• Shop
  • Meet Kathy Kuo
  • The Trade Exclusive
  • Friends of the Kuotes
  • Our Projects
  • Pro Tips from Kathy
    • Celebrating Mother's Day with Questions for My Daughter
      more
      View more

      Celebrating Mother's Day with Questions for My Daughter

      1 week ago
    • The KKH Guide to Chic & Kid-Friendly Holiday Decor
      more
      View more

      The KKH Guide to Chic & Kid-Friendly Holiday Decor

      4 months ago
    • How to Match Your Holiday Decor to Your Interior Design Style
      more
      View more

      How to Match Your Holiday Decor to Your Interior Design Style

      5 months ago
  • Design Handbook
    • Turn Your Balcony or Patio Into the Perfect Outdoor Escape
      more
      View more

      Turn Your Balcony or Patio Into the Perfect Outdoor Escape

      7 days ago
    • Celebrating Mother's Day with Questions for My Daughter
      more
      View more

      Celebrating Mother's Day with Questions for My Daughter

      1 week ago
    • 5 Sweet & Elegant Nursery Design Ideas to Try Now
      more
      View more

      5 Sweet & Elegant Nursery Design Ideas to Try Now

      2 weeks ago
    • Living Room
    • Nursery
    • Kitchen & Bath
    • Outdoor
    • Bedroom
    • Dining Room
    • Office

banner

  • Shop
  • Meet Kathy Kuo
  • The Trade Exclusive
  • Friends of the Kuotes
  • Our Projects
  • Pro Tips from Kathy
    • Celebrating Mother's Day with Questions for My Daughter
      more
      View more

      Celebrating Mother's Day with Questions for My Daughter

      1 week ago
    • The KKH Guide to Chic & Kid-Friendly Holiday Decor
      more
      View more

      The KKH Guide to Chic & Kid-Friendly Holiday Decor

      4 months ago
    • How to Match Your Holiday Decor to Your Interior Design Style
      more
      View more

      How to Match Your Holiday Decor to Your Interior Design Style

      5 months ago
  • Design Handbook
    • Turn Your Balcony or Patio Into the Perfect Outdoor Escape
      more
      View more

      Turn Your Balcony or Patio Into the Perfect Outdoor Escape

      7 days ago
    • Celebrating Mother's Day with Questions for My Daughter
      more
      View more

      Celebrating Mother's Day with Questions for My Daughter

      1 week ago
    • 5 Sweet & Elegant Nursery Design Ideas to Try Now
      more
      View more

      5 Sweet & Elegant Nursery Design Ideas to Try Now

      2 weeks ago
    • Living Room
    • Nursery
    • Kitchen & Bath
    • Outdoor
    • Bedroom
    • Dining Room
    • Office
  • Shop
  • Meet Kathy Kuo
  • The Trade Exclusive
  • Friends of the Kuotes
  • Our Projects
  • Pro Tips from Kathy
    • Celebrating Mother's Day with Questions for My Daughter
      more
      View more

      Celebrating Mother's Day with Questions for My Daughter

      1 week ago
    • The KKH Guide to Chic & Kid-Friendly Holiday Decor
      more
      View more

      The KKH Guide to Chic & Kid-Friendly Holiday Decor

      4 months ago
    • How to Match Your Holiday Decor to Your Interior Design Style
      more
      View more

      How to Match Your Holiday Decor to Your Interior Design Style

      5 months ago
  • Design Handbook
    • Turn Your Balcony or Patio Into the Perfect Outdoor Escape
      more
      View more

      Turn Your Balcony or Patio Into the Perfect Outdoor Escape

      7 days ago
    • Celebrating Mother's Day with Questions for My Daughter
      more
      View more

      Celebrating Mother's Day with Questions for My Daughter

      1 week ago
    • 5 Sweet & Elegant Nursery Design Ideas to Try Now
      more
      View more

      5 Sweet & Elegant Nursery Design Ideas to Try Now

      2 weeks ago
    • Living Room
    • Nursery
    • Kitchen & Bath
    • Outdoor
    • Bedroom
    • Dining Room
    • Office
Kathy Kuo Blog | Kathy Kuo Home
5 Real Estate Staging Tips from an Interior Design Expert

5 Real Estate Staging Tips from an Interior Design Expert

Kathy Kuo Home 12:40 pm

If you’re getting ready to sell your home–or even if you’re just considering putting your home on the market–it’s never to early to start thinking about real estate staging and how smart, stylish, and strategic staging can truly help your home sell faster. Primarily, staging is super-important because you want potential buyers to see themselves actually living in the space and you want it to feel aspirational so the buyer will feel as if they’ll be unquestionably getting an upgrade by moving in.

Putting your home on the market and not sure where to start with real estate staging or professional home stagers? The Kathy Kuo Home design team provides select services for staging–connect with our design team for more information and a free consultation.

