There are so many pieces in our staging inventory that I would love to steal for my own home (and sometimes do). We buy inventory that looks beautiful and has mass appeal, but we certainly cannot afford to spend a fortune on each item. The qualities that we look for in staging inventory are appearance, movability and affordability. We need pieces that can work well in a variety of properties and also stand up to numerous moves. It’s important that we keep an eye on what inventory is used heavily and what sits in the warehouse. We want to continue to invest in pieces that are used frequently and part ways with those items that we continuously pass over. Here is what we typically spend on some of the largest inventory categories in our warehouse.
SOFAS – UNDER $700
We have started to buy multiples of our key staging inventory, particularly sofas. A neutral sofa with clean lines can look different in every living space simply by changing up the pillows, throws, rugs and art we pair with the sofa. It also makes the selection process easier to have a standard sofa and nothing saves money like an efficient process. We try to purchase sofas under $700. Our favorite staging sofa from Value City Furniture (similar) costs around $400 and you’d never guess it’s so inexpensive in pictures or in person. When you spend less on sofas you are giving up higher quality performance fabrics and perhaps some comfort, but for staging purposes we are much more concerned with style over function.
ACCENT CHAIRS – UNDER $300
You would be shocked at the amount of accent chairs in our staging inventory. Most staging projects require at least six accent chairs so we can never have enough – which means we need to have high quantities on hand and we can’t spend a fortune per chair. Similar to our sofas, we opt for accent chairs in neutral fabrics and clean lines and we also purchase higher quantities of the chairs that work best and are used most frequently. We keep our accent chairs under $300 and lately have been finding some amazing chairs at Target (thanks Studio McGee).
DINING TABLES – UNDER $500
Dining tables are one of the trickiest pieces to source for staging and about half of our dining table inventory is second hand from resale shops or social media finds. Dining tables can be pretty style-specific, so we try hard to source tables with clean lines that we can use in the majority of our projects without competing with the styling of the home. We also try to look for dining tables that include an extending leaf so we can use the table in both small and large dining rooms. Target has a great selection of well priced dining tables and we also have luck with some wholesale vendors, including Safavieh and Olliix, for tables under the $500 price point.
DINING CHAIRS – UNDER $200/CHAIR
Dining chairs are thankfully much easier to find than dining tables. We typically mix and match our dining sets, meaning that we do not purchase chairs that come as a set with the table. Additionally, we often mix a set of 4-6 side chairs with complimentary end chairs, so we try to keep each chair under $200, and ideally under $150. For stagers, it’s important to have a variety of shapes and sizes for dining chairs as nothing looks worse than a huge table with dinky, ill-fitting chairs. We also use dining chairs for small eat-in kitchen spaces and sometimes paired with desks. Some of the most versatile dining chairs in our inventory are black Windsor chairs.
BED PIECES – UNDER $600
We pair foldable metal bed frames with foldable metal box springs for staging (do not recommend that you ever jump on a staged bed, ouch!). These pieces are great for staging because they do not take up much space in the warehouse and travel easily; however, they come with a hefty price tag. For a queen bed, the frame is around $110 and the foldable box spring is $250. Despite the cost, we absolutely recommend this bed set-up to home stagers. We try to spend less than $250 for headboards so the total cost of the bed, less bedding, is around $600. There are really great inexpensive headboards available at places like Target, Walmart and Wayfair. We typically buy headboards only instead of platform beds or alternatives that require multiple pieces and on-site assembly.
ART – under $500
Aside from sofas, art is the category that we spend the most money per piece. We firmly believe that high quality art is worth the investment and makes a huge impact in staging. The quality of our work has increased dramatically since we started spending more on art. A large piece of art elevates any room and often makes a statement as the focal point in the space. Most of our oversized art pieces are from wholesale vendors, such as Leftbank Art and Wendover; however, it’s possible to shop locally for large art and we’ve scored some beautiful pieces at HomeGoods. These large pieces are moved frequently between the warehouse and staged properties so we try to protect each piece with thoughtful storage solutions in the warehouse and adequate protection for each moves. When you spend $500 on one piece of art, it needs to last.
ACCESSORIES – as cheap as possible!
While we try to keep our larger staging pieces neutral and classic, we allow ourselves to follow decor trends when it comes to accessories. And because the trends are always changing, we are always on the lookout for fun new accessories, like pillows, vases and decorative objects. HomeGoods is one of the best stops for low cost accessories and you can probably find one of us at a local HomeGoods any day of the week. Another great option for stagers is to purchase accessories from wholesale vendors and get multiple quantities to keep the unit cost down. We want each staging project to be totally unique, but finding accessories, such as vases or boxes, that work in multiple settings are ideal and keep our packing time down. We love Creative Co-Op, Sagebrook and Safavieh for wholesale accessories.
There are plenty other categories of inventory in our warehouse not mentioned above, including coffee tables, consoles, desks, etc. Overall, with the exception of art, we try to keep the per item cost for each of these accent pieces low, while maintaining the style and aesthetic that is synonymous with our brand. The goal is to purchase items that we want to use over and over, which ultimately helps our bottom line. We use Stageforce for our inventory management system and it’s been essential to have reporting that identifies what we use and what we simply store (at a cost) in our warehouse. We’ve become more strategic in our inventory purchases over the years and try not to get distracted by new, shiny items. But it does happen from time to time and those fun, shiny pieces usually end up becoming a favorite!
