If you are concerned, I would stage the dry bar with glasses on a tray rather than the bottles. I wouldn't worry about what is in the fridge, nor would I 'stage' that other than to keep it clean and orderly.

Could your real estate agent answer the question better about how potential buyers might view alcohol? You could instead stage the "bar" area as a beverage service entertaining area with a pitcher or two and glasses. Maybe fill a pitcher with water and some cut up fruit (lemons, limes). Even put out some bottles of sparkling water.

Maybe someone in your area can answer better than I. However, I live in a state where non-drinkers far outnumber drinkers. I suspect some buyers in my area would be put off by alcohol or staged bar. In fact, my home had a wet bar and I sometimes wonder if that's why we were able to snatch it up before too many other offers were on the table. I have reconfigured the area plumbed for a wet bar ready for me to install some cabinetry and a beverage fridge in the (hopefully near) future. I suspect when I sell I may need to consider staging what I hope to have as a wine fridge as a beverage fridge with fancy sodas instead to avoid offending potential buyers or giving them the idea that my home would not suit their lifestyle.

I also agree that anything in the fridge should not be a big turn off. Maybe push the beers to the back if you're concerned about them opening the fridge.

You are not courting disaster, but since you are trying to appeal to the widest base possible, I would not display liquor bottles. As for the frig, I agree, they shouldn't be looking in there and your personal stash is fine.

Well speaking of staging the fridge, there was an interesting article on just this topic in the NY Times recently (see link. I found it after "staging" my own.) I do think it's important because based on the contents of the fridge, people make judgments about what kind of person owns a house. (I know I do.)

I'm not concerned based on any specific knowledge of the alcohol preferences of people in my area, but I wonder who here might be offended, who here knows people who might be offended, etc... (Not so much offended by the very presence of bottles, although that can happen, but offended by the thought that the present owners are drinkers, which they might think says something negative about us.)

For me, glasses on a tray are basically the same as the bottles, in suggesting drinking.

Here is a link that might be useful: You Are What You Refrigerate

Just saw the latest responses which came in while writing mine. Really? They shouldn't be looking in there? The fridge is going with the house. I fully expect people to look in it and would do the same. It's not like looking in my nightstand drawers.

I staged my fridge when we sold. Yes, people shouldn't really be opening it, but...they do. They took one look at my 48" fridge and would swing the doors open, I'm told. I would buy the glass bottles of coke, fanta, the limon sodas in cans or glass bottles and any other "cool" looking sodas and waters, and would line them up front to back like little soldiers. Why? I always felt it led them to believe that their life would be that organized if they bought my house, especially since the monster fridge was included.

I think it is totally acceptable...many people have wine racks and fridges. I think a few bottles, glasses, a shaker, etc.. is fine....not your whole collection. I would probably be more concerned that people would walk off with my expensive liquor!

We're not having an open house (not enough traffic in our rural area) so at least that's not a concern. This was just a sudden thought which popped into my head. I think most people in this area are drinkers - just primarily drinkers of things like Bud. Then I wonder if they would be turned off by expensive alcohol, or if the whole thing would be "aspirational." I'm probably overthinking it!

I think staging is about invoking a feeling that people could see themselves living there and it feels like home to them.

That said - does the bar thing fit well with what your target buyer would be looking for? Ie how does your target buyer live and what would be most appealing to them in a home. That is how I would stage it. Is it another living/entertainment area, a playroom, gameroom, TV room - etc.

If a refridgerator conveys with the house then I would expect people to open it. In my area it is not the norm to leave the fridge and it appears that is the case in other areas too.

Skip the liquor and just do plain ugly 2 liter soda bottles with an ice bucket. Or, if you can find something more interesting, like a locally produced root beer or mineral water, some of that would be enticing. But at least with the soda, you show "entertaining" and don't turn off the prudes.

Wine 'fridges are all the rage!! I think you have plenty to worry about, let this go. With this logic you should remove all double or larger beds..everyone knows what goes on in BEDS!! You are selling the 'fridge of course people are going to look in it!! Same with linen closets and any built in cupboard.

