Recently we were asked to stage a condo in New Jersey. We visit NJ often, so the original plan was to bring small decorative items up from our staging collection, work with the sellers’ existing furniture, and be onsite to stage the condo before listing.
Well, life happens and sometimes puts a wrench in the plan. The listing date got pushed back and we were overwhelmed with some work locally in Pinehurst.
The Improvised Plan.
Given our crazy schedules, we all agreed that it would be best to try to stage the home remotely.
First, we came up with a game plan of relatively quick, cheap things to address before staging and listing the condo. These recommendations were based off of our knowledge that the sellers were handy — they could easily swap light fixtures, do minor plumbing, and paint without having to hire someone and spend a large amount of money. Those “prep work” recommendations were as follows:
1) Paint the condo a light, neutral color throughout.
2) Touch up the kitchen cabinet paint and add hardware to dress them up.
3) Update the outdated formica / fluorescent light fixtures in both bathrooms.
4) Convert their kid’s play area back into a dining area.
5) Update the guest bathroom mirror and old vanity.
6) Declutter by moving out any large furniture and decor that were really worn in and only took up space.
We also toyed with updating the formica kitchen countertops with a level A granite, but the listing agent said they would not see a return making that specific update in their neighborhood.
The condo is located in the bottom right with all the lovely hanging plants.
The Long-distance Staging Process.
Once all the recommended prep work was addressed, we got to the fun part of staging. We established and agreed upon a process to ensure our collaboration was as efficient as possible.
I know the condo fairly well, so this was obviously an advantage when staging remotely. I knew what vintage runners I had on hand that would fit well in the guest bathroom, master bathroom, and kitchen. I shipped those and a few other small decorative items I had available for them to use.
After the seller painted the home and decluttered, they sent photos of all the rooms in the home indicating what furniture and decor I had left to work with (plus my small pieces that were shipped up there).
Obviously selling a home can be a very expensive process, so I wasn’t about to recommend them getting a new sofa, dining table, etc; therefore we worked with all existing large furniture items.
In a nutshell, this particular staging process looked like this:
1) After prepping the space (e.g. declutter, paint walls, etc), seller sends photos with remaining furniture and decor items to work with.
2) I mark-up photos indicating where I am confident I want existing items to be placed with as much detail as possible. I request any measurements needed to get a better picture of the space as well. For example, I needed the measurements of the new guest vanity to ensure the new mirror I recommended was an appropriate size.
3) Seller then sends me updated pictures of everything in place as I had previously recommended.
4) I make some tweaks (marking up the new photos provided) and now attempt to fill in any “holes” after everything available is in place. These recommended fillers are small, inexpensive decorative items that the owner may or may not consider purchasing to supplement the existing staging items. I researched a lot of items knowing what stores are local to the area. I advised on what they could probably find at a Goodwill on the cheap. I also provided links to actual items to consider purchasing, or at a minimum, showed a “look” I wanted to achieve—sending multiple example photos for reference.
5) After the seller decides what small staging items they want to buy based off of my recommendations, we are ready for a FaceTime meeting. Here, the seller gives me a tour of the house with all staging materials in place. I then provide on-the-spot tweaks. We will get as detailed as possible. I’m not afraid to ask if a bowl on the counter can be moved two inches to the left. I really try to treat the staging experience as if I was actually present, playing around with the staging objects at hand.
Once everything looks good — after however many FaceTimes are needed — the house is ready for its debut!
Below are some examples of guidance I sent to the seller on how to stage their home.
Example of Guest Bathroom Guidance.
Accurate measurements from the seller are crucial when recommending the appropriately sized decor items such as this vanity mirror.
Example images of the “look” that should be achieved can assist the seller on how to stage the space with ease.
Links to inexpensive items are shared with the seller.
Example of Master Bedroom Guidance.
Provided a quick “sketch” of how styled shelves should be balanced in addition to an example of books shown “spine in.” We ended up not eliminating the small chest of drawers since the seller ran out of space in their new temporary home. It looks much better in the “after” photos with an orchid the seller placed on top of it.
Quick “sketch” of how pillow arrangements and throw should look on bed.
Another example of guidance on how to style the seller’s existing furniture and decor items.
Before-and-After Long-distance Staging Photos.
And as promised, below are some before-and-after photos of the condo. I wish we had pictures before the condo was painted and decluttered, but alas, this will have to do. Obviously taking photos with a photographer during the daytime make a difference, too.
Before: shelves in corner partially covering window.
Before: a possible location to relocate the shelves. This tweak would make the listing photos look more open instead of crammed.
After: to save on costs, yet still have a cohesive look, advised seller to turn books they owned spine-in on shelves. Sent photos for reference and did a quick mark-up of how to “balance” the shelves (shown above).
Master bedroom before some minor rearranging (guidance shown above).
Master bedroom before staging.
After: leveraged seller’s furniture with some little tweaks and small decorative items such as the orchid and throw blanket.
Master bathroom before staging.
Master bathroom before staging.
After: pulled in some touches of vibrant colors and texture to showcase the master bathroom.
After: additional storage space above toilet recommended by listing realtor — a collaborative effort between us, seller, and listing realtor was necessary to ensure the staging was a success.
Kitchen before staging. Cabinets were touched up and hardware added to dress up space.
Kitchen before staging. Magnets and personal photos/cards removed from fridge.
After: worked with seller’s existing items such as cookbooks to cover bulky fridge wiring. Fruit and vintage rug added to bring some tasteful color into the space.
Guest bathroom before staging and vanity mirror. Old, beat-up vanity swapped out with new.
Guest bathroom before staging.
After: new vanity mirror and staged. You can compare this to the “mock-ups” provided to the seller (shown above). The seller nailed it!
Why This Long-distance Staging Project Was A Hit.
I learned a lot my first go with virtual staging and have a bunch of ideas to improve the process on my end. A huge part of this virtual staging success was that the sellers trusted me and were willing to accommodate my nit picky tweaks along the way. They executed all my feedback flawlessly and had great ideas themselves. They also understood that they would need to spend a little extra to get their home market ready. The listing agent also played an important role by being an excellent in-person resource for guidance the day before listing photographs.
Another part of the recipe for success was my ability to leverage my previous job experience in digital advertising / project management. The main branch of my last job was located in Minnesota while I was based in NYC. We had lots of other satellite locations across the states and even in Europe. I was well-versed in providing thorough feedback since we lacked the face-to-face time between colleagues. Webinar meetings and detailed e-mail communications were our main form of contact between one another.
By the way: the condo was listed on Wednesday, had a showing on Thursday, first offer on Friday, and 4+ additional offers after the open house on Sunday! It is a true testament to a successful collaboration we had staging the home together.