How to Stage a Room With an Ugly View

I've recently staged a few properties that had somewhat undesirable views out their windows, as in–that creepy house we all know, a parking lot view from a basement condo, and a used car lot.  So, what do you do when all of us Stagers and Realtors talk about is letting in as much natural light as possible.

Try these tips for staging a room with an ugly view:

First, don't do this (although it is significantly better than the view out that window, trust me on that)….

Try this instead….

In this, we used tension rods and just doubled up a Threshold Clipped Sheer 84″ cotton panel from Target. By the way, my biggest pet peeves is polyester sheer drapes, especially in dark colors.  I just think that they look cheap and that is the last thing you want for buyers to think about your house.

Here is another, “don't do”.  There are actually a lot of don'ts in here but just leaving the windows with the blinds alone, especially if they aren't resting evenly is a big don't.  In fact, the only thing that a buyer could focus on in this room was the view of car tires out the master bedroom window because that is exactly what you saw from this basement condo….

Here's the fix…

First, we added furnishings, something for a buyer to look at and connect with rather than just peaking out those windows onto the parking lot.  Next, we added colorful window treatments to stop a buyer's eye right there rather than continuing out the window.  And, lastly, we closed the blinds and pulled them down halfway which meant all a buyer could see was the short privacy hedge out the window. As you can see, there is still a ton of natural light streaming in.

I'd love to hear your thoughts

So over to you my dears…how would you stage a room with an ugly view? What would you do to block out a hid-ay-oso view? Share with us!