Staging Tip: How to Stage Open Niches & Shelves

You have to wonder what the thought process is behind those architectural details found in newer construction homes. You know, those open niches and the shelves that are 2 stories high.  How practical are they?   My first thought whenever I see these spaces is, who's going up there to dust?  I'm sure that's the least of their concerns, but that's how my mind works - I'm very practical by nature.Unfortunately, these seem to be difficult areas for the average homeowner to decorate, but don't despair, you don't have to be an experienced  interior designer to do these spaces  justice. As a home stager, my challenge was not so much decorating, but accessing these areas without breaking my neck.Below are a few ideas on how to stage these areas.  The most important thing to remember is scale. Because these are spaces that are usually fairly high up, you want to avoid small scale items.  Avoid using little figurines or other little tsatskes.  This is where you want to use larger vases and taller plants (2.5-4 feet high) work well.  You want to layer the space.  Most likely, people will be viewing it from 12-15 feet below details so trying to highlight details will be futile.The top two photos below show where that open niche is on the wall above the space between the living room and dining room.  This was directly across from the front door, so it's in your immediate field of vision upon entering the house.   It's important to stage that area because it encourages the buyer to look up and notice the high ceilings. Also, whoever originally purchased this home paid for the recessed lighting upgrade in the niche, so we want to highlight that as well.  As you can see, we used a piece of art as the focal point and accented it on both sides with vases and greenery.  The photo on the bottom right hand corner uses a similarly staged vignette for an open shelf space located at a landing area on the stairs.  If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you will see that there was a vent located here so again, how practical would that be to decorate on an every day basis if you lived there?  You don't want to block the intake if that's what its purpose is or the airflow otherwise.  What was Mr. Architect or Mr. Builder thinking?

The corner niche is not so bad.  As you can see, an identical vase was used and the one in the back was elevated by stacking two encyclopedias underneath it.  Some greenery was used to soften the edges and you're good to go.  Don't be afraid of these spaces. They're not practical, but when highlighted properly, can be very dramatic and viewed as a value added detail.