I Sent a Stager Photos of My Office Layout — Here’s How She Rearranged It

When my family and I sold our house in Tallahassee, Florida, we got two offers within a day of putting the place on the market. But this doesn’t mean selling our house was easy. Getting our house ready to be sold required quite a bit of preparation on the front end, and a big part of it was getting it staged by Monica Collins of Snapshot Staging. 

Monica came in and offered suggestions about what to get rid of or put away, then added some neutral-colored throw pillows and white comforters to spruce up the house for listing photos and showings. Many of the changes Monica made were small, but together they added up to a big impact that I have no doubt contributed to our house being sold so quickly for top dollar. 

Since then, Monica and I have bonded over her advice to keep the house clutter-free with the “one in, three out” method, and she helped me revamp my linen closet in our new house. So I knew who to call when I needed to overhaul my home office. Beginning when I first set it up a year ago, my office hasn’t felt quite right. I wanted to face the window, but part of my desk jutted out in front of the window. The desk could be seen from the front yard, and it really bothered me whenever I saw it while outside.

Inside, the room didn’t have any flow. I liked everything in it, but the arrangement didn’t feel cohesive or peaceful — and I often found myself working elsewhere in the house. 

Eventually, I reached out to Monica. I sent her pictures and a video of the room and she worked her magic — absolute magic, I tell you. Now you can hardly tear me away from this room, it’s so inviting and makes me feel good. 

Here’s what Monica had me change about the layout of my office and why.

Because the desk partially blocked the window, Monica had me move it to the adjacent corner, where the desk’s L-shape could fit against two walls, and the window could breathe free. Monica pointed out that the window was the focal point of the room and that nothing should obstruct it. 

Now that the corner near the window was empty, Monica suggested putting my pink velvet chair here. “It’s a beautiful piece, a serene piece of furniture,” she says, contrasting it with the less aesthetic, utilitarian view of a desk upon walking into the room. She wanted the impression of looking into the room to be something like: “How calming and what a beautiful space!” So the chair went in the corner to the left of the window, becoming a focal point.

Next, Monica wanted me to move the white metal-and-glass bookshelves to the corner where the floor lamp and pink chair were. Her original intention was that the larger and smaller bookshelves would form their own L in the corner, but there wasn’t enough room to do that, so she had me put the smaller plant bookshelf on the other side of the window. She wanted the setup to look intentional, and the effect is that the window is framed by beautiful plant displays that are visible from the entrance to the room. 

Finally, I moved the cubby unit to the wall by the door. You can’t see the busy colors when you walk in, and the white side just kind of disappears into the wall when you first peer into the room. Monica suggested putting a large piece of art or a gallery wall centered above the cubbies to, again, “make it look intentional.” I moved the art piece that had been above my desk to over the cubbies. 

In describing the goal of staging my home office this way, Monica spoke from the perspective of hypothetically getting the house ready to sell. “The goal with staging,” she says, “is that you want people to have an emotional connection with your home. You want them to mentally start moving in their belongings, to already feel like it’s their home, where they feel safe and calm and peaceful.” She went on to say, “If they have an emotional connection with your house, they’re statistically more likely to buy yours.”

Well, we’re not selling, but I definitely have my own emotional connection to this room. Since I’ve made the changes, I’ve spent so much more time here and have been far more productive. The room has excellent flow, feels palpably peaceful, and it makes me want to get up early and get some work done in here before the rest of the house wakes up. This is the power of a well-staged room, whether as my favorite stager’s tagline states, you’re “selling or dwelling.”