The problem is, given my area, I am not sure what our target buyer population is, and my realtor (who usually lists properties in the nearby city) doesn't either. I suspect it will be younger - maybe 30s. Whether it will be blue collar or professional is unclear. I think there might be more of a mix than in other areas. Our town is predominantly blue collar, but there are "hidden" professionals throughout, we have a lot of land and a well-maintained home close to major commuting routes. The price is quite low for the general region, yet on the higher end for what is currently on the market in this town. (There are mostly much older houses on the market right now.) It could be a professional or at least white collar young family or couple, or it could be a blue collar family or couple doing better than most in some trade or their own business. It could be a single person (as my husband was when he bought it) but I think that is unlikely.

I've basically "staged" it as it has been with us rather than trying to create some other persona. It's almost all our existing things, just waaaaay cleaned and decluttered, and in some cases better-arranged.

I could start overthinking everything, I guess... will framed museum posters from museums in Europe turn people off? Will my atlas and travel and design books I have left (after storing almost all of my books) turn people off?

I want to say "sophisticated" entertaining, not "kid's party" so I guess if I did the soda option I would go with the locally-produced soda idea.

(I should clarify - the price is quite low for the general area not because of the condition or type of home, but because we have an exceptionally-high tax rate compared to surrounding towns... $10 more per assessed $1000 than the abutting towns... without accompanying superior services.)

Re the fridge thing, the fridge doesn't always go with the house. It's a regional thing. In my area it's assumed that the fridge DOESN'T convey with the house unless stated otherwise. That doesn't mean you shouldn't clean it up just in case.

If the refrigerator stays with the house, absolutely the buyers should be looking inside, because it is part of what they are buying. It's my experience in NH that the fridge usually stays with the house.

I live in New Hampshire. Nearly everyone I know drinks some alcohol sometimes. Mostly it's beer, but many people do drink other forms of alcohol, or like to try them from time to time.

So I don't think a tray of booze in a room that is clearly for entertaining is going to turn many people off. There is always the chance that it might turn one or two people off--but that's the case with just about anything in your house--the color of the counters in the kitchen, or the type of tile in the bathroom or the number of windows in the living room.

I do think you need to be prepared for a wide range of buyers--I live next door to a guy who works in an auto parts shop, and a guy who runs the computer network at a large company, and there's a lawyer across the street. The rural-ish nature of most of the state lends itself to very varied neighborhoods. And I live in a city, but still, the sizes of the houses vary greatly on the same block, and there's a mix of two-family homes and single family homes all up and down my street (most built pre-1900). One of the nicest, oldest houses in town is across the street from some old factory housing.

I'd leave the liquor bottles. If you get feedback later, you can remove them. But honestly, I don't think they are going to be a problem. People in NH tend to be a bit pragmatic. They will be looking at the age of the roof and furnace and if there's space for a clothesline in the back yard. Even if they don't approve of drinking, they will probably not let that stop them from getting a good deal on a house.

If the room is like you describe,

" It's a very small room so I have a painted chest of drawers on one end (shorter wall end), a nice complementary decorative rug running lengthwise in the center of the room, and that's about it. I have the top of the chest of drawers staged as sort of a dry bar".

I would put the alcohol away. Stage the top of the dresser with something else. It sounds like the alcohol is the focal point of the space, books might be a better option. Since you are wondering, take the safe route and remove the bottles.

Good luck on the sale of your house.

ML

Good grief, we are years away from prohibition, aren't we? I would think you're more likely to get a buyer if you offer drinks, not hide them. Seriously. I live in the bible belt and it would not occur to me to hide the alcohol.

Sorry, but I think liquor bottles will look nicer than plastic 2 liter bottles of soda on your "bar." I don't think even a teetotaler is not NOT going to buy your house because you have a bar. ('"Henry, these people are drinkers, we're leaving immediately!")

Leave the bottles of liquor -- and I do like the idea of a clean and tidy refrigerator too! :)

Yes -- IF your realtor mentions any complaints -- simply re-stage the cabinet with a teapot and mugs .....

I never even thought about this aspect of staging. However, I think people notice what IS in a house versus what ISN'T. So, I would probably store the liquor away in a cabinet and put a nice live plant on the chest. I would keep the refrigerator sparkling clean and organized looking, but I wouldn't worry about the specific contents.

