Recently, I helped a couple “stage” their home.  They wanted decorating help that would make the best first impression for prospective buyers during a “showing” by a real estate agent.  This particular early 20^th century home was prominently sited with views overlooking the bay.  Having been beautifully renovated already, the furniture arrangement and decorating just needed “tweaking”.  During the introductory tour, I ask the homeowners to explain what they love about their home (like where is it spacious and what room makes you happy?) and also what bothers them about their home (where is it crowded, do any rooms feel sad?)  While we walk from room to room, I note the path chosen by the homeowner.  It’s important to understand the flow of traffic within a home.  Any impediments to movement will make the home seem crowded, implying a negative feeling of confinement.  For example, as we walked though the central hall toward the unused front door and foyer, we had to walk around the front edge of a narrow hall table.  Because the table jutted out and interrupted our flow of movement, a feeling that the space is narrow and confining is registered.  The homeowner may not be aware of this anymore because walking around the table has become an ingrained habit, and the feeling of confinement has waned.  As soon as I moved the table, an immediate feeling of spaciousness takes over.  The homeowner noticed it too.  

Once the physical pathways are free, I work on the visual ones.  Again, while taking the introductory tour, I note the vantage points in a room for enjoying the views, both the views through the windows and the views through a series of rooms.  These visual pathways should also be unimpeded, free of the clutter of the personal effects that might distract from a saleable view.  Cluttering a view can again create a negative feeling of confinement.  Views through rooms make a home feel more spacious and views through windows connect a home to the natural surroundings, and in this case, the sight of the bay is certainly the point of view that makes this home special.  In this house, there is a prominent view of the bay from an alcove between the switchback stairs and the front door.  The furniture was already well positioned, and the surfaces were not cluttered, but still the breathtaking view was not immediately apparent through one large window over the desk and three smaller windows in a row over the bookcases.  The homeowners were used to looking for the view, but I had to direct my eyes to it.  Something needed to change—in particular, the placement of a piece of art between the windows.  There were two different problems.  The more obvious one was that the art was very dark.  With the desk and the bookcases also being very dark, the balance of dark to light favoured darkness, making the views to the sunlit bay seem limited, and thus smaller.  The second problem with the art was that the subject matter directed your eye to the smaller windows, which also created a sense of limited view.  To fix both problems at once, I removed the art from the wall.  Immediately the view seemed larger—first because there was no longer a dark object breaking the view, and second because the eyes were no longer being directed to look out the smaller windows.  I later replaced the dark art with a brightly colour batik.  Now day or night, the eye is drawn to this bright spot between the windows.  In the daytime, it connects the view, and day or night, by brightly attracting the eye to the far wall of the alcove, the space seems bigger with lingering possibilities.  That should interest a prospective buyer.  More next time…