When it’s time to stage a property to sell, there’s a lot to consider. Furniture selection and placement, lighting, and attention to small details make a big difference in how a property photographs. Staging helps improve the flow of the home and highlights the best features of the property while helping buyers envision themselves living there. But one aspect of staging that often gets overlooked is the artwork. Art pieces say a lot about a property, and the right staging strategy ensures it says the right things.
Here are four things to consider when choosing artwork for home staging:
Stay Neutral
The whole goal of staging is to help buyers envision themselves in a particular place. You should include neutral pieces and design elements that pretty much everyone can relate to. Bold religious or political pieces make a statement that can be hard for buyers to ignore. Instead of imagining how they would live and work in a space, they’re focused on how the bold statement pieces make them feel.
Stick with abstract art, nature-themed decor, landscapes, or still life silhouettes. Choose pieces that flow with the room but could also go unnoticed. You want buyers to focus on the layout, the design, and the size of the home, not artwork that will distract from it.
Keep Size In Mind
Staging is all about flow and balance, and the artwork you choose plays a significant role in the fluidity of the space. Large art pieces and mirrors in small spaces can make a room feel small, and small pieces on big walls can make a room look incomplete. If you want to get technical, expert interior designers recommend using art pieces that are two-thirds to three-fourths smaller than your furniture. If your statement furniture piece measures 60 inches, stick with artwork between 40-45 inches. This will help make the room feel balanced.
While you’re thinking about size, you should also consider orientation. Take note of the shape of your wall. If you’re trying to find the perfect piece for a vertical wall in between two windows, consider a painting or decorative piece with a portrait orientation to create the illusion of more height. Most artwork should fall right at eye level or 4-12 inches above the top of the furniture.
These details won’t make or break a home staging strategy, but they may help you decide which piece to place where.
Think About The Theme
As buyers walk through the home, you want them to feel a sense of consistency and continuity. This doesn’t mean you have to have the same works by the same artist throughout the home, but mixing drastically different art styles can make the home feel choppy instead of cohesive. Think about how the frames, art styles, and color schemes blend throughout the home. Beach-themed decor makes sense at a beach house, but it could be confusing in a more rustic home or a modern apartment. The right artwork and decor choices will increase the perceived value of the home, and help sell the lifestyle. Give each room an identity, but select pieces that will help tie all of the rooms into each other.
Don’t Get Personal
You may love your collage wall of family photos, but your personal photos should not be on display if you’re trying to be strategic about staging. Again, the whole goal of home staging is to help buyers see themselves living in this home. This is difficult when all they see are pictures of people who are currently living there. Take these precious family mementos down while you’re staging and replace them with more neutral pieces that resonate with a more general audience.
Many sellers have a strong opinion about home staging: they either love it or they hate it. But it’s important to remind sellers that home staging has nothing to do with their personal design style and everything to do with what can be done to show off the home’s best features to the widest audience.
If home staging and interior design are not your strengths, connect with Kanox’s team of expert interior designers today. This team of design professionals can guide you through the staging process so that you choose artwork and pieces that help your property shine (and sell!)
