The 5
Senses of Staging a House –
a Sensible and Sensational Idea!
By Jennie Norris, APS
Master®, Owner, Sensational Home Staging
Denver Region's Premier Home Staging Resource
I read something recently that caught
my attention as it talked about how our 5 senses – SIGHT, SMELL, TOUCH, HEARING, TASTE – engage as we look at houses,
or rather how they don’t engage if the seller has not deliberately put things
out to make that happen or has not bothered to prepare their house for sale.
I thought
about this – and as a professional Home Stager – I realized this is what I do
every time I work with a Seller and on a house to Stage it for sale. But there is an imbalance with some Staging
out there – where the focus is really on ONE sense – SIGHT and the others are sort
of forgotten.
Let’s take a
look at what a complete sensory Staging would be like. . .
Before we
take a look at what happens with Staging, let’s consider the flip side - when a
Seller does NOT prepare their house for sale and what a Buyer might
experience within their 5 senses.
SIGHT:
Cluttered and dirty houses are a turnoff to Buyers. If the house is not picked up it says, “I
don’t care about my house.” If a Buyer
sees too many personal things, they feel like they are invading someone’s space
and they are uncomfortable and will leave.
If they see all the Seller’s things it not only distracts them from just
being able to take in each room as a whole, it also could turn them away if the
items are too personal, tacky, or just plain odd.
SMELL:
Do I really have to mention that ANY unpleasant odor, aroma, or smell in
a house is not a good thing for Selling?
If a Seller is unsure whether their house has a smell that is
unpleasant, tell them to ASK any number of people that do not live there. The most common culprits are cooking odors,
pet odors, cigarette smoke odors, old house, and mildew smells but it could even be too
much fragrance or plug-ins that cloister the senses. However, most people are afraid to tell them
the truth, and that is where the Home Stager can help.
TOUCH:
This can go a couple of ways, but let’s first start with the touch that
ends up with sticky residue on your hands – that is a house that needs
cleaning! Buyers are going to open
doors, cupboards, and touch things as they go through the house. Buyers will also consider the furniture in
the house, and if touching it gets a reaction like “EWW” – that is not a good
thing. Threadbare, torn or tattered is
not a good look for any Seller hoping to attract a Buyer and give them the
belief that, “Hey I took great care of this house – just look at how well I
cared for my furniture!”
HEARING:
We cannot always control the noise outside of our houses – traffic,
dogs, construction, but we can control the noise inside. A faucet that sounds like a Mack truck engine
when you turn it one says, “There is something gravely wrong with the plumbing
in this house.” Squeaky hinges, doors
that drag on the floor, and in general any noise that advertises the age of the
house is not a good thing for Selling.
TASTE:
This one really does not pertain to pre-Selling so we’ll just skip this
one for now and go right into the recommendations for when the house is Staged.
It’s easy to incorporate
all 5 Senses in a positive way when Staging and Selling a House. This can be done with Occupied or Vacant
houses for sale and is a key process that ensures a Buyer has a complete
experience in the house. . .
SIGHT:
Make sure the house is light and bright.
Open up windows where there is a view to show off, and minimize any
unattractive views with blinds or strategically placed objects. Make sure the house is very CLEAN and also
DEPERSONALIZED as far as collections, personal items (bills, medicine), photos,
and anything that could be a potential distraction for a Buyer. Any brightly painted walls should be painted
a warm neutral color. Walls that are too
dark actually make the room feel smaller as it closes the room in . . . And
when a Seller does not paint, they are eliminating a large portion of the Buyer
pool who don’t like that color, it does not go with their stuff, and they don’t
to have to paint when they move in! They’ll just go buy something else that
is ready for them and does go with their things, a.k.a. NEUTRAL.
However, we
need and want COLOR and NATURE for visual appeal in Staging. Accent décor and greenery, artwork that draws
a person closer, and other fun whimsical displays are good for Staging and
Selling.
Do not make
your house so stark and plain that all the pizzazz is gone. This is taking the “de-cluttering” too far –
and now your house is cleared out but it’s Boring.