Obviously you are concerned about displaying the liquor bottles or you wouldn't come here for advise. I say remove them. I personally don't think it will matter either way.
Sometimes people look at a house and see a lifestyle. We had friends who bought a house with a pool and a large coke machine. They thought that the coke machine was just so cool next to the pool! A month after moved in, they removed it. It took too much electricity to run it.

Go to HomeGoods or TJMaxx and pick up some glass bottles of soda or juice that have nice labels and seals and caps in another language. Or find an Italian grocery or upscale coffee beanery and get some pretty colors of Italian drink syrup flavoring in those tall thin bottles. Sophisticated but nonalcoholic. Problem solved!

We had that problem with the still....this IS Kentucky, after all!!!

I say leave it... the bottles are pretty.

Nancy

We were conssidering a built-in wine cooler when a dealer told us he's had to remove them from custom homes before the builder could sell them and that more people that you would thing would object,whether it be for religious, medical, addiction, loss of a family member -- whatever the reason. Something that is display is not as much of an issue as built-ins of anything, but it is also easier to avoid the risk of making anyone uncomfortable with the home or the vibe they get for whatever reason.

It's July and you probably have a pitcher and some tall glasses. Set them up, with a tray if you have one that works. Add some pretty bottles of water and a bowl of lemons and limes -- even fake ones. Suggest refreshment without even raising the question. I wouldn't stage the fridge, but if you did, I'd load it with bottled water and a few sodas. Don't be surprised if some are missing. In fact, you might even put a sign inside that says help yourself. Anyone house hunting in July would probably appreciate that.

Springroz, lol!! Now a still would be a huge backyard feature :-)

Although I agree that it would be unlikely that alcohol on display is not likely to stop a sale, why take a chance on offending anyone, even subconsciously? People react to what they see; someone married to a spouse working on their sobriety, for example, might be turned off to a house without even knowing that it was the liquor bottles on display....Would you leave out a big crucifix on the wall, even if most people in the area are religious?

I think we've crossed the line into HGTV territory. Being afraid to offend potential buyers is the reason everyone goes lifeless neutral when they sell, trying to pretend some insipid Everyman lives there. That can't be good.

From neighboring MA:
I would leave them....they go with you and your things and I'm sure you've staged them to look really pretty.

Thanks everyone...

In the end, I decided to keep everything as is, because although it's "staged," and somewhat depersonalized, it's still in line with how we really live.

I guess I can't worry about what may or may not offend every possible buyer. Some people may be "offended" by a house which seems too "bookish" or snobby, too. As it turns out, I guess I can't even anticipate who our most likely buyer would be. I was absolutely sure that we would get young people and probably families, from New England, but as it turned out, the people who came yesterday (first showing) were older and recent transplants from the south. I figured older people wouldn't want two stories and a large acreage. The showing apparently went very well (they stayed for at least 45 minutes) and I have no inkling they were offended, if they were.

Oh yeah, and we decided to dismantle the still.... :-) Just kidding. Although we've really seriously thought about home brewing, but I never looked at it from a resale standpoint!

Did you check the bottles after they left?

Good idea! I don't think anything is missing, but that could account for why they stayed so long even though it was dark and rainy instead of bright and sunny as it usually is in late afternoon.

interesting... it never would have occured to me to be concerned about displaying liquor bottles...

we might be considering a move in the not too distant future, so it's good to read these things... staging/organizing even the frig is a good idea! ( i know i will occasionally open a frig while house hunting, esp if it's a frig i'm unfamiliar with, to see it's layout...)

good luck selling your house!

Oh, I just read through some of the more recent comments I missed.... I forgot to mention that above the chest of drawers is a very large professionally-framed poster from an art museum. There's also a lamp on one side of the chest of drawers, so the booze isn't the focal point. It's just that there is no other furniture in the room. There's also a large window on one of the long sides of the room.

Lizzie,
I'm late, but I say leave the booze! If someone is brave enough to live in NH year-round a little drink might come in handy. Live Free Or Die, I don't think you'll have a problem.

Good luck!

Beth P.