Closet Home Staging

Staging Closets

Closets mean storage and today's home buyer is looking to have lots of storage in their next home. By keeping your closets only one-third full, the prospective buyer can see the space they might be buying. If a closet is too full, they can't imagine that their stuff will fit. If a closet looks neat and orderly, the prospective buyer will think that they too, can be neat if they only had this much space in a closet.

A stager can take the emotion out of the process of cleaning out and rearranging possessions more easily than a home owner can. It's their profession and they are paid to be dispassionate about objects. When staging your home, you need to be just as objective to be successful.

Task 1. Assess Color Palette

Closets should be painted a neutral color. We prefer using Benjamin Moore's Cedar Key (OC-16) which is a nice, rich, light beige-y tan. We use this color for baths and bedrooms, too, so everything flows nicely. Mouldings should be white unless they are natural, stained wood. Stained woodwork should be cleaned and polished, but you usually won't have to restain unless the mouldings have been severely damaged.

Task 2. Stage the closet

After the paint is dry, you can begin staging the closet one clothing category at a time.

We usually begin with short-sleeved shirts. Make sure they are hung on similar hangers and are facing the same direction. Starting from the left, organize the shirts by color, white on the left and work towards navy or black on the right. (Think of a rainbow and how all the colors blend nicely one into the next.) You want all the white shirts next to one another, all the light blue next to each other, etc. This is a visual trick we use to keep the eye moving from one end of the closet to another. It also helps you find your favorite light blue, short sleeved shirt easily.
Next, choose another category of clothing and repeat the same steps - organize by color. Continue until all the categories are neatly hung by color and type and the hanging space feels about one-third full.
Handbags, accessories and shoes should be up on a shelf. Finding nice boxes to put these in is a plus, but neatness and space are what counts. Again, the shelf should only by 1/3 full when you are done.
Nothing should be on the floors. This also gives the illusion of lots of space.
Belts should be hung on a special belt hanger or you can put one or two looped onto a hanger. Don't overcrowd.

Use the same procedures and basic strategies for other types of closets you may have to organize and stage such as pantries, front hall closets, guest closets, basement closets, laundry room closets and linen closets. Keep these 1/3 full and put like items together in neat, organized categories.

Ready to stage another room ? You can also select another room to clean and organize.

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