A few years ago, the idea of ‘staging’ your house ahead of selling it might have seemed like a wild extravagance that is reserved for our friends across the pond (see Selling Sunset, where no house hits the market until it has been swathed in neutral fabrics and curvaceous furniture, and any practical appliances removed from the kitchen). More recently, however, the phenomenon has made its way to the UK and is now considered to be a valuable tool for securing a buyer. So valuable, in fact, that Tim Murray, Co-Founder of The Folio Group staging company describes it as ‘the best property marketing tool available to vendors’. But what is house staging? And is it really worth it? We speak to the experts.
‘In its bare basic form, home staging is preparing your property to go on the market for sale,’ explains Natalie Evans, Founder and CEO of staging company Little Barn Door and President of the Home Staging Association UK. ‘Unlike interior design, where you want to bring your personality into a space, home staging is about making it as appealing as possible to a potential buyer so they can picture themselves living there,’ she continues.
For Natalie, home staging is as much about psychology as it is about aesthetics: ‘A home stager needs to have a very good idea of who is going to buy the property and how they will use it. It is likely that the person buying the house will be at the same stage that you were at when you bought it: for example a young family will want to know there is enough space for children’, she explains, adding that in such instances, she may recommend that her clients transform disused rooms or hybrid storage-office rooms into bedrooms to meet the need.
For Alice Grimes, Senior Director at London-based home staging specialists BoxNine7, it is also about aesthetics. ‘We focus on subtle updates that enhance the space without overwhelming it. That could mean decluttering to allow light and flow, neutralising strong personal touches, or layering in soft furnishings that bring warmth and cohesion. Every decision made by asking “how can we help someone visualise this as their future home?”’
On neutralising strong personal touches, Natalie agrees. ‘I will immediately advise a client with a strong colour palette to tone it down,’ she says, explaining that the appeal of the house needs to be as ubiquitous as possible, and not everyone will love your feature wall as much as you do. Indeed, on a recent project, Alice advised a client to repaint the hallway – which was colour drenched in red – in a softer, less striking shade. Other things that scream ‘this is my house not yours’ should be removed, advises Tim, who suggests ‘storing away family photos and kids' artwork’.
The aforementioned clutter is also a common sticking point for home stagers. How is a potential buyer supposed to picture themselves spending Christmas Day in the sitting room, or hosting a dinner party in the kitchen if it is full to the brim with your miscellaneous odds and ends? Often, explains Tim, it is furniture that makes spaces look or feel over-stuffed: ‘overly large or old and damaged items can reduce the appeal of the property by making a room feel cluttered or dark. In such situations, we would remove and store this for the client before our design team reimagine the room,’ he says. Generally, the clearer the space, the more room for a buyer to picture their belongings in it: within reason. ‘Having a little life and personality is important. Staging can’t be clinical, it needs to feel lived-in,’ Natalie warns.
A light-touch home staging can be as simple as advising on colour, introducing a few soft touches such as textiles and cushions, or suggesting warmer light bulbs. Tim finds he is often instructing his clients to swap their shower curtain for a screen and renew the mastic round the bath and grouting in the shower. A more interventionist approach can extend to plumbing work (dripping taps are a big no-no), a complete redecoration and, in the case of unfurnished properties, adding key pieces of furniture to every room. But such services come at a price: BoxNine7’s services cost from £1 per square foot for a ‘part dress’, while Natalie suggests budgeting roughly 1-1.5 per cent of the guide price of the house (so a £500,000 property will cost around £5,000-£8,000 to stage it). Through Little Barn Door, she also offers a more economical ‘action plan’ for £350, which involves her visiting the property and creating a full report that details who the potential buyers will be and everything you need to do to get the property ready.
The question remains: is it worth it? According to the Home Staging Association, staged homes sold twice as fast as those which hadn’t been staged, a statistic that is also supported by BoxNine7’s New Homes Market Report, which also suggests that staged houses sell for between 4-6 per cent more than their unstaged counterparts.
If home staging is out of budget, don't worry. There are a few simple tweaks that you can make at home to stop it languishing on the market. Think of the below list as an easy, DIY mini-staging:
Home staging advice to get your house ready to sell
- Paint over any scuff marks on the walls
- Swap your shower curtain for a screen
- Refresh the grouting in the shower
- Lighting should be right: make sure light bulbs throughout the house are consistent in terms of kelvin, watts and warmth.
- Fix dripping taps.
- Don’t forget to consider the hallway - this is the place where potential buyers spend the most amount of time. Make sure it's tidy, well-lit and there aren't too many coats on hangers and shoes scattered across the floor.
- Put a mirror in the hallway - according to Natalie, ‘it is psychologically proven that if you see yourself in a home then you are more likely to put in an offer: a mirror allows a buyer to visualise themselves in the space.’
- Leave all the doors open to create the impression of space.
- Opt for plain, ironed sheets on the bed. If you want to add a little colour, layer on a fun cushion or a throw.
