Before and After picture magic

When staging a home, I always tell the homeowner that one of the most important parts of having your house on the market is how it looks online. It can be staged to perfection, but with bad lighting/angles, it can look terrible as an online listing. I wanted to share a few examples of how important these are.
Here is a before picture of a living room I recently staged. The angle is OK but without a wide angle lense, it is really hard to see the true size of the room. Also, the rug and other items in the room are pretty dated and the buyers in this area are young couples looking for their first home.

Here is an after shot with a wide angle lense by a professional photographer. It is from the other corner of the room, but you get the idea. We added some easy updates (new rug and side chair from Overstock.com, coffee table from Target, and art from Garden Ridge) and it's like a new room! We also opened the curtains to bring in the natural light, as well as removed the door to the den off of the dining room. This helps give the house a more open floor plan and better flow, which is what buyers are looking for these days. The house was listed using the first picture and was on the market for quite some time without selling. After staging and new pics, it sold in a couple of months in a terrible market!

These next sets of pics are from an empty house that I recently staged. They show how important furniture is when selling a home. It gives buyers ideas and helps them picture their own things in the space.

This is a before shot with a regular camera of a den area. It is really hard to tell how much furniture can really fit in the room. You would easily pass it up when browsing listings online.

Here is the after with the professional wide angle. We didn't over-do the furniture, but gave it enough to show how much room there really is. We also covered up the ugly wires from a previous TV setup with a mirror from the bedroom dresser! It was the perfect size.

This is a before of the master. Boring. And hard to tell how large it really is.

Here is the after. With just a king sized bed, side table, and dresser it is a whole new room!

Here is the main living room. It is a huge space and we just wanted to showcase its potential with a few key pieces.

Here is the after with furniture. Doesn't it feel so much cozier and inviting than before!

This is a before of that room from another angle.

And here is the view when you walk in the home now. We didn't over-saturate the room with furniture and accessories, but filled it with enough to make it feel like a home.

If you are selling a home and you have already moved, investing a little in renting some furniture pieces can make all the difference in the world. If you are still in the house, investing in a few pieces to update the space is well worth it. These before and afters really show how important staging along with quality pictures help a home stand out among all of the listings online!