apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

O.K. they're not beautiful, but I think they would be a good idea if you've already moved out, and the property is left empty. The cardboard furniture would at least give a potential buyer and idea of how their furniture would fit.

i think decorating (via paint, marker, etc.) some of these with fake upholstery prints, faux wood grain, and other designs could be a blast and would look really pop. not sure how many potential home buyers would appreciate it, but i'd dig it.

these are somewhat reminiscent of one of my favorite artists, thomas demand, who created large scale projects out of paper/cardboard and then photographed them as if they were real. check him out at http://www.thomasdemand.de

They would definitely help the scale of the room... empty rooms look smaller than ones with furniture in them. Wierd but true.

Having sold three residential properties over the past two years, I can say that, based on my own experience, a staged house is preferable to an unstaged house, especially when selling to the average jane/joe on the street (in contrast to, say, selling to more creative types - artists, design/decorating enthusiasts, contractors - who can visualize what their things would look like in an empty room).

When I left the houses/condos empty, I received no offers, even though I had fully renovated the house/condo. The minute I staged the house/condo with nice modern furniture, I received offers.

But this cardboard thing just looks cheap. And in this market, sellers who come off as cheap are, I think, real turnoffs for potential buyers. I'm thinking, "If he/she is cheaping out on the staging, what else is he/she cheaping out on?"

At the very minimum, go to Craigslist and stage your home with Ikea stuff.

Staging your home with Ikea stuff wouldn't be any more expensive, either-- that carboard bed is almost $200 with S&H.

The only advantage I see to the fake furniture is that it's light and folds up so it can easily be moved around.

I just looked at the prices - although I said they look cheap, they're certainly not price-wise.

And Patrick is totally right on - a room that is furnished looks larger. It might have something to do with depth perception.

What about just renting furniture?

heh at first i laughed, but then i thought, hey, not that bad of an idea! b/c for one, many times that we've moved, all of our stuff is out of there b the time we actually sell the old place. for another, maybe your current furniture is ugly & distracting or so far from the style of the potential buyers that it actually gets in the way.

they should honestly sell these in lowes or something (for cheaper)

Renting furniture would definitely be a more effective way to stage a home for sale. People want to see how beautiful their home could be not just a potential furniture layout. Besides what do you do with this stuff once the house is sold?

"Besides what do you do with this stuff once the house is sold?"

Give them to the buyer! He can use them as boxes to move his stuff.

I kind of like the dining table.

I think the place needs to be TOTALLY devoid of anything else for this to work... and a more modern place, at that.

Then, it looks conceptual, like a living diagram.

Otherwise, it looks like someone took the cheap way out, as David wisely warns against, above.

If I walked into a house on the market filled with this, my first thought would be, "why on earth didn't they just leave it empty?" Way to weird not to be distracting. And, as others have pointed out, way to expensive not to use real (if cheap) furniture instead.

At the same time, I would totally go for a real dining table that looked like this paper one.

urg, make that "too" and "too." That sort of stuff skewers my nerves.

I love it. But not for it's intended purpose: if I was seriously looking to buy a house, this furniture would really distract me from the house elements. I'd be so focused on how the "furniture" looked. Need something that fades into the background, that seems normal and doesn't make any sort of statement at all. But as a non-house buyer, I love seeing this.

Renting furniture is a good option; however, since houses are sitting on the market for longer periods of time (at least in the Metro DC area, where I live), renting could prove costly. Alternatively, one could also borrow furniture from friends, especially their mid-c pieces.

One who uses these cardboard things should pray potential buyers don't bring their children.

There's something I find slightly disturbing about fake all-white cardboard furniture. Similar to how i'd feel walking down an aisle of entirely generic white-labeled products at the grocery store... Or perhaps like awakening to a nightmare in which I've been shrunken down to a two-inch standee figure in one of those "Contemporary" 3d interior design kits I used to play with in the 80's when I was a little boy.

God forbid they should lay these out on a black & white tile floor, I'd run from the house screaming for fear of seeing giant dry-erase markers, pink plastic stencils, and stick-on Patrick Nagel prints.


If you'll excuse me, I think I need to call my therapist...

GROAN for me on this one.

I am a stager in San Francisco bay area and have been in the business for 1.5 years. If I do this, I will definitely be fired on the spot by the clients. I think this is something that it's a great idea but failed short in execution. If you are strapped for cash and still need to give the buyers an idea how regular furnishing will work in the space, this is a great way to go. We generally think the space is smaller when we see it vacant. But at the pricing that the website offers, you can buy REAL furniture at similar price off craig's list, IKEA, goodwill or get them free from free cycle with a little bit TLC to update them. I think it's great that they are trying to bring warmth to the home by using accessories, but it still feels cold with white cardboard furnishing. The only thing that I am concerned about is that staging is not really about selling the furniture on the floor, it's to get buyers to notice the space and to realize the potential of the homes. This is very uncommon staging practice, I wonder if the buyers will get too distracted by poking at the cardboard furniture and not notice the home itself.

There are a lot of different ways to stage the home even if the budget is really tight, I have certainly worked with sellers who have that issue. I am actually going to blog about that for free money finance in September (sorry shameless plug there)

Cheers,
Cindy

I think it's sort of silly that people aren't smart enough to be able to walk into a home and see the potential of it without having to have it look like a showcase home.