Should You Stage A House With Holiday Decor?

Should You Stage A House With Holiday Decor?  It is such a magical time of year for so many people.  And the blog posts about holiday decor are so beautiful and enticing!  In fact, when I look back on this holiday decorating project we did for a lovely client two years ago, I just absolutely love it and get that cozy, warm vibe that we want to create for buyers.

But, when staging a house is it really the right thing to add holiday decor?

This question was just posed in a Facebook group for Real Estate Stagers and it is a good question.

Holiday decor can definitely impart a warm, cheerful feeling and that is exactly what we want buyers to feel, right?

You are totally right but I'm sure you aren't surprised that this girl definitely has opinions on the topic.  And I was so curious to see what other stagers around the country think. The opinions were fairly unanimous (and I am in full agreement)….

The pros say….

NO.

But, also YES.

Wait, what?

Let's start with the NO

Who can resist this beautiful styling when shopping for a house online?

tWO things to consider. and they both involve the photos.

You know for me, it always comes back to photos and what will serve them the best.

First, what serves photos the best:

• very simple, edited spaces
• few, larger scaled accessories
• symmetry

Holiday decor is an added layer of stuff that can actually create visual clutter in the photos and ultimately distract buyers from seeing the actual features of the house.

Definitely not what we want.

Second….

Depending on the:

• lack of emotional connection for the buyers in other parts of the house,
• location,
• neighborhood,
• school district,
• layout of the house,
• and any number of factors

It is possible that a house can sit on the market well beyond the holiday season.

So, what happens in January or February when buyers are looking at this house online?

This means that the Realtor would now need new photos.  Ummmm…yeah…that would make me less than thrilled if I were a Realtor.

For all of those reasons when you are staging a house for photos, holiday decor is an emphatic NO.

But what about the YES?

Almost everyone agreed that incorporating nods to winter, after photos rather than holiday-specific decor would help create a festive vibe that can be irresistible to buyers.

Side note:  one day I will learn how to spell irresistible right the first, second and third time I try to type it.

So, I have curated a lovely “Staging For The Holiday Season” shopping guide to help your sellers create that vibe for their potential buyers (and themselves) — after the photos have been taken!

*Click image to take you to shopping links (full disclosure: some affiliate links are included)

xo,

Lori