bored of boards? enter the mood bowl

A mood bowl picked for an Autumn mood.

We’re all familiar with mood boards. And if you’re familiar with working with clients, then you know how helpful, and often necessary, having a tangible set of inspiration bits can be to aid moving from idea to visualization. A lot of people struggle to envision how a design will come together, and shy of some impressive psychic ability, we can’t expect others to know where a project is headed if it’s only, well, in our head.

Mood board example, created for a client’s guest bedroom.

The above mood board, circa 2010 comprising natural linen hopsack with indigo dye pattern over silk check curtain fabric, and maize-inspired colors like Beeswax and chestnut-y colors like Old Gold (pictured here as paint “chips”). You probably recognize many of the hues as they’ve cycled back in style.

When planning a new scene, we’re big fans of the mood bowl. Spying and sorting through little bits to add to the collection, placing them all together in a creative cauldron is a tactile and satisfying ritual. It’s like handpicking only the best ingredients for some creation yet to be concocted. Highly recommend. And, bonus points, these beauty bowls can double as decor.

winning entry: introduction

How do you create a welcoming approach to your own abode or staged property? Start with the story you want to tell. The message you want conveyed will begin unrolling with the first view by guests or potential buyers. Conventionally known as “curb appeal,” this view sets up expectations for how the property is perceived. Tidy, but messy-ish in the right, naturalistic way, balanced, properly lit and easy to approach, the front porch, deck, stoop, or landing SHOULD, introductions being made and cartes-de-visite properly exchanged, usher the visitor through a congenial portal into a gracious space within.

Shut The Front Door!

It’s THAT easy?

Well, generally speaking, yes. Again, how is this accomplished? We recommend taking it step by step…

Ah ha ha… hum.. whoo boy. Sometimes we crack ourselves up…

Also, we are not seeking sterile perfection, but progression...

In truth, setting up a winning entry does consist of a series of stages as well as staging. Contrast large elements with small, combine and cluster pots of fresh plants with small additions of seasonal decor. This may mean raising up certain elements and adding in a small amount of contrasting color.

Symmetry has its place in the design world and matching pairs of containers for live plants exude a sense of formality demarcating the FRONT DOOR. We like to goose…ahem.. the staid regularity slightly in favor of whimsy by adding a touch to one side or other: another, smaller, planter or garden sculpture.

Plantings well suited to containers with a punch of color… the Fall Y’all police might see a violation but we are happy with a violet nation… ok. pink. pink nation. And these are impatiens, but so are we with conforming to strict ideas of “seasonal.”

Set a scene for an event with faux material combined with the natural.

Check out our Pinterest board “Winning Entry” for more ideas and suggestions!

…and the award for Winning Entry for 2020 here at Cordelia and Co Design goes to (we are a leeetle more open now… but not much)

faux or no: fool the eye for long lasting effect in staging

While we bang on continuously about using natural materials wherever and however possible, at times, faking it IS making it. Staging is a specific form of decoration meant to set a scene and elicit specific, hopefully pleasant, responses.

In staging a property for sale, the pleasing “scene” often has to last for longer than fresh material will hold up. Few things are as unwelcoming as rotting fruit or dead plants! Calling in the faux is not only acceptable, but advisable for staged properties expected to be open longer than a week. Seek out really good reproduction fruit, vegetables, florals and plants, and keep them ready as reliable backup performers for your A-list celebrity arrangements and decor. Though most faux leaves etc. can be stored flat, we take the time to work the bendy parts so that the fake leaves and flowers fall in naturalistic attitudes, rather than looking like a squished and tired commuter just off the Paris Metro…quelle horreur!

Arrayed in containers and pots that would normally be used for real plants, the artificial can fool the eye and hold up much longer without care (though have never had to find out— the homes we stage sell super quickly! Howifsomeever, we HAVE had to leaf notes for the fab real estate crews and homeowners to please NOT water the staged plant “life”!)

Good faux flowers add sunny touches to staged rooms.

Naturalistic arrangements help staged rooms feel occupied, pleasant and living— rather than sterile and hotel-like.

Faux fruits and veggies make fun additions to kitchen staging implementations— plant that suggestion! This is a place where good food and good times will happen. Trust.