We offer virtual staging or physical staging in the NY Tri-State area. With virtual staging services, you will work with an e-designer to virtually lay the space out, see various options for furniture arrangement, visualize the different design elements, and, ultimately, make professionally informed choices about staging a space so that it will pop to potential buyers.

We’ve also put together a handy cheat-sheet on staging and home improvement with five expert interior design tips for staging your home the smart way in order to make a sale.


Above: Kathy Kuo; click to shop! 


Photo via Kathy Kuo Home; click to shop! 


Shop the Look

star shaped mirror

 

MITZI HOLLYWOOD REGENCY SUN MIRROR

animal bust sculptures

ATHENA MODERN CLASSIC DOE SCULPTURE

beaded chandelier

AUVERGNE FRENCH COUNTRY BEADED CHANDELIER


Staging Tip #1: Make Your Room Look Larger

We have three tricks for making a room larger. First: Choose a large mirror and carefully consider where it should go. This will increase the depth of any room–be it the living room, dining room, or bedroom. Second: Add elements that emphasize the verticality of the room. This could be done through wallpaper or art or drapery. And finally: Create visual “landing spots” in the room so your eye scans for “moments” instead of the “whole space” all at once. This could be a cluster of plants, a well considered console/art moment.

You’ll also want to think about scale when making your space look larger–this is critical to get right. When most people look at a home in anticipation of buying it, they want to see how many people they can fit on a sofa or in a living room. When you look at the amount of bedrooms and home selling price, you understand approximately what type of buyer and their family size it will be. You’ll need to ensure that you account for this when staging the bar stools, the dining table, and the sofa and chairs. This way, when buyers come through, they can easily understand how their family will use the space.

Living rooms need to feel easy to entertain in (I always put in a bar cart), and have enough space to move around with furniture. Rugs and drapery easily soften up this room and shield any unsightly exterior views if there are any. I sometimes will even go as far as to place a faux TV (they sell these online!) so that users can easily understand how they will relax in the space.

For the bedrooms, try to fit the largest size bed you can into the room while still leaving ample space for nightstands and a bench if you can. Add a rug that is plush for an extra layer of luxury and to frame the space from the ground up.


Photo via Kathy Kuo Home; click to shop! 


dining room design

coastal living room interior

Photography Credits: Left: Pineapples Palms Too; Right: Apartment Therapy


Shop the Look

dining chair

WANDA COASTAL BEACH TEAK DINING CHAIR

wooden stump side table

INEZ PETRIFIED WOOD SIDE TABLE

wicker dining chair

GIAN RATTAN DINING CHAIR


Staging Tip #2: Be Strategic with Paint

If you’re repainting in preparation for real estate staging and a sale, it’s important to ask yourself strategic questions, like: Is eggshell still the best choice? What about trim? Do you like contrasting colors or the same color as the walls? What about ceiling paint? Any real estate professional will tell you that wall color really makes an impact when prospective buyers tour a home.

Ultimately, the answers to these questions depend on the space and the overall aesthetic you’re aiming for. I personally love contrast molding, though if you can’t commit to color, I do like matching trim molding. My favorite white is Chantilly Lace (OC-65) by Benjamin Moore.

Depending on the space, it’s nice to guide the eye with perspective and to create “moody” landings. For example, if you have a long hallway with a room at the end, we like to paint that last room, or varying shades of the same paint so that the eye moves through the room. Just make sure you get the same base color right. Another way to create drama is paint or paper a powder room. This can be done inexpensively through removable wallpaper that we sell.


Photo via Kathy Kuo Home; click to shop! 


Photo via Kathy Kuo Home; click to shop! 


Shop the Look

blue patterned rug

VICTOR MODERN GEOMETRIC PATTERNED RUG

white bubble chandelier

MURIEL PINK TAUPE BUBBLED CHANDELIER

blue velvet chair

CARDINALE MODERN CLASSIC VELVET CHAIR


Staging Tip #3: Maximize Light

In New York City, light is a huge factor for many potential buyers, so you’ll definitely want to maximize light sources and be strategic with light, and think about natural light and how you’re placing lamps and light fixtures throughout the space. Potential buyers love when lighting is already taken into consideration. You may also need to think about different types of lightbulbs during real estate staging.

It’s good to have high, mid and low lights in a room. Often times spaces look subpar because of the lack of low and high, but plenty of mid tone lights. Putting as many lights on dimmer switches is also important as it can completely change the mood of the room instantly. Lighting should be planned and considered at the same time as furniture and art selection since you will want to make sure you are properly lighting your reading areas, your dining and living areas and illuminating the walls that you want specific art work to be a focal point for. 

