Staging your own home: What not to do Philadelphia PA

Home staging has hit the big time, with multiple television shows chronicling homeowners’ attempts to make their homes more attractive to potential buyers. But what if you want to stage your own home without the benefit of an attractive TV host, a crew of experts and their free labor?

Since there are so many experts telling you what to do if you’re staging your home yourself, let’s focus instead on what NOT to do:

Don’t get overly attached to your things
 “We buy all our furnishings and accessories because we love them. We have a tendency to think everyone else loves them, too, and that’s just not true,” says Barbara Jennings, author of several home-staging guides including “Home Staging for Yourself.” Look at your furnishings with a critical eye and remove anything that doesn’t complement each room’s best features.

Don’t show an empty house
Buyers have a hard time visualizing themselves living in a vacant home, says Jennings, who also is president of Decorate-Redecorate in Huntington Beach, Calif. Stage a few items to suggest uses for each room – perhaps a cradle and changing table in a small bedroom, or an intimate dinette in the kitchen -- and warm up what would otherwise be a bleak house. Also, she says, use some common sense and repaint.

Don’t arrange all the furniture along the walls
Jennings calls it “perimeter decorating,” or “circling the wagons.” Basically, the walls are lined with furniture and the center of the room is empty. “It’s generally not attractive, and it’s not appealing.”

Instead, she says, design a layout around the room’s focal point, like a bay window or a fireplace. “I don’t care how old the furniture is or how dinged up, I can turn it into a very charming place,” Jennings says.

Don’t make things worse in a problem room
Meghan Robinson, owner of Meghan’s Inspired Interiors in Dallas, recalls a client who tried to minimize the look of outdated ceramic bathroom tile by putting in a neutral rug and towels. It didn’t work.

“I used that color of blue and made it part of the room,” purchasing decorative soaps and a rug to match the blue and some fresh, white towels, she says. The resulting blue-and-white bathroom had a charming retro look instead of an outdated look and turned the negative into a positive.

Don’t forget curb appeal, even at night.
Obviously, the yard should be well-tended and the shrubbery trimmed to show off the house. But Jennings reminds you to leave the porch light on at night so the house looks warm and cozy if prospective buyers drive by in the evening.

Don’t get overly creative with the exterior
Robinson recalls some friends who painted the trim on a brick house blue in a case of attempted curb appeal gone awry. It stood out, she says, and not in a good way, clashing with the other homes in the neighborhood.

“They wanted it to look new and special, and in the end it was a deterrent” to buyers, she says. Your home should fit into its surroundings, she says.

“People get stumped in their own home,” Robinson adds. “A neighbor or friend can usually help.”

Chances are, if you paint the trim blue on a red-brick house, you’ll be hearing from them anyway.