12 years of brutally honest home staging advice

if I can go back in time
I would not waste money on fake flowers
setting dining room tables
or trying to stage an entire house for $100 yes
after 12 years of home staging
I Learned what actually works
and what just makes you feel tired and frustrated
in this video
I’m sharing the biggest time wasting mistakes
so you don’t have to
if you are a home seller or realtor
this will save you time money and maybe your sanity
hey there home sellers
welcome back my name is Kasha
and today
we are talking about some home staging advice
some brutally honest home staging advice
in the 12 years that I’ve been staging homes
and it’s been so many different experiences
lots of things that I’ve Learned over the years
that I hope you don’t fall into
making some of these mistakes as well
because I don’t wanna waste
have you wasting your time
or your money on things that don’t work
this just doesn’t help you in any way
so let’s jump right into it
number one
starting with a hundred dollar budget on staging
accessories yeah
this was actually my very first home staging
job that I had for a client
and what they wanted to do
I brought in some rental furniture and they said okay
well here’s a hundred bucks on
just accessories
that you need to kind of just spiff it up
well I didn’t know any better and I thought well
100 bucks should be fine yeah
little did I know that was so wrong
even though I went through a couple of places
that I checked prices and things like that
it’s not enough to get bedding that you need
because guess what
rental furniture does not come with bedding or pillows
or covers or anything like that
there’s no throw pillows or blankets
and things like this
just doesn’t make the house feel warm and inviting
layers staging needs layers
because clients think that furniture equals staging
it doesn’t you need accessories to finish the look okay
even if you go to rental store companies
or furniture stores right
you’ll see the dining table is set
or there’s a couch with a coffee table
and little plants and things like that
it’s not just the furniture right
they have little things to kind of help spiffy it up
right yeah
so accessories are critical
to transform a house into one that buyers will love
if you do a consultation with me
I do offer a list pricing list
of how much it could be for some accessories
maybe you do need new bedding
or maybe we do need some artwork
at the end of my consultation
I will break down the prices for you
and you can either go shopping them for yourself
and pick them out or I can get them
maybe we can find a place that can rent
out some of the items it really depends
on what the situation is
but this will now help you as a home seller
to understand that 100 bucks is not enough to get
just accessories
No.2 big fake blooms in the foyer are just tacky
yes unless they are very realistic faux plants
then they can just cheapen the staging
when you’re using those big blooms
like hydrangeas or something like that
it just just makes it look cheap OK
this one I had in a foyer for a client
and she had some fake ones
and at the time I was like
well yeah
and then afterwards I took pictures
I go yeah
that’s not looking so good
so especially when they’re not realistic colors
um yeah
so try
and the takeaway for this one is either use more faux
realistic looking greenery or use the real things okay
No.3 bath mats in the bathroom
now you may think that the
bath mats are there just to help
cover up the flooring in actuality
you’re hiding it
and I know some of you want to use it to
you know
have a bath mat when you step out of the shower
that’s perfectly fine
when you’re using the house and living in it right
but when it comes time to staging photos or showings
make sure you pick up those math mats
bath mats put them away
put them in a cabinet
so you can see the flooring and everything
in the bathroom because if you look at the bath mats
they actually tend to kind of make your
breaks up the flooring you don’t want that
you want them to see the whole floor
the beautiful tile that you have in that bathroom
No.4 no accessories now
I kind of talked about that
with a small budget of a hundred bucks yeah
this one house where I was help
trying to help them stage with rental furniture
which we brought in
they brought in just a bean bag in here to kind of
in the bonus room
it’s kind of like half staging or vignette staging
that’s not staging a house
or if you have like certain rooms that are staged
now I know some new construction houses
don’t wanna spend too much money on
every single room in the house right
so okay
now you may find
that the builders stage the four most important rooms
which I talked about in a previous video
but
you definitely don’t want to just have just a bean bag
in a big huge room
and that’s it yeah
that’s that’s not staging okay
I would just take that out and just leave it
and not even have it in there
because you’re kind of going
did somebody forget something in here
what’s going on
so using just half hazard or half staging yeah
no don’t don’t bother okay
just like I helped other home sellers
when staging their houses
I can help you as well
I do offer online home staging consultations
where I explain what needs to happen in each and every
single room of your house
now it can take up to 2 hours or less
but it’s all online and those are my recommendations
and they’re just that I highly recommend some changes
you know I may recommend things
you know maybe
if you have time or extra money to spend it on this
but I prioritize the list of changes for you
so that you know exactly what needs to happen
in each and every single room
so that it’s ready for your real estate photos
so if that’s something that you’re interested in
I do offer that my calendar online
it’s really easy I’ll leave the link in the show notes
so you can take a look at that
where you go online you check out my calendar
you pick a time and date
and then you can set up the zoom call with me
so we can help stage your house
my 50th birthday is coming up this month
so I am offering $50 off for this consultation
from now until July 31st
