Home Staging 101 for Kids Rooms Matters
Staging a children’s space is an exciting venture! If you’re like us, the thought of staging a playroom may evoke the stifled the Disney princess (or prince) deep within– but we’re here to sober you up. Home staging a kid’s area must adhere to the same governing home staging principles. Your goal is to create a practical, functioning space that is essentially stripped of character, and is irresistibly charming to all parents and children.
Think: What Do All Parents Want?
Appeal to the universal parent, a staged children’s room should be integrated into the ultimate landscape that comprises the entirety of your staged home. If you’re going to be industrious in your kids’ space, why not thematically tie-in features scattered throughout the rest of your home? Parents want to feel in control of their children’s domiciles, so it’s important to keep the children’s room elegant– and aligned with the overarching appeal of the entire home.
However, parents also need to envision their children using your space to close the sale.
The best way to prepare for this is an on-speculation basis. That is, do your homework before prospective buyers visit. How old are their children? If this isn’t possible, ask yourself what does every parent want?
Answer: A clean room, with plenty of space for their babies to evolve and grow.
Unfortunately, over-the-top features, like a massive ball pit, and character murals have to take a backseat to the fundamentals of staging a home.
Create a Sensible, Interactive Children’s Space
Want mommy and daddy to close on the sale? Keep them in the house longer. The kiddos can help, if you give them a push. Home staging is psychological warfare. If you can convince potential buyers they belong in your home, you’ve nailed it! What better way to create an instant snapshot of living in your home then by orchestrating playtime? Offering a sensible kiddy corner will keep kids entertained while their parents tour your home.
Remember to keep things simple, you don’t want to create a huge clean-up job for yourself. Low maintenance toys will be your friend here. Coloring books invite the chaos of crayons, but a simple Etch-A-Sketch board achieves the same result with zero of the mess. Choose a handful of large, aptly placed building blocks instead of tiny legos, which are bound to get scattered. You get the idea. Here are a few more ideas to kick around when creating an interactive children’s space:
- Wooden Stick Horse (Keep the color gender neutral.)
- Multicolored Cars (Think tiny hot wheels.)
- Bead Mazes (You know the ones– they litter doctor’s offices like candy.)
Pro Tip: Why not place a children’s classic like The Cat in the Hat or If You Give a Mouse a Cookie strategically in a reading chair?
If you know the ages of the children coming to visit your home you can swap out book titles and interactive toys respectively to remain age appropriate. If you don’t know the ages of the tiny humans touring your home, simplicity is your friend. When in doubt in the home staging arena, dress down.
Keep Rooms Gender Neutral, But Playful
Need some ideas on color schemes? Remember to create with the rest of your home’s color theme in mind:
- Elegant Gray
- Spritely Green (Mint maybe?)
- Modern Black
- Bright & White
- Aqua & Coral
- Yellow & Orange
- Navy & Gold
Keep Your Kids Safe and Depersonalize
Just a reminder: you’re inviting strangers into your home. They know the landscape of your child’s room. Don’t be naive and forget to take down photos of your children– that’s home staging 101 anyway! Eliminate any decorations with their names on it, and remove awards they’ve earned from school– the last thing you want a predator to know is where else to find your kids. You could unbeknowingly set a predator up for the classic, “Oh Katie, I know your mom!” routine.
Better safe than sorry.
Ask Creative Home Stagers
Struggling to enjoin the perfect level of depersonalization and kid-centric? Let’s figure it out together!