A few plumes in a vase, a laid table and some cushions on the sofa. For many people, that's still what comes to mind with home staging. For us, it actually has very little to do with that. It makes my skin crawl.
Contents
- Nicely furnished is not the same as well presented
- Sightlines determine how big a house feels
- Every space needs a clear function
- Our brain loves calm, but not emptiness
- Feng Shui, too, is surprisingly often about logical layout
- Light is free square metres
- Why this ultimately affects the selling price
- So for us, home staging isn't decoration
Good home staging starts much earlier. We look at how a house is experienced when someone walks in for the first time. Which room immediately draws attention? Where does your eye go? Are the functions of the rooms clear? Are the proportions of the furniture right? Does daylight come in well, and are the home's best features actually being seen?
The aim isn't to make a house look as styled as possible. The aim is to present the house as well as possible to as large a group of buyers as possible. Because the more people see a home's qualities and potential, the more people can imagine living there. And the bigger the group of serious interested parties, the stronger your starting position in the sale.
Nicely furnished is not the same as well presented
You furnish your own home for the way you live. Maybe it's always just the two of you at dinner, so there's a small table, while a table for eight would easily fit. Most people want the biggest dining table possible. The feeling that all your friends and family fit around the table. Maybe you use a bedroom as storage space, or the sofa is in a spot that's practical for you but blocks the view of the garden.
There's nothing wrong with that while you live there. When selling, though, we look from a different perspective. We want to show what a space can be and how many possibilities a house has.
That's why we sometimes remove furniture, but sometimes actually add something. An overfull room can look smaller, but an almost empty room can have the same effect, because a buyer has no reference for scale. The buyer then can't properly judge what fits and what doesn't. There's no good feel for the proportions. A good furniture arrangement helps your brain understand how big a space is and which functions fit in it.
That's also a key principle of Frida Ramstedt. In her book The Interior Design Handbook (highly recommended) she doesn't so much explain which things to buy, but above all why an interior feels balanced. Proportions, scale, circulation space, lighting and the relationship between pieces of furniture matter more than trends or accessories. We use the principles from her book for the perfect styling. That's not always about the trendiest house. But it is about a house that feels right and is in balance. Although it's still true that the more VT Wonen (the Dutch interiors magazine) your house looks, the better it sells.
Sightlines determine how big a house feels
In interior design we call these sightlines and walking lines. By placing furniture, lighting and styling deliberately, you can guide the eye, emphasise depth and make a space feel bigger or, on the contrary, more intimate. Empty areas are just as important as filled ones. They create transition, movement, rhythm and calm.
Just look at what you see when you walk into a living room. If you look straight at the garden, a beautiful fireplace or the light at the other end of the room, your eye is drawn further into the room as if by itself. If there's a tall cabinet or the back of a sofa in the middle of that sightline, the effect stops. As a result, you're not making the most of the space.
That's why moving a single piece of furniture can sometimes do more than a completely new interior. In smaller spaces we like to keep important sightlines clear and try to let in as much daylight as possible. The relationship between the furniture and the space also plays a part. Oversized furniture can make a room feel cramped, while lots of small pieces create restlessness.
Every space needs a clear function
During a viewing, a buyer has only limited time to understand a house. The less they have to puzzle out for themselves, the better.
A small room full of boxes may be a bedroom on paper, but it isn't automatically experienced as one. Put a properly sized bed in it and suddenly someone sees a child's room or a guest room. It's no coincidence that we have all sorts of small furniture to give a house that little bit extra. A fake double bed, a small desk, bedside tables etc. With a desk, a forgotten corner can show that working from home is perfectly possible. With the right furniture arrangement, a large open space can suddenly show clearly where living, dining and cooking take place.
So we're not trying to fill every square metre. Above all, we want every square metre to tell a logical story. That way we show that, even with the scarce space we have in Utrecht, you can live as well as possible.
That's also why, during preparation, we look at how the light comes in, existing functions, furniture, striking features, and the strengths and weaknesses of a space. That way you can highlight exactly the elements that make a house special.
Our brain loves calm, but not emptiness
This is where home staging also gets interesting from a neuromarketing perspective. Our brain scans a space lightning-fast and tries to make sense of everything it sees. The more competing stimuli there are, the more information has to be processed. Research into spatial perception shows that excessive visual complexity can increase cognitive load, while a certain amount of decoration actually adds to attractiveness.
