Monday, December 05, 2005

Staging 101

Jon Carroll's observations on the real estate staging phenomenon.



So what is this staging, the staging that adds the bucks to the bottom line? One word: throws. There are bloody throws everywhere. There must be huge throw warehouse somewhere; truckloads must disappear into the real estate universe every week.

No books are permitted in a staged house, except tasteful coffee-table volumes on Impressionist painters or architects of the early 20th century. And the books are rarely placed on a bookshelf. In the house across the street, one set was put on an ottoman -- and then partially covered with a throw.

1 comment:

Deirdre said...

Jon should have been permitted to write an entire Sunday feature on the world of staging. Features required: "Beds" that are actually 2 planks on pedestals with a bedspread over them... and are 60% the width of a regular single bed. "Kitchen Tables": Ditto, but one plank. And popular decorating themes, like those witnessed by Phil and Lissie when they were trying to buy and encountered house after house filled with bowls of lemons, lemon-printed towels, lemon-scented air fresheners, slices lemons floating in the bath ..... on and on and on. And what about the rustic makeover done on the McGee corner house, with window boxes filled to the brim with pumpkins! pumpkins! pumpkins! and huge Aderondack chairs squeezed onto the threadbare "lawn".