Staging for your Audience

I had the opportunity to go to an IKEA store last year.

When I entered the store I was immediately taken with the displays and the staging of each section of the store - even more so as I rode the escalator to find more and more eye-catching arrangements. IKEA has a great marketing plan that takes all their furnishings and accessories and places them in lovely displays to draw potential buyers into "their" space.

I was there with my eldest daughter to help search for some bedroom furnishings for the flat she was renting. She had moved west for university and we decided IKEA would be the best place to find furniture and accessories (and so it seemed did every other family of post-secondary students)!

While we walked around and took note of the many bedroom settings, my daughter was taking the time to carefully view each room. Then, as we rounded a corner, one stopped my daughter in her tracks. You could see that she had found a collection that was suited to her. Having saved money for these purchases, she very thoughtfully planned and put together the pieces that she loved. I just watched and said very little. She knew exactly what she wanted to make her space complete and the staging of this particular room had allowed her to envision it. When I think back to that moment, nothing I might have said would have changed her mind (not that I wanted to). It wasn't just that the items themselves were special, but the way they were arranged bespoke the perfect combination of comfort and utility for her and her life.

The staging of the the bedroom set at IKEA was the hook for my daughter because she could see herself living in that space.

As Home Stagers, that is exactly the emotion we are trying to create for future buyers. We want our buyers to feel themselves living in the space and creating their own memories. Statistics show that only 10% of people can envision the potential of an unstaged property, which is why staging is so important!