so if you are getting ready to sell your house soon
and you need some home staging help
I would love to help you out with that
check it out
I’ll leave the code in the link below as well
so you can get $50 off my home staging consultation
moving on to kids artwork
it can be a little too personal
now I had that where a homeowner said yeah
I can have the kids just kind of
do some splatter paint
or just some finger painting things or whatever
to kind of help cover up you know
just give some artwork on the walls yeah
it just turned out to be big blobs
just not it not professional looking
it screamed we still live here yeah
and you don’t want that
you want to make it clean and more design forward
neutral forward decor in the home
and not kids finger paintings
or other artwork that they may have felt very proud of
which is fantastic
but we’re not going to show that off
when it comes time to stage your home okay
get that ready for your next home
so you can take it there
and plan out your kids bedroom
with their favorite drawings
No.6 is non coordinating colors in the kids bedroom
now we’re still continuing on the kids theme here
I get it but if you have bedding that doesn’t go
you just have a random sheet with a random blanket
and then the wall colors are just
they’re just not coordinating
you need to make sure that at least
you can try and get something to make it a cohesive
look not just kind of thrown together well
it’s just a bed let’s just throw it in here
it should be fine
you’re gonna be taking pictures of the room okay
it makes the space look mismatched and uninviting
so the takeaway is that
you do need to create some harmony
even in the kids spaces
and replacing linens can be worth it
especially when you know
you can take it to your next home
another thing that a mistake that I’ve made was
artwork that was too small for the wall again
I was using what the homeowner had
and we tried to make it work
but in this space it just they were too far apart
they was too small for the wall and again
this is when I go through a consultation I say okay
we need some kind of artwork here
it needs to be this size whether it’s a big canvas
print or a mirror or something like that
and again
during my home station consultations I will tell you
you know maybe if you can find one
maybe you can borrow one from a friend
we can rent a piece out or maybe purchase one that way
then you can then use it for your next home
or maybe there’s something that you can use um
from a picture that you took yourself
maybe it’s a landscape picture
maybe it’s a favorite you know
a Mountain Top or something like that
maybe something from your travels
I had a client that had that and she had a beautiful
a picture on I think it was in Venice
so the river you know in going through Venice
something like that with some boats and some color
was enough that we just kind of blew up on some canvas
and she just loved it
because then she just took it to her next home
but it worked beautifully in the office
that we needed to stage it with
another mistake that I made was using fresh flowers
like those you know
sometimes you’ve been told oh
flowers are great
if you could put in the kitchen or the foyer
well if you pick the wrong ones
like I did in the beginning
um yeah
they make a mess
and sometimes they can be a strong scented flower
like lilies while lilies are a beautiful flower
they have such a beautiful vibrant blooms
they can create a mess the pollen that comes off of it
I actually had one florist tell me
you know what if you pull out the
the stems from the inside
the pollen won’t make a mess
and sure you can do that too
but but then they die quickly
you gotta pay attention you know
if you have them somewhere for a front foyer
for maybe your open house or a showing
that’s fine but otherwise
you may just want to stick with just greenery
green plants that don’t bloom
and that would be enough for you
to help you stage your house
so don’t necessarily spend money on fresh flowers
and putting them in the vase when they’re gonna die
and wilt anyway and make a mess
maybe have a potted greenery plant
like a snake plant or a ZZ plant
or any of those easy to take care of ones
um that you can have in your house okay
and then finally setting the dining room table now haha
some people think that fully
setting the dining room table
with plates
and glasses and napkins seem to be a good idea
but really
it looks staged in a bad way and you don’t want that
it’s unnaturally natural sorry
unnatural and overly formal and we don’t want that okay
buyers don’t connect with that
that’s not how you live in the house
so why would you set the table in your house
when you’re selling it okay
so the takeaway is to skip the full feast
you know setting on your dining room table
and use a simple centerpiece or a runner on the table
and that’s it
nothing going into the model home territory okay
we don’t wanna go into that
let the space feel open and inviting
and not really staged you want them to feel inviting
and sit down and take a look at your home okay
so if any of these mistakes made you cringe
I know or reminded you of a listing that you’ve seen
you’re not alone
home staging is powerful when it’s done right
but I want you to avoid the same mistakes that I made
so that’s why I listed them here
in this video don’t wanna waste your time
or money on doing some of these things
and you’re thinking oh well
I should have done that yep
nope check that off the to do not do list OK
so if you this video helps you
please give it a thumbs up
I’d love to hear from you
if you have any comments of
maybe you did see some of these things
leave it in the show notes below
I’d love to hear from you
and don’t forget to grab my home staging consultation
with the $50 off the consultation
from now until the end of July 31st of
so that you can make sure that you grab it
and get an appointment with me
so I can help you stage your house
so that you can sell it faster
if you got a question
or a staging horror story of your own
again drop it in the comments
I’d love to hear it
and I hope you have a fantastic week
and we’ll talk to you later bye