House stagers. Do we have them in the uk?

What does a house stager actually do?

Erm..stages (or presents) the house, like Phil and Kirsty. That'd be my guess.

Yes, we do - google house stagers uk. What a fab job - I’d love to do it!

craftyone have you considered auctioning your house with a reserve price on it? That may solve your problems.

Are you selling through an Estate Agent? If you are have you/they tried a full on Special weekend promotion which sometimes seem to work. Obviously with the house fully cleaned and prepped beforehand.

crafty DS and DiL (in America) used one. It was worth every penny.
They had lots of people coming to view & sold their house very quickly, enabling them to purchase their dream house.

I'm grateful for this thread. I didn't know there were such companies in the uk. I'll be looking into Home Makeover services soon.

My DD used a house stager to present her house when she sold it last year. It was a great experience - the lady came and assessed the house, and then a few days later she brought a van full of new furniture, paintings, soft furnishings and completely freshened up the house. Photos were taken for the real estate advertisements, etc. and everything stayed there until she'd had inspections by prospective buyers. She had it all there for a few weeks. The sale price was vastly better than what she'd expected - and I'm sure that the house's lovely appearance helped a lot.

I think the service cost her about £500 for the service, and then she had to pay to hire all the furniture etc . It added thousands to the sale price and she was very happy with the outcome.

Interesting stella1949. Did your DD have to put her furniture etc into storage?

Aren't they called House stylists in the UK?

Lisagran the stager only replaced the sofa with a new one - my DD was going to get rid of the old one anyway so her DH took it to the dump.

Most of the other furniture was mixed in with her own - nice book cases, a lovely console for the entrance, children's storage pieces.

The best thing ( I thought) was the colour choice - my DD had been sticking to neutrals throughout, but the stager introduced purple and green with paintings, cushions, even a hat stand with scarves draped over it. She was very clever and the house just popped with style !

My daughter bought her house about five years ago and recently had it valued for mega thousands more than she paid for it. The Estate Agent asked for the name of the Interior Designer she had used and was very surprised to be told that it had all been done by my daughter; he told her that the massive increase in price was because it was so beautifully decorated and styled. So yes, craftyone I do think having a house stager/stylist makes a difference.

Slightly off topic but I remember when we were preparing MIL's house for sale a few years ago.

BIL announced "You have to show people how to live in the space".

We were standing in a room with an Aga , a Butler sink and teak draining boards, two Welsh dressers and two tables and chairs. I thought the room was a kitchen but perhaps it needed a free standing bath or shower to make it more useful.

The most important thing is to have the house clean and tidy. I have sold 8 or 10 houses, my own and family and the first thing I do, is make sure it is clutter free and any excess furniture etc has been removed. With one sale of the house of a deceased relative, I did replace the hall carpet so that it matched the decor and fitted properly.

We have always sold these houses quickly, even when the market is difficult, so, even without a stylist, you can make your house attractive to viewers.

Interesting stella1949 about the colours used - I always thought the advice was to keep everything very neutral. It obviously worked though!

Agree with M0nica My Sister and I have sold my Father houses on the three separate occasions.
The first time we sent him on holiday whilst my sister and I did the 'makeover'

New carpets and curtains.
All but basic furniture left, rest was stored in our garages.
Once we had the bones so to speak, we added the finishing touches.

New Bedding and cushions in the bedroom. a nicely laid out dressing table with my perfume bottles.(Dad was a widower)
Matching bedside cabinets and lights.
A book on the bedside table to make the room feel lived in.

Spare bedrooms clutter free and also with new bedding.
We added white towel dressing gown and two nicely folded towels to one of the guest rooms.

Clean bathroom with new white towels.
Expensive looking shower, bath gel and aftershave in prominent position but no clutter or loo brush!

Hall had fresh flowers in console table

Sitting room paintings on walls, large mirror over fireplace to reflect light.
Table lamps.
Glossy magazines displayed neatly on coffee table, strategically placed ornaments.

In the dining room we polished up lovely dining table, added new light above table.
Fresh flowers in a vase.

Placed blue and white China on the dresser.

The kitchen cleaned and emptied.
New blind and kettle, my coffee machine to provided nice aroma.
Small wine rack with wine (also mine), A
a wooden chopping board with added French stick when showing prospective buyers around.
Less is more especially in the kitchen.

Front Garden grass short, planted pots either side of the front door.
Back garden neat and tidy with hanging basket and matching pots
If a nice day when showing buyers around a glass of wine on the patio table looks the part.

By the time we had finished, the house looked fresh and modern.
We had spent some money, but this was was recouped with a quick sale.
We saved money by using bits and pieces from our own homes.

It's about selling a lifestyle.
Prospective buyers are making their mind up as soon as they walk up the drive.

My dad's house was just a normal little semi on a 1960s estate, so needed to punch above its weight.
Silly thing is when it had been cleared by the removal men it was back to a normal little semi

One tip (apparently) is to de-personalise the house craftyone.

You could pack away much of your more personal belongings, photos etc, declutter (if it is at all cluttered - it may not be)

and follow Cherrytree's recommendations!

Mind you, when we are house hunting, we prefer the house to look 'normal'; personal to the family living there.

We just have an instinctive feeling that if the house has been smartened up it is overpriced and the owners may be trying to hide something

Should have said, we nearly always completely redecorate a house once we move in to reflect our taste and possessions so see no point in paying for someones pre-sale decorations, that we are going to paint over

We have moved lots of times and it's amazing how many buyers are shallow and are easily wooed by Farrow & Ball paint, and so called lifestyle touches. It's probably better to get a psychologist's advice than a stylist

Jalima yes de-personalise and no clutter is key.

M0nica agree again.
We decorated throughout our within weeks of moving in to this house and have changed kitchen and bathrooms

Buyers need to look for potential and see past the clutter and decor.

Ps, When selling a house a couple of years ago, I asked the estate agent to change the grey sky to a sunny day on the marketing photographs.

It is the winter slump anyway but that does not stop the sleepless nights. Looking at the staging posts above, mmm, something I can do myself tbh. My sister in aus had a stager and her house sold 2 days later but I don`t honestly see what else I can do. All she did was shift a couple of bits of furniture around. I was just hoping for that magic touch but that will not happen until we settle the politics, got to be realistic

So my house is completely spotless and sparkling for viewings, not in between because I need some rest days. Windows the lot, hard work but I become an automaton and anyway am only using essential rooms right now. The staging towels are kept in the unused bathroom and are laid out on the viewing morning

I am so looking forward to getting my new house exchanged and completed, want to take all the packed boxes, empty my garage and empty 2 bedrooms and my sewing room

I have no coloured walls, all a lovely neutral off white, it is a blank canvas. I left some nice pictures up and I put potted plants in, that is how I came to love orchids, some of which are on their second flower spike

My EA is good, I don`t think there is a better one. It is the market, people are too worried to move. That plus stamp duty

While house hunting I was always impressed by people who had changed the duvet covers for us coming. It looked so much better. Smell of pets was a great put off.

Floradora yes pets and bowls removed before viewers arrive.

A matching quilted throw one size bigger than bed (if bed is a double go to king size) is useful rather than having to keep changing duvet it can be kept in a cupboard and then quickly put over bed before buyers arrrive. Just add a cushion or two.