That's exactly the balance we're looking for. A completely empty, cold house usually doesn't help, but neither does a space where every surface is cluttered. Too many bright colours create restlessness. But an all-beige interior is too boring.
That's why we prefer to group accessories rather than scatter them everywhere, and we work with different heights, materials and shapes. A few carefully chosen elements often bring more calm and atmosphere than twenty loose accessories.
We also look at things like tall dinner candles, for example. Our brains know how tall they are and automatically work out that distance. So it can be smart to put beautiful tall candles on the table under a lamp. Then our brains automatically know there's enough height.
Only then come the flowers, the cushions and perhaps that lovely bowl on the table. Not as a trick, but as a final layer for a little extra atmosphere and cosiness.
Feng Shui, too, is surprisingly often about logical layout
Feng Shui may sound a bit removed from estate agency, but a number of its principles align remarkably well with good spatial layout. People who know me better know that I'm extremely down-to-earth. But because of my illness I really did go down every alternative route. My dearest Chinese massage ladies once told me about it, and I started delving into it.
Later, during a viewing, there was a lady who even walked around with a Feng Shui compass. That might be going a bit far for many people. But you'll understand many of the principles, and you'll feel straight away that they work.
Clear walking routes, a clear entrance, an overview from important seating spots and avoiding obstructions all play a role.
The so-called commanding position is a well-known example. A bed, desk or seat is placed so that you can see the entrance without sitting directly in line with the doorway, preferably with a solid backdrop behind you. In Feng Shui, this is linked to calm and overview.
We don't necessarily have to call it Feng Shui to recognise the same effect. A sofa with its back to the entrance can close off a space, while a different position can actually connect the living room, kitchen and garden. An entrance cluttered with coats and shoes feels smaller and less inviting than one where you can immediately look further into the house.
For example, we often give the tip of hanging the coats on the coat rack on clothes hangers. That alone makes coming in feel a lot more spacious and calm.
Light is free square metres
Well, almost. Light hugely determines how we experience a space. Natural light influences how big a room feels, how colours come across and where our attention goes. That's why, with home staging, we look not only at furniture, but also at window coverings, windowsills and anything that blocks light or a sightline.
We don't try to fix a dark room by simply switching on lamps everywhere. In fact, with the lamps on it often looks even darker. Sometimes it already helps enormously to open heavy curtains further, to remove a piece of furniture from in front of the window or to deliberately include a dark corner in the lighting. There are special daylight lamps that really give a different effect.
Material plays a part too. Smooth, light surfaces reflect light, while matt, soft materials give more warmth and a sense of security. A good space usually needs both.
Why this ultimately affects the selling price
A beautiful photo alone won't get you a higher selling price. It's not that simple. But the presentation does influence how many people get excited about a house.
And that starts before anyone has even been inside. Someone sees a house on Funda, looks at the photos and decides within a few seconds whether they want to look further. Then, during the viewing, the house has to confirm that same feeling. If rooms are logical, qualities are immediately visible and someone can easily picture themselves living there, you increase the chance that they become seriously interested.
For us, that's where the real value of home staging lies. A strong sale doesn't only come about when the bids come in. You build your negotiating position in everything that happens before that. The asking price, presentation, photography, copy, viewing and styling together determine how many people want your house.
And with one interested party you can negotiate very well, but several enthusiastic buyers give you a completely different position.
That also fits with Chris Voss's negotiating philosophy in his book Never Split the Difference. A favourite of all of us. He says: ‘First make sure your position is strong before you start negotiating. You don't want to have to split the difference at the end because you didn't create enough demand at the start.’
So for us, home staging isn't decoration
We don't want someone to think during a viewing: what a nice vase. (OK, that's nice too) We want someone to think: what a lovely living room, this house is surprisingly spacious and I can see myself living here.
That's why we look at functions, sightlines, walking routes, light, scale, proportions and calm. We remove what distracts and add what helps people understand a space better. A home's character remains important, because a house doesn't need to become beige and impersonal to appeal to a large target group.
The art is to show what's already there. Because ultimately, we don't sell an interior. We make sure as many buyers as possible understand why this particular house is special. And the more buyers see and feel that, the greater the chance of the best selling price.
With us, home staging is always included. After the introductory meeting you'll receive a styling plan for each room with our tips. When the photos are taken, there's always an estate agent present who helps add the finishing touches and brings enough items to complete your home, so that we present it as well as possible. Would you like to know what we'd change in your home for the best presentation for the sale of your house? Great! We'd love to come round.