The way to think about it, lighting serves a specific function of creating a mood–a warmer light as mood lighting and daylight bulbs for task lighting. Have dimmers when possible so you can adjust the intensity and keep separate switches for the warm and cool lights. Mix both when needed so you can use either one depending on the time of day or your needs. Do not use anything too cool unless it’s a utility room!

Buyers will appreciate it more when you provide them with options (dimmers, separate switches, etc) since it’s such a rarity in NYC and outfitting a home with lighting can be costly! LEDs are more popular now since they’re the most energy-efficient option with lower wattage than incandescent bulbs. Even maintenance with this, they emit the same amount of light as other bulbs.


living room design

living room design

Photography Credits: Left: Neptune; Right: Cartelle Design


Photo by Chris Lee Photo


Shop the Look

bubble light

BUBBLES SMOKEY BROWN CEILING MOUNT

Coastal pendant light

GIOVANNI COASTAL BEACH PENDANT

gold floor lamp

STRATON MODERN CLASSIC BRASS FLOOR LAMP


Staging Tip #4: Invest in Wall Decor 

One of the biggest differences between a staged home vs a non-staged home is the placement of wall art and wall mirrors. In being strategic with wall decor, the goal is to maximize the scale and height of the walls and the height of the ceiling.

Modular mirrors stacked filling up entire walls make spaces feel instantly larger (an age old hack!), but getting cut mirror is really inexpensive (we call on auto body shops, or shower replacement shops believe it or not). For artwork, I would recommend generic, non-specific art–like abstracts. Usually, we choose them based on color requirements like if we have a grey or a blue in the mix for the overall design.

Finally: For staging, we use a lot of command strips so that these items can be removed quickly without having to patch or spackle the walls.


Photography via Kathy Kuo Home; click to shop!


Photography via Kathy Kuo Home; click to shop!


Shop the Look

white mirror

ELISHA MODERN CLASSIC MIRROR

set of four abstract paintings

EICHHOLTZ ABSTRACT WALL ART PRINTS

blue wall art

BLISS FRAMED CANVAS BY CAROL BENSON-COBB


Staging Tip #5: Be Smart About Storage

Especially if you have children, it can be hard to keep it show ready when you’re in the process of selling your home. This is why storage is so important during the home staging process! We highly recommend pieces that are dual-function with extra drawers, cabinets, or shelves.

We always tell our clients and relators we work with to have a place in mind for each item to prevent clutter. Baskets or storage bins are always great if you have the flexibility in the space–it’s better in a basket than directly on the floor of your living room or playroom!


Design by Emily McAden Interiors


Photography via Kathy Kuo Home; click to shop!


Shop the Look

light wood sideboard

CARACOLE MODERN CLASSIC SIDEBOARD

wicker baskets

ZURI FRENCH COUNTRY SEAGRASS BASKETS

Floor basket

TUCSON WHITE HAND WOVEN BASKET


Kathy Kuo Design Services

Feeling inspired? In addition to being a source for beautiful high quality furnishings and decor, Kathy Kuo Home has a team of professional interior designers that are ready to assist with all of your interior design and real estate staging needs. Our services provide multiple layout and design options that fit your style and budget for any room. You will work with a team of designers and project managers to help you truly love where you live.
Call (888) 908-3486 or email designs@kathykuohome.com today to get started!
 
  • 1
  • 0
  • 0
  • 1
  • 0
  • 0

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related posts

  • All
  • Home
  • Outdoor
0
Turn Your Balcony or Patio Into the Perfect Outdoor Escape

Turn Your Balcony or Patio Into the Perfect Outdoor Escape

7 days ago
  • All
  • Bedroom
  • Home
  • Nursery
1
5 Sweet & Elegant Nursery Design Ideas to Try Now

5 Sweet & Elegant Nursery Design Ideas to Try Now

2 weeks ago
  • All
  • Home
  • Living Room
4
Wall Art 101: How to Choose Your Pieces & Hang Your Gallery Wall

Wall Art 101: How to Choose Your Pieces & Hang Your Gallery Wall

3 months ago
  • All
  • Bedroom
  • Dining Room
  • Home
  • Living Room
5
Budget Breakdown: How Much Does It Cost To Decorate A Room?

Budget Breakdown: How Much Does It Cost To Decorate A Room?

3 months ago
  • Home
  • Nursery
4
Our Baby Safety Month Essentials for a Chic, Safe & Baby-Proof Home

Our Baby Safety Month Essentials for a Chic, Safe & Baby-Proof Home

8 months ago
  • Dining Room
  • Home
  • Living Room
  • Our Projects
9
Kathy Kuo Home Design Spotlight: Modern Regency in Westchester

Kathy Kuo Home Design Spotlight: Modern Regency in Westchester

8 months ago

ABOUT KATHY      POLICIES & TERMS  

© 2021 Kathy Kuo Designs. All Rights Reserved.