declutter

I know that people always wonder where home stagers keep and store the items they use in homes. Storing furniture is one thing, but what about all of the accents, vases, books, lighting, art, fake plants, dishes, glassware, fake tvs…where is that kept?

Many home stagers will tell you these items are kept EVERYWHERE – their living room, garage, basement, guest room…and that is pretty much true. Fortunately for me, I have a back porch, formerly known as a sleeping porch, which quickly turned into fabulous home staging storage space. It is small – only about 7 ft wide by 10 ft deep so I try to maximize the space as best I can. I was elated to gain two industrial storage shelves, donated from local foundation who is remodeling its offices. I have taken my time to re-arrange and review items in this space and make it more functional. Take a peek!

This picture obviously highlights one of the donated bookcases, cleaned up and lined with contact paper and ready for work! already filled to the brim!

Yes, my bike is still in the space – but I found a way to use the empty air space and reduce the amount of floor space that it uses. And the boxes sitting on the table (on the right) are sitting on my working table – where I can table scape, wrap and unwrap items and the like.  This represents about 40% of my inventory – I still have large art in the hallway, linen in an upstairs closet (space bags to the rescue) and a warehouse full of furniture about 5 miles away! whew!

Whoops – we did it again! We staged another vacant home in Takoma Park Maryland and to our surprise, it was under contract in only 2 weeks!  Now, this house was recently renovated, in the ever popular Takoma Park, but the entry living room and dining room might have been visually challenging to the everyday buyer.  The dining room was much larger than expected in the size house while the living room was a bit smaller than expected.  Also, there was a decent size eat-in kitchen so the dining room seemed to be even larger. Check out the photos for more details…

dining room before

vacant living room/space

But with decorative accessories, art, furniture and creativity, we were able to translate these empty spaces into a feeling of home. We must have done something right because someone fell for it pretty quickly!  Of course, the location and price may have helped a bit too – we know all of these factors must be present for a quick sale.

living room/space AFTER

Dining room AFTER view 1

Dining Room AFTER view 2

We really enjoy staging vacant homes in the DC and Maryland areas – especially when they go under contract so quickly!  Of course, they are not all recently renovated or in Takoma Park, but we can help you sell them anyway!   If you are a realtor or investor and have vacant properties in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Rockville, Potomac-and DC,  we would love to help you sell them fast. We want to ‘manage the staging while YOU manage the SALE!’

Sure, I know that Nate Berkus has done numerous spots on Oprah, and encourages people to decorate and redecorate their home. As an interior decorator myself, I like his simple yet highly functional makeovers and room designs. You can tell the rooms that he designs are for real people.




But where this home stager gets real inspiration is the use of accents and decorative items to make the rooms feel personal and comfortable. That is what motivated me to purchase his book and use his ideas for home staging in the Washington DC area.  My company specializes in staging vacant homes and condos so I am always looking for ways to use accents and decorative items creatively. Below are a few of the ideas I have gleamed from Nate Berkus and am slowly working the products and ideas into our staged rooms!

Typically personal photos are a no-no but I use photos of famous celebrities and their families sparingly in the units to surprise folks. Mostly black and white photos that I grab from various photo books or maybe a good magazine shot.




Below, we have a nice view of a room using traditional accents in a non-traditional way. The tray on the wall instead of on a table and the dried sea urchin on the table give the room a nice earthy and natural feel. Looks great as always! Appreciate that Nate can continue to keep it real, and not make everything seem out of reach/magazine styled, which is perfect for staging use as well!