Table of Contents
- Why Virtually Stage a Living Room?
- How to Virtually Stage a Living Room – 7 Best Practices
- Virtually Staging a Living Room With PhotoUp
Virtual staging has become the gold standard for real estate visual marketing among real estate professionals who grasp the necessity of a strong online presence.
A recent NAR study found that 86% of buyers feel a staged living room is “important” or “very important” — more so than any other room in the house.
So, in this article, we’re going to show you how to virtually stage a living room with PhotoUp.
Why Virtual Stage a Living Room in Real Estate?
Understanding why something is important can help guide our steps and lead to successful results.
So, before we explore the “how-to” stage a living room, let’s first explain ‘why stage a living room”.
First, as we saw in the survey mentioned above, buyers expect a virtually staged living room. This makes sense since the living room is one of the most used areas in most homes.
Second, there is an undeniable emotional aspect to buying a new home.
Of course, price matters, but there’s also the emotional component to the buying decision. You don’t want the buyer to view your listing photos and be left feeling unmoved, or worse, off-put.
Therefore, you want to ensure that every room, the living room included, is attractive and appealing on an emotional level.
Virtual staging helps achieve these two goals.
And, there are other, good reasons to use this technology when selling a house — read more about the 6 advantages of virtual staging.
How to Virtually Stage a Living Room – 7 Best Practices
Below are 7 Best Practices when virtually staging any living room.
1. Clean Is a Must
Virtually staging the living room will guarantee that every surface and item is as clean as possible.
Windows, carpet stains, wear marks on furniture – the room should be spotless and look perfect.
In virtual staging, no detail, no matter how small, is overlooked, and imperfections can be remedied.
2. Depersonalize the Living Space
Remove all personal items from the living room, such as family portraits and photos, items with the seller’s name on them, and place them out of sight or remove them virtually.
All personal items should be removed so the buyers can explore the feeling of the room.
You want buyers to focus on the features and atmosphere of the living room, not the seller’s family portraits or vacation memorabilia.
3. Living Rooms Make People Think About Relaxing
Many people associate the living room with relaxing — there’s often a retreat-like connection to the living room.
It’s a space to get away from the stress of the world, to read or watch television, or to gather with friends and family to chat or play a game.
Therefore, make the living room look welcoming and relaxing with soft, oversized furniture arranged to promote conversation and/or recline, as well as other relaxing items in your staging.
Living rooms appeal to the buyers’ physical senses, so stage the room appropriately, with easy, warm, and pleasing items.
4. A Virtually Staged Living Room Should Look Inviting, but Also Generic
The living room should have an inviting and serene look to it. All the decor and furniture should match and be soothing, nothing too eccentric or unusual.
Although the living room should feel warm, welcoming, and a place to relax and escape, it should also look a bit generic.
That way, the potential buyer can imagine themselves living in the space and making it their own.
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5. Update the Furnishings
Furniture, artwork, flooring, and decor accessories are the core items in virtually staging a living room for real estate marketing.
Most living rooms will feature a sofa, a love seat, and easy chairs. There will likely be a coffee table and possibly end tables, too.
These pieces should all match or at least be complementary. Above all, the furniture choices should fit the room and not appear cramped.
Other items matter too:
- Floor lamps and lighting fixtures
- Wall and table art
- Carpeting, area rugs, and flooring
- Even books, throw pillows, and fabric can add character to a room
Remember, much of virtual staging is about interior design and decorating to show a room’s fullest potential to entice the buyers.
6. Rely on “Calming Neutrals”
Color is important and conveys the mood of a space. White, cream, light grays, brown, and beiges tend to look appealing and elegant in photos.
On the other hand, bright paint colors and busy wallpaper can be distracting.
However, if choosing a Scandinavian design theme, then pale pastels can be appropriate and light-enhancing. Also, a Coastal or Hamptons style theme could work with pale blues and white.
Don’t be afraid of color, but use it properly, opting for neutral, pale, and muted tones.
7. Add Color Back With Simple Decor
If the living room looks a bit bland in all neutral tones, add color back into the room, but don’t overdo it and keep it simple.
Colored accent pillows or a throw can provide a balanced and inviting hint of color to keep the space interesting.
Living room artwork — especially artwork that evokes the design theme — can be used to achieve similar results.
Even a small flower vase can add enough color you need to make the living room look warm and inviting, without going overboard.
Virtually Staging a Living Room With PhotoUp
Now that you understand the value of virtually staging a living room, let PhotoUp help you.
PhotoUp’s virtual staging is simple and takes just 3 steps:
1. First, have a real estate photographer take high-resolution photos of the living room from various angles and perspectives.
2. Next, upload the photos you want virtually staged to our website. Don’t worry, it’s easy.
Now comes the really enjoyable part. Select your preferred design and fixtures from our professionally designed digital style library.
You can carefully customize your photos by selecting from over 40 different styles of living room furniture, as well as 1,000s of furniture accessories, and other decor options.
3. In a day or so we’ll send you proofs of your virtually staged living room for you to review, approve, and download.
Photoup Virtual Staging Uploader Tutorial
To see how easy it is to get started, check out our virtual staging uploader video tutorial:
We make virtual staging easy!
So, create a free PhotoUp account today, and let our team of professional designers enhance your living room images.
We hope this blog post helped you learn the benefits of virtual staging a living room with PhotoUp.
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