely different. That’s because it’s the relationship of the notes to each other that give us the melody, the whole.
 
I believe that design is a function of gestalt. The feeling a buyer gets when she or he walks into a property is greater than the sum of the individual pieces of furniture in the room, greater than the individual pieces of art. It’s how it all works together, the gestalt; that is what we pursue. 

Think of the space you have on the market as notes to a song. Add more notes and elemental layers — artwork, paint, a rigorous cleaning — to create a symphony. In fact, hanging works of fine art can add a great deal to the overall feel of a property. Bold works of color add a feeling of energy, of finesse, of luxury that delights the buyer.

When staging a nearly $8 million loft on Bond Street that featured large walls and open spaces, I collaborated with an art gallery. Karen Boltax, of Boltax Gallery on Shelter Island, believes that art “completes the home.” She helped provide inspiration for filling up those blank walls — we chose works of art to elevate the condominium. I also collaborated with Condé Nast archives to obtain prints.

Artwork helps give a home its identity.

Boltax and I worked together to create an artistic feeling that would appeal to an art collector. “The walls needed to speak to a degree of sophistication and stature,” Boltax said. “I think the art provides that.” Boltax went on to say, “Artwork really can help identify a home and give it a gravitas that is immeasurable. I’ve had enormous success as an art dealer generating business through staging. I’ve rented or loaned artwork to clients many times. People buy the home and buy the art.”

Regardless of whether the property is as grand as the one we staged on Bond Street, here are some rules of the road for implementing my “Gestalt Design” theory:

Toss out the junk, clunk and clutter. If you don’t love it, buyers won’t either. Even if you do, ask yourself if the piece of furniture or design clutters the space or accentuates it. Throw unneeded pieces out, donate them to charity or put them in storage.

Clutter and dust-free equals stress-free!

Clean, clean, clean, and clean some more. I recommend hiring a cleaning service to shine floors, walls and lighting fixtures. Dust those light bulbs! Shine mirrors and windows!

Add artwork. Now that you have a clean, dust-free, clutter-free canvas, it’s time to fill up those walls! You can visit many a Manhattan gallery to find pieces to accentuate your walls. Depending on your budget, here are a couple additional options: The Affordable Art Fair is held twice a year in New York, Seattle and Los Angeles. 20×200 is a website featuring new art every week at reasonable prices. Yes!

This pop of color gives the dining room its spark

Once you’ve completed these steps, there’s only one question left to be answered: Is there a symphony waiting to be played in your home?

Stage like an Egyptian: Celebrity staging 101

Furniture is the foundation of any room. And when it comes to color, banish beige!  — Moi

I have to admit I enjoyed The Bangles back in the day. Remember when they sang “Walk like an Egyptian?” Well, I’m here to teach you how to Stage like a Celebrity.

Today I’m excited to share some fun tips when I staged a three-bedroom apartment for a celebrity actress who moved from LA to Manhattan to perform on Broadway. What a life, right? While I can’t share the exact photos with you, (that whole privacy thing- sorry!), here’s the amazing part — celebrity or not, anyone can use these tips to transform their home, whether you’re on the smallest budget or have some money to spend.

Here are a few of my “celebrity” staging tips:

Pay attention to furniture. When you are selling an apartment, it’s important to make sure everything is in good condition. You might use a piece of furniture in everyday life, but ask yourself — does each piece of furniture add or detract from the look and feel of the room? Does it clutter the space? If so, banish it to a storage area. In the living room, we started with a sofa and a bench, which served as the coffee table. You could use an actual coffee table (stools or cubes will work as well) to offset the couch.

Remove all unnecessary items in your living room for a clean, yet livable, space that buyers could imagine themselves in.

Next, think about style. Be clear on what style you like or want to convey, be it modern, traditional or contemporary. Have the courage to mix and match. In the bedroom, we mixed contemporary and country furnishings.

Country and contemporary can mix quite well together. Who knew?