TIP: Your Home Stager will know what to do in
each room to make it visually stimulating and appealing to draw the buyer in
and want to see more! They can use your
things or enhance what you have with décor, but the plan should be to keep or
add pizzazz but allow the Buyer to take each room in its entirety and not be
distracted by décor or too much. There
is a fine balance your Home Stager can help you achieve.
SMELL:
We want houses on the market to smell good – fresh and inviting. For showing houses Realtors often use the
baked cookies or bread trick or the cinnamon simmering on the stove trick . . .
but Buyers can detect if there are other underlying aromas. This is where a house must be CLEAN – and
there is no concession here – we don’t want smells –urine, dirty clothes, smoke
smell, cooking odors, mold or mildew smells in the house. Once the smells are eliminated, the house
should smell fresh and clean – and be kept that way while the house is on the
market. There are products that
eliminate odors for good as long as they are not reintroduced.
When others
may be afraid to tell the truth about odors in a house that is coming on the
market, a professional Home Stager owes it to the Seller to tell them the truth. Those
that are trained understand how to couch
their message in kindness so they don’t offend – and yet if we don’t tell
the truth and the house does not sell because of this issue, we did not do our
job.
TIP: Ask your Home Stager what they recommend as
a permanent solution for challenging aromas. There are inexpensive yet effective products
that are odor eliminators, as well as machines that can be used.
TOUCH:
The house should look “plush” and inviting. There should be soft surfaces along with the
hard – and this relates to the furniture.
A bed can have a comforter, but why not add some accent pillows and a
throw as well to create layers of softness?
If a Seller has a collection of Adirondack
furniture throughout the house, they need to possibly minimize the collection,
and for sure bring in accent pillows or cushions, and silk trees or plants to
help soften all that wood. Not that a
Buyer is going to sit in a Seller’s couch, but we want them to feel like each
room is inviting them in to experience more. By the same token if the Seller
has a bunch of overstuffed couches, bean bags, or large floor pillows, we want
to bring in some structured furniture to help add strength and solidness to the
room, otherwise we feel like we are sinking.
Throughout the house there should be a balance of hard and soft, plush
and streamlined.
TIP: An experienced Home Stager will know what to
do in each room, how to make the most of what a Seller already has, and bring
in any needed décor to complete the look.
HEARING:
Showing houses agents will often play music – and I think that is a good
thing to create an atmosphere that is pleasant and inviting. There are other audible enhancements that are
appealing to buyers as well. A water
feature is enticing and relaxing – consider putting one in the Master bath or a
larger one in the courtyard or back patio.
Sellers need to fix all the squeaks and groans in the house they can
before it comes on the market. You
cannot “Stage away” traffic or construction noise, but you can minimize it by
having another sound distract from it. This
helps a buyer to know, “Even though there is some exterior noise, I could still
live here if I had this water feature.”
Help them to know how to override what may be a potential detraction to
buying the house.
TIP: Your Home Stager can provide a creative
solution or idea to help override a potentially negative sound. They cannot “Stage away” the issues, but they
can help come up with a plan that will minimize or eliminate the issue.
TASTE:
Of the 5 senses this one is probably the least utilized when Staging as
most of the time we are not using real food as props that are supposed to be
eaten. However, when Showing a house, it’s fun to have cookies or fruit and
refreshing drinks for Buyers. Stagers can
use faux prop food for a look – such as parfaits or small cakes, faux fruit or
even faux champagne in glasses, but these are props. Some Stagers can use real fruit as a prop –
but with most it’s not to be eaten. To
get this 5th sense involved with Buyers the Seller or Realtor will
have to provide the delicious snack that gets that last sense engaged, or a
team partner Stager can bring cookies and lemonade for the open house – and get
that last sense checked off!
Let’s face it – the market is
competitive and to get the Sale
you want within the timeframe you need, you owe it to yourself and your house
to engage all 5 senses for the Buyer.
The Results? A SENSATIONAL
Sale . . . When
Buyers make a 5 senses connection to a house it is more likely to become their
HOME and the Seller will achieve their goals as well of selling versus sitting
on the market.
