Last week, I helped a realtor stage a home in lakeway. The home owners were in the process of packing, so there wasn’t a whole lot we could do. Nevertheless, we made a huge impact. Two living areas went from small and cramped to spacious and open, from not ready to be listed to staged to sell – simply by rearranging the furniture! Look around your own home. Is it like walking through an obstacle course to get from one room to another? Do you have something blocking a room’s best feature, like a fireplace or large window? Read on.
Whether staged to sell, or staged to live — All rooms must have a focal point
All rooms must have a focal point and typically it is the purpose of the room. In the living room it is a fireplace (or other architectural feature) or the entertainment center, the bedrooms is the bed and the dining rooms is, you guessed it, the dining table. Do you have a difficult room and not sure what the focal point is? What is the first thing your eyes fall on when you enter the room – a large window maybe? If there isn’t a focal point, make one- for instance with a great piece of art on a large wall, think big and bold- an attention getter. Personally I love the one below!
(http://www.interiorphotography.us/simple-living-room-with-lake-view-lake-union-float-home.htm)
To design a room, place the largest piece first
The largest piece should be arranged in relationship to your focal point. The other pieces are “support staff”; chairs, loveseat, end tables, coffee tables, sofa tables, etc. are arranged next. Now step back and take a look, are the pieces balanced? If your room was on a raft in the middle of a lake (Lake Travis of course), would it tip over?
If a room is out of balance or scale (more about this later) it will never feel quite right. A room’s furnishing should be somewhat even.
Well designed homes have a nice flow
Would we be able to float peacefully from one space to another on our raft in your home? Or would it be more like navigating through rapids of end tables and chairs?
Traffic flow is an important aspect of every home. If it feels awkward walking through a room or from one space to another, you can bet it looks awkward too. The major traffic pathways should be at least four feet and less trafficked areas, at least 18 inches.
Of course these are only a few of the basics, which leaves much more to come. Ah…the decorating we can do with accessories, rugs, throws, paint and on and on! I would love to hear from you on this topic or anything else you’d like to explore!