Staging Advice >> Living / Family Rooms

Living Room Design & Staging

Home staging is all about making your home seem comfortable and inviting, and this is especially important when staging the living room area of your home. So let's talk about some living room design concepts that will help you sell your home.

Homeowners spend a lot of time in the family room / living room areas of their homes. This is even more true when they have children. Often, the living room will also serve as "Entertainment Central" when company comes to visit.

These are important things to keep in mind when staging your home and applying living room design concepts.

So when potential home buyers walk through the living room area of your home, they should be able to see themselves engaging in these two activities — spending time as a family and entertaining guests. Stage and design the living room area with this in mind.

Make the living room warm and inviting. Design and arrange the room in a way that maximizes space and makes it conducive to conversation / entertaining.

So how do you go about this? What specific living room design ideas should you put in place to achieve home staging success in this space? Here are some specific tips to help you stage this key area of your home.

Tips for Staging the Living Room

• Arrange the room in a conversational way, if it's not arranged like that already. A living room design and layout should be conducive to group conversation and family interaction. Experiment with different arrangements until you get it right.
• Let the living room breathe. If it's hard to walk through because of furniture size and/or arrangement, remove some items and place them in storage.
• Purge the living room of family photos and other items that say "you don't live here" to potential buyers. Design and stage the living room so that other people can see themselves in it.
• If your living room furniture consists of a cheap table with wobbly legs and your couch from college days, replace them with some nice rental pieces.
• If the furniture is worn or stained, but otherwise intact, invest in some nice-looking slip covers. This is a low-cost way to enhance the appearance of older chairs and couches. Slip covers can also help you neutralize "loud" fabric colors.
• If you have a mantle in the living room area, clear it of most items (such as family photos and knick knacks) and leave only a decorative vase or flower arrangement.

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Conclusion and Summary

Why bother with living room design and staging? Because it can help you sell your home faster, and is thus a crucial part of home staging in general. Remember, home buyers want to see a living room area that is open and inviting ... a space that is conducive to conversation and interaction. Stage and design your living room with this in mind.

Arrange furniture for the best possible flow. Make the room airy and bright. Replace oversized furniture with nice-looking smaller pieces to "enlarge" the space. Replace or cover worn furniture as needed. When buyers walk through the room, they should want to sit down and spend time in it. If that happens, you know you've achieved your home-staging goals!

Good luck with your living room design and your home staging project!

Looking for tips on how to stage and sell your home effectively? If so, you've come to the right place!