Stairways are one of the most neglected parts of a home, particularly when staging for an open house. But who cares, it’s just stairs, right? Wrong.
Stairways are important transportation devices that carry potential buyers into and out of and up through and back down your home. In some homes, stairways are a major focal point. Most people can remember a particularly grand, beautiful set of stairs they have walked at some point. How can you make them remember your stairs?
Let’s start with the outdoors. How can you make the stairs leading up to your front door as effective as they can be? First off, stay away from extremes. Your staircase should not be so covered in decorative items that its a James Bond worthy obstacle course to get from the bottom to your door. On the flip side, they should not be completely nude and empty of any defining elements. Rather, align the staircase with some potted plants (as pictured) or something on the edges. During the holidays, add a garland to the railing or some Christmas decor along the sides. This keeps the stairwell clear for traffic, but adds a little touch of pretty to make it stand out.
An indoor staircase is equally important in making a statement. There are two different types: staircases fortunate enough to have a small shelf area halfway up, and staircases without one.
For those with a shelf (as pictured), carefully curate decor. This is not an opportunity for dusty family memoralbilia and pictures to clutter the shelf in a hap-hazard attempt to fill up the space with something significant. Rather, as Karyn from Crazy House Home Staging suggests, “this is actually an opportune styling situation for a grouping of mainly TALL art object(s).” This enables the space to be filled without being crowded.
For staircases without an alcove halfway up, the wall becomes an opportune space to hang artwork. Again, this is not a place to sticky-tac up every drawing your child has ever done in some sort of feux collage. Rather, this is a great chance to invest in some artwork or arrange some professional, stylish family photos. This wall is not a blank canvas to go wild with. It is a space that can be decorated in a way that opens it up and invites people in, rather than making it look tiny, squishy and crowded.
Let us know what some of your favourite staircase decorating/staging tips are!
Posted by Ken Richter on
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