Mentally Dressing the Walls

Art on the walls of a staged property should remind buyers of property's assets.

If you are reading this, chances are you have a home to sell.  One suggestion I make in my eBook DIY Home Staging Tips is that sellers make available disposable cameras at an open house.  If you buy more than five at a time from www.customcameracollection.com, they can cost as little at $3.55.

I always take pictures if I am looking at a home on the market.  If I decide not to pursue the purchase, I simply delete them.  But as long as I’m interested in the property, the photos stay and help me remember all the details, including some I might not have even noticed. 

I may not have access to the condo we’re going to buy, but I have my measurements and my photographs to help me brainstorm staging ideas.  Most likely our buyers will be a retired couple, because most of the residents in that complex are retirees, and because there’s no outside maintenance, and because it’s a one story unit. 

However, there is no reason the unit would not make a perfect rental property.  The layout makes it possible for two singles to live there, with two separate entrances and two full baths.  It would also work well for a young couple, a single adult, or a single parent with one child. 

So, I’m not going to pitch my staging to a particular demographic.  The outstanding feature of the property is its water access and water view.  To drive home this point, I want to hang art that emphasizes the location.  Here are some of my budget-conscious plans for wall art:

• I have two matching silver frames, with glass and white mats.   I’ll do a bunch of abstract, pastel, watery water colors, just squiggles of blue and green, and frame the two I like best.
• I have an oversized print of the sunset, beach and sailboat scene that’s kinda schmaltzy.  I found it at Goodwill yesterday.  I’ll cut out the part I like and frame that in a silver frame I also found at Goodwill for $3.99.
• I have a 20 x 16-inch white frame with glass.  I’ll tear a page from one of Mr. Lucky’s out-of-date navigation chart books, showing local water depths and such, and frame that.  I love those charts because they are so pretty – creamy white and pale blue with lots of little numbers.  Nothing too distracting, but it will appeal to any boater.
• I have a large acrylic painting I did of boats that now hangs in our living room.  It’s got some dark colors, but I’ll put it in the room where I plan to have some dark furniture and create a manly kind of TV room.
• I have a photograph that I took from our boat recently of a marshland – muted blue sky, green and yellow grasses next to beautiful blue waters.  Perfect.  I’ll put it in an old frame I can spray paint silver. (See photo above.)
• I have two black and white photographs of sailing yachts that I love.  The wooden frames are dollar store frames, and I bought the reasonably priced art for staging from art.com.