Thrifting your way to stable assortment of fauxlicious stand-ins is easy and cost effective.

Ready for our close-ups, Mr. DeMille!

Natch, no faux for real party time— there is nothing like fresh for that Open House or reception! Bring in the Stars of the show for the main events, then substitute the stand-ins for longer lasting beauty.

staging kit: layering a cake

It’s a cake. Start with great tasty basics and then add on the pretty finishes. Pillows are sprinkles. That is all.

Staging a property for purchase or rent is designed to set that all important positive first impression. True to its name, staging is the craft of setting a scene for an audience and differs form interior design meant for long term use. The staged property tells a story of comfort and livability, allowing a buyer or client to see the best cast of the basics of the space and literally asking them to project their own lives into the script. Clean, orderly rooms are a must. The good foundations of this cake should show, but the added icing of thoughtful detail create a delicious vision of potential happiness! Who’s hungry now? We are, that’s who! And we want our clients to pine for the spaces on which we design. We’ve got a magic bag —okay, tubs. We arrive with tubs full of goodies— but same, same. Some of our staging has been so successful, the buyers wanted everything in the the property!
Lots of factors figure into successful stagecraft. We’ll start to break it down for you. The main point is creating settings to help a potential buyer see themselves contentedly at HOME.

Staging Kit

Start with the basic ingredients, combine and then add layers to this cake!

First visit to site or home to stage

• Eyeballs. Use ‘em.

• All senses— note your impressions.

• Measuring tape

• Notebook or log in phone

• Video from first view to end

• Photos of individual rooms

• Photos of areas needing extra attention
  

Back at the Workshop

• Write down first impressions

• Review video

• Review photos

• Use sticky notes for reminders

• Note where a professional contractor is needed: large repairs, wiring, large painting jobs, large landscaping jobs
  

Day(s) of Installation (Assuming major work has been completed)

To bring:

• First Aid Kit

• Worker Bee Care Basket

• Measuring tape

• Push pins

• Painter’s tape

• Sticky notes

Go through entire project site first and mark each place possible that needs attention

 Keep in your vehicle:

• Drywall Repair kit

• Paint touch up kit

• Cleaning kit

• Tool kit including clamps and glue

• Furniture/wood scratch kit

• Attachment issues kit including clamps, clips, laundry pins, magnets, wire, twine and safety pins

Follow the painter’s tape or sticky notes with small repairs or amendments— change colors if further work is needed.

If furniture is in the location, bring Furniture Moving kit.

Once small repairs/amendments are complete and major cleaning is complete: Block in large pieces.

Add accents, decorative pieces and lighting, bed covers, towels etc.

Add top dec: storytelling elements, faux fruit and other food, coffee in cabinet, boxes, baskets, books, humorous or homely small details.

Finish with final cleaning and dusting.

Fresh Smells kit to add citrus in kitchen, lavender in closets and bedrooms, etc.

Homemade lavender sachets.

In the mood to “Ooh” and “Aah”? Have a gander at our Stagecraft and Winning Entry boards on Pinterest.

staging basics

Who, What, Where, How

Events start with the who, staging starts with the where. Not that you aren’t thinking about your audience! Understanding the impact of your design appeal on your target certainly narrows what you can or will do.

Staging occurs on small levels: mantels, coffee or dining tables, and larger levels: interior and exterior of homes or buildings, city streets, whole towns, lighting, the very air, the sky is the literal limit!!! Whoa. Sorry. We got a little excited there! But, aren’t you? You should be. Staging is fun!

First thing:
Zen your mind clear or do some yoga or eat a doughnut… whatever takes you to a content, nonjudgmental mind zone. When you are in that state, you are ready to be helpful to someone in need of good, possibly life-changing, advice.
Ready?

It Is Not About You.

Okay. Onwards.

At the Property to Stage:
Walk through
With a cleared mind, approach, view throughout, and exit. Easy peasy, right?
Photographs
Photos tell you more than your eyes
Walk Away

Go and have a think. Preferably in the area of the property. Absorb the feeling of surrounding properties, neighborhood and businesses.

If at all possible, remove 50-90% of furnishings in the space to be staged.

Clean. Clean like you are the lost child of a torrid affair between Mr Clean and the White Tornado — and whatever gene pool he/him and they/them created is full to the brim with clean.

