Pretty Pics

The key to having good photos for a web site or other marketing materials is to take lots of photos--a cheap easy thing to do in the age of digital photography.

Here are are some photos of staged rooms that didn't make it onto a web site or promotional flyer. But these "extra" photos are perfect to illustrate some of the key principles of staging. Bedrooms, always benefit from staging--it's much easier to imagine furniture layout in a room that already has some furniture. This bedroom also had a loft area perfect for an office and an aerial view of the bed.

The photo on the left illustrates one of the best uses of staging--defining a space. This space just inside the front door made everyone who entered wonder what it was--it was awkward and dark.

A few accessories and this space became "Martha Stewart's mudroom" as one visitor put it.

Although a house is usually a family's biggest investment, the purchase is often made based on emotion rather than a cost benefit analysis.

Staging plays to those emotions by helping people imagine the lifestyle they will have living in this particular house. Beautiful dining rooms help potential buyers see themselves entertaining, making memories and celebrating life's milestones.

In this market with so many houses for a buyer to look at a house that accommodates their furniture, makes sense spatially and connects emotionally is the one they will remember, revisit and make an offer on.