Don’t forget color! Just because you are selling doesn’t mean you have to go beige. Banish beige (that should really be my mantra)! Begin with a nice whitewash paint on the walls, followed by white furnishings, bed comforters and accessories. THEN, layer in color with pillows and rugs, flowers and artwork.

Color turns drab into dramatic!

Lighting is critical. Wherever you have windows, make the most of the light. Remove heavy curtains and leave windows bare or replace heavy drapes with white or light curtains that let in the light. Clean windows, lamps and shades, and remove dust from light bulbs. You will be amazed at the brightening effect that cleaning all light fixtures and windows will give to a space.

Speaking of music, what about Let the Sunshine In!

Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression. As for the celebrity’s home we staged, she was delighted with the end result — nothing pleases me more than a happy client! Seeing a cluttered, drab property become a hot, fast sell which goes for more than asking price…. well, that’s just icing on the cake.

For more examples of my work, check out this staging project which was featured on NBC’s Open House.

Magic Wand Tips from Your Resident Fairy Godmother

A dream is a wish your heart makes when you’re fast asleep. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams, and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dreams that you wish will come true—Cinderella, 1950.

Cinderella believed in dreams, but she was also lucky enough to have a Fairy Godmother at her disposal. Do you ever wish you had one, too? She’d throw a little pixie dust around and transform your cluttered, dark, closed-in space into a sparkling, fresh, modern home? One that buyers are frothing to purchase?

Well, let me introduce myself — Jill Vegas, Resident Fairy Godmother, at your service. I’d love to share some of my favorite magic wand staging tips with you. 

For starters, clutter eats equity. My client Lisa (not her actual name) lives in a beautiful, sprawling pre-war apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The architectural details are simply gorgeous. However, there is clutter EVERYWHERE, making  it impossible for potential buyers to see the actual space.

A few examples:

-Piano in a narrow foyer = bad idea. This is true for any oversized furniture shoved into a tight space. Hello, claustrophobia. 
-An overflowing coat rack with rain coats, sweaters, hats, handbags = visual no-no. It’s a nice idea to have a coat rack but limit it to a few items.  
-Closets jam-packed with mismatched hangers and miscellaneous STUFF = no room for potential buyers to imagine their own items in closet. Use one style of hanger (recycle the wire dry cleaning hangers) and remove 2/3 of the contents inside. Nothing on the floors. Leave a shelf empty for the buyer’s imagination.

Re-do the bed. This is an easy, do-it-yourself MUST that will provide a five-star vibe in the bedroom. It’s like swapping out your tired winter jacket for a new summer dress. Breathe new life into your bedroom with new bedding. Pamper yourself with luxurious Italian sheets. Buy a new comforter and pillows for your bed. Buyers will love it.

If you get stressed over what bedding to purchase, I’ve recently partnered with an Italian manufacturer to create my own bedding collection for a no-fuss, no-stress solution when it comes to dressing your bed for maximum resale value. Check out this bedroom makeover if you need inspiration. 

Keeping with the de-cluttering theme, strip down your bedroom to the bare essentials — nothing under the bed. And get rid of everything you haven’t used in the last three months by donating to charity. The trick is to figure out the absolute essentials of the room. Everything else goes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the fresh, de-cluttered bedroom, such as the one pictured below, the room includes only a bed, a reading area and a nightstand. Keep things open and soft by hanging simple white sheers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once de-cluttered, try painting the room. For a dreamy, ethereal sleep, all white can be too stark. Layering-on textures makes the room inviting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or, create an instant reading nook. Find a nice chair or bench for sitting and reading, accompanied by a table and lamp. Voi·là. You can stack the New Yorker on the table and a good book or two (my favorites right now are short stories by Grace Paley).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fresh flowers are another way to bring the summer indoors. They add a burst of color and you can pick them up at any deli or grocery store.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here’s my advice — if you’re dreaming big like Cinderella but paralyzed at where to start, think about giving your room a quick update. Or, if you’re really stuck, give me a holler. Everyone needs a Fairy Godmother every once in a while.