If you are one of those “it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that bling” kind of designers, move along. We get you. But we are on the side of natural, probs neutral and not shiny… unless it is clean-shiny, then we are all about that gleam.

Staging a Space for Sale or Rental

Home Staging
Design for the brochure photo op versus the real life home tour of a home for sale— two very different design opportunities.

Breakfast three ways:

1. The charming inveiglement of staging for tour. 2. Real life - we all know this - but we want to see our lives improved in a new space. 3. Staging for a photo op.

Photographing or Video Tours of homes for sale are essential. Staging decor and for photographs calls for more attention to perspective and arrangement in rooms. Stagers work with photographers and real agent to get the best angles of features in homes, working to accentuate the positive and de-emphasize any negatives. Design for videography of a space to be shown can be more like the open house or tours of the actual space by prospective buyers.
When staging for photography, furnishings can be placed in ways not normally conducive to actual living — all with the mind of displaying a welcoming space rendered into a still picture in essentially two dimensions.Cheat clustering your decor is absolutely okay for that brochure or website photo! However, staging for buyers in the actual space to be shown should always consider how the home would function in real life. It should engage ALL the senses to charm and seduce, but never outright lie about a property’s features. We, as buyers, are actually okay with this. It says you, as a seller, want to engage with us.

According to the National Association of Realtors, staged homes sell faster and at a higher price.

Staging is a process that helps a seller disengage and move on from their home as it depersonalizes what has been home. For potential purchasers, staging should give hints to the ways a property COULD be and invite them to see it as their own. A well-staged property is an engaging and welcoming host and anyone viewing the property is a guest to be beguiled into extending their stay — with an offer!

before & afters

Check out our Stagecraft and Spend Little, Sell Fast Staging boards for more hints.

styling & staging

Staging is a concept best applied to temporary design opportunities wherein some theatricality is encouraged: property sales or rentals, holiday decor. Styling is the everyday aesthetic of balanced beauty. Styling is part of staging. Taking the skills used to create warm, comfortable living spaces can be amped up for staging rooms to be presented in sale properties. We can show you how.

Styled mantel. Balanced beauty, but not symmetrical.

We style things all the time in our lives everyday. It is a choice that brings more calm and a harmonious atmosphere which promotes a more settled headspace. This past year? Well, we did not have Calgon, so SOMETHING had to take us away…We were home All. The. Damn. Time.

To be honest, once you get going, it is a bit of an addiction. Seeking a balanced composition in the small affects the large. Then everything exists in a “better” relationship to each other. Except people. People don’t always get it. Our partners are not on board with the “perfect” arrangement of plastic bottles on the vitamin carrel, (with labels, with their shrieking fonts, turned to the back, and tallest at the rear, ‘natch, ) but it LITERALLY causes us pain when the bottles are out of “order”…
Stretching…
Envisioning the perfect calm of Velazquez Las Meninas or Degas’ dancers.

Aaaaaand we’re back.

Styling should fall within the realm of actual living conditions. Objects not on Broadway, but in mostly permanent exhibition behind the museum glass? Well, not really, but you know what we mean! Umbrellas are great to have by the front door, says all dog walkers everywhere but especially in Seattle, but they can be corralled in an attractive container rather will-aye nill-aye all over the floor.

We get asked all the time by folks who are searching for better decor and more peace in their lives if “calm” is equivalent to empty or they ask us while holding an armful of objects while absentmindedly stroking great aunt pearl’s button back chair like an old collie. You know that chair is not going to “live on a farm” if you take it to the share shed, right?
The question we asked, long before decluttering became the hottest new hobby, was “Do you love your things?” — if you love your things, do you want to make your space work for YOU.

Here’s the big thing? It’s not the clutter. It’s how the clutter occupies the space.

Styled “We love our things” vs. Real Life “We love ALL our things”:

Styling outfits— finding the right balance of pieces and accessories to highlight the positive and elide over perceived deficits with the goal of feeling sharp. Check that. Before we stayed home for a year and all we wore were pajamas.

A styled outfit.

Here are some of our styling & staging boards for more ideas:

Stagecraft

Table That For Later

Spend Little, Sell Fast Staging