Home Stagers get creative with multiples of the same furniture pieces.
Home staging is a very different creature than interior design. If you needed a really large square dining table, or coffee table, in interior design, there are resources to locate just the right piece. Homeowners may even have that piece made specifically for their home. We are challenged to be more creative in home staging. The furniture will only be in the property a short time, and then it must be used in other properties. It wouldn’t be cost effective to buy large scale items that are used only on rare occasion.
Large properties, and open concepts, have created the need for over-sized and occasionally massive piece. This is where doubling up, or sometimes tripling up, a single item can make for really good home staging.
Doing a double take to create scale in home staging.
This room, staged by Chrysalis Home Staging, in Alberta, Canada, showcases how duplicates can help define, not only scale, but also create a casual sophistication. Let’s take a moment to examine how she doubled down on doubling up! It’s easy to see that the sofas, side tables, and the ottomans are matching pairs. Did you notice the rug and coffee table are as well? These all mimic the repeated pattern of lighting, in the dining and kitchen space, the duality of hard line cabinetry that serve as island and bar, in the kitchen, and finally, the doubling up of windows in all of the rooms.
Symmetry is typically connected to a formal space. Careful layering, subtle height changes, and overall flow, lends to an unexpectedly easy-going room. These are spaces buyers want to live in.
Square is a choice that’s not often easy to come by, but greatly needed.
This extra large dining space was too wide for a simple 5′ x 7′ rectangular table. Comfortable seating for 8 was still required, which doesn’t lend itself well to a round table. It’s pretty easy to see,looking around the room, round would also have been out of step with the architecture of the home. (Imagine it with those big round columns.) No. This room needed a massive square table to balance the space between the gigantic kitchen island, and the bold fireplace hearth and mantle. Square tables are hard to come by, at least on a home stager’s budget! By using two large rectangular tables, rotated, for balance, harmony is achieved, without overpowering the room. A simple table runner is used to hide the “seam”.
On an additional note about balance, I love how Ellen Harris Mann’s choice really mirrored the natural light and scenery, as it’s reflected across the table, further incorporating it into the architecture of the entire space.
Extending the space by using duplicates in home staging projects.
We use multiples of items, all the time, in good design. We use matching sofas, matching wing back chairs, a series of vases on a shelf, or across a long table to add length and height. The same is generally true with larger pieces. That is as long as they can be merged together, so that they become part of the flow, and not just an odd reflection, or mirror image.
This modern beach house, staged by Rave Home Staging, in Jacksonville, FL, was long and thin. The room needed ample seating, along with space to entertain and gather. Dual consoles, matching coffee tables, and a chain of modern module seating, created the perfect environment for home buyers, selling the first weekend on market, at the open house.
Lead Stager Monica Flowers, Rave Home Staging, utilized three smaller consoles, to elongate the wall across from the bed. The artwork, hung above, and decor items, placed on either side, helped in drawing the eye across the length of the space, creating an effortless composition that showcased the size of the room.
Staging isn’t home decorating. It’s budget focused.
Home staging is about creating a measurable, marketable, difference in the perceived value of the property. Staging is about marketing a property while using good design principles because a well staged home, sells. In the practice of our industry, sometimes rules are just guidelines. Cotton sofas are just as effective as linen, in most properties. What fools the eye in photos, will most likely fool the eye in real life too. Ultimately, what we do is called staging because it’s a make-believe version of real life. It’s the best version. It’s the dream space, well a lite version of it, anyway.
Jan Savolainen says
Love, love, love this article! Such simple, yet really smart ideas to solve big staging problems!
melissamarro says
Thanks Jan! I’m sorry I didn’t see your comment earlier. It’s a great way to streamline your inventory purchasing too.