9 Reasons Why Your Furniture Placement Is a Disaster

May 23, 2016

Even the most beautiful home can be uninspiring to buyers if furniture isn’t arranged correctly. When home staging or decorating your home for sale, the correct furniture set up and placement is important if you want to achieve a room that speaks to your buyers.

Furniture arranging mistakes and what you can do about it

 1. Following an Off-center light fixture

Condominiums and townhouses, often have this issue. The dining light fixture is always off to where the dining table should be; and following it results in an awkward furniture placement. Here`s my tip for a quick fix: Swag the chain of the fixture to the correct spot and place a hook directly above the ceiling.  It’s fast, easy and it makes a big difference on the look the space.

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 2. You are ignoring the comfort pieces

Showing as much space as possible to the buyer is a must when selling your home. However, ignoring comfort and function in a room is wrong. Think about how your buyers will view the room, or what you’ll be doing as you use the furniture. For example, having a coffee table and side tables (or the absence of both) within reach of all seats shows the space`s functionality and convenience. It makes more sense to the buyer looking at it, and it makes the room looks complete.

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 3. Wrong starting point

As a general rule when showcasing your bedroom: Start with the bed placement. It’s the most important piece of furniture in the space. A bed that comfortably sits in the room with night tables and a  headboard is more than enough to showcase the bedroom. Pieces like accent chairs or dressers is an excellent addition if the space permits.

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 4. Sticking to conventions

When staging, sometimes you need to think outside the box and be more creative to make a room look more important for your buyers. For example, this room has always been used by the owners as an eat-in kitchen/dining area because it is next to their kitchen. However, considering the size of the room and knowing that they have a formal dining space,  we decided to convert it into a family room.

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 5. Ugly backs

Nothing creates a wrong impression as viewing the back of a sofa as soon as you enter the room. If the first thing you see when you walk into a room is the unattractive or plain back on a piece of furniture, rethink your arrangement. Your furniture arrangement should welcome your buyers; it should make them feel at home and comfortable.

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 6. Following sockets and outlets

Just because your cable outlet is located in a certain wall does not mean your TV should be there. When staging, sometimes you have to break the rules if it means a better layout, a better look, and function to a room. For example, the TV cable connection for this living room is in this corner wall behind the chair. Previous owners used this as a TV wall which made the room look messy and cramped.  We opted for a seating area and moved the TV somewhere else instead. It looked better in the listing photos, and it promotes better traffic flow in between rooms which is important when buyers are browsing the house.

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 7. The room is off-balance

Shoving all the furniture pieces to one side and ignoring the other side is like a seesaw with only one person. It just doesn`t work! Achieving balance doesn’t mean you have to go completely symmetrical. For example; two chairs can balance a love seat on an opposite end as we did for this large room.

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 8. You don’t have a focal point

A focal point is where your eyes rest first in a space. It is the initial point of interest that you will notice when you enter a room. Your main seating area should always have a focal point, whether it’s a window, a fireplace, or an archway/opening into another room. If you don’t have one, use a console table as shown below and a piece art or tasteful arrangement.

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 9. Forgetting flow and function

When arranging furniture pieces, think of how your potential buyers will enter, exit, and navigate the room. For living rooms, make sure they can easily get in and out of the seating grouping without having to awkwardly move around a side table, for example. In the bedroom, you may be able to walk between the dresser and the bed, but what happens when you open the drawer to get your clothes out in the morning? This is some of the things you should consider.

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Having a beautifully done room does not only involve getting beautiful furniture pieces. Proper furniture placement is as important if you want to have a functional and a beautifully showcased home that is irresistible to buyers.

Red Barrinuevo | Your Toronto Home stager

is a Canadian Certified Staging Professional. His professional affiliations include the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) and the CSP. He is the recipient of numerous home staging awards and was picked as RESA’s Top Professional Stager of Canada for 2016. He has worked with hundreds of Real Estate Brokers, Investors, Real Estate Agents, and has helped homeowners showcase their homes at its best when it is time to sell.

As President and Principal Stager of REDESIGN4MORE, Red provides home staging and interior redecorating services for both small and large-scale residential projects throughout Toronto and the GTA. Click here to learn more about Red and REDESIGN4MORE.

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