The Psychology Behind Why Luxury Home Stagers Do What We Do

Have you ever looked at listing photos and wondered why a stager placed an accent chair off to the side, away from the sofa? Or why they left a shelf or two empty on a bookcase? We are here to tell you that there was most likely a psychological reason behind their choice. A scientific purpose that appeals to potential buyers coming into that listing. We wanted to share a few of our favorite tricks of the trade.

Bring plants inside! Two of my go-to items when it comes to accessorizing any home are books and plants. I love the color they bring in, and also the various ways you can layer them with other pieces. Greenery and florals tie in directly with the exterior of the house and property. Using bright green tones inside triggers your brain to think of grass and landscaping outside, leading your eyes to connect with the windows and your brain to connect the two spaces. This is key because when buyers are looking at listings, they aren’t just purchasing the house, they are getting the land too! This same concept is why it is important to also bring furniture outside on decks and patios, tying in the exterior with the interior once again.

Focal points Give the buyer’s eye a thoughtful purpose in each space. It would be overstimulating for a buyer to walk into a living room with two fireplaces, a full gallery wall of artwork, a wall full of windows, four sofas forming a circle, or with plants everywhere. It’s hard to imagine isn’t it? Probably because your brain has a hard time processing that much information all at the same time. Each space needs to have its own focal point – a place for your eye to focus on and everything else should complement it.

Depersonalizing is the most dreaded task of all sellers. No matter how many times I say it, it never makes the process any easier. The truth of the matter remains, as soon as you decide to sell the house it is not longer your home. Buyers don’t want to feel as if someone else is living in their potential home! This is why we focus special emphasis on taking down personal photos and monograms. These instantly label the house as yours, rather than theirs.

Remove any additional storage solutions like over the door hangers and over the toilet shelves. These make a buyer think that the house does not have enough built-in storage as is, even if it really does and you just have those pieces for ease of convenience. It doesn’t matter. You only have one chance to make a first impression and you need to make it count!

No matter what you do, there will always be a negative to every property! Highlight the selling features and don’t focus on the little flaws. The perfect statement entry chandelier to one person could be the most inconvenient bulb replacement to the next. 

Even people who build their custom dream home, end up saying there are things they would change after a few years. You can not please everyone, so just focus on drawing attention to the best features of the house. 

Traffic patterns are crucial! If someone can’t walk through a home, they won’t fully enjoy their experience and they will not purchase the house. This is why furniture placement is one of the first things we look at when we get a new luxury staging. If you have three walls in a living room and the “fourth wall” is open to the Kitchen or Dining Room, it would not make sense to put the back of a sofa facing the opening. This would instantly block the visual space entering the room. If your space only two walls, then you mostly likely will have to place the back of the sofa on one of the open walls in order for it to face the TV.

Mirrors create an illusion of bigger and brighter spaces. Typically I love to place mirrors on the wall adjacent to another wall with a window. When the light comes through the window, it reflects off of the mirror and back into the rest of the space. This visually balances the space on both the window wall and mirror wall. This is the same reason that your headboard wall in a bedroom is typically the wall next to a wall with a window as well.

The most commonly shared home staging and design “secret” is the Rule of 3. Simply put, the rule of three stems from the fact that your eyes are drawn to odd numbered increments. Your eyes and brain naturally love symmetry, compared to asymmetrical groups of three. This odd number of items causes you to stop and stare for a bit, even if unintentionally, whereas symmetrical items aren’t given a second glance. For example, using a tall vase next to a medium sized floral with a small object on top of 3 books stacked horizontally is more interesting to look at, than two matching vases side by side on a shelf. Your eyes skim past the matching vases, but catches on the group of three. This is also why we use a combination of these when doing large built-ins so that you are not too overwhelmed, but still visually interested.

One of my favorite things about staging is that most of these tricks make sense when explained. We understand how extra over the door hangers could cause a buyer to think the space lacks storage, or that you wouldn’t want to back up a sofa in the path of travel into a living room. That being said, these are not ways we suggest living in your space on a day-to-day basis. And this is okay! Staging is meant to be that bridge between your time at a house and the new homeowners move into the home.

To learn more more EED Luxury Home Staging tips and tricks, check out 7 Easy Trick You Need To Use When Accessorizing Your Built-Ins and Super Simple Steps YOU Can Implement Before Photos – Tricks From Our Verbal Consultations. New blogs are posted every two weeks! If you have a topic you would like us to talk about, shoot us a message on one of our social media platforms or email us to let us know! You can also always reach us at 515-986-1895 or office@ElizabethErinDesigns.com if you need more info!

Until next time!