Home Staging How-To's
A new profession of home stagers is rising to new heights and creating a new level of monetary gain for sellers, but you don’t have to be on payroll and an expert to do a great job staging your own home for sale. We are here to give you some tips and tricks on how to properly stage your home and maximize your return.
Let’s start with the first step. It’s time to de-clutter. Prospective buyers sometimes can’t see past the current décor to see the most important part of the home, which is the floor plan and functionality. When it comes to staging a home you want to work with the notion that less is more, but keep in mind not to take EVERYTHING away. Your home should still feel lived in! Take some time and pack up the majority of what’s lying around or cluttering up a space and get down to the basics. Remove excessive amounts of personal items like family photos, but don’t take them all down.
Take a look at the furniture that’s currently filling your home. You’ll want to consider moving out any larger pieces that could potentially make the space look smaller. If your furniture doesn’t match consider a neutral slip cover. Be sure to position your furniture around the focal points of your home to open up and show off things like that Big window overlooking the hillside or the tall fireplace and rustic mantle.
This is a time when you can really consider factoring in some new pieces. Chances are you have already been scrolling home décor sites and have your eye on that cozy sectional and matching accent chair. Making that purchase now to help stage your home for sale can actually add a level of fresh crisp clean design, helping the home to feel more updated overall.
When it comes to the bathrooms swapping out the rug, shower curtain and placing some fresh towels in place of the old can often times be all the space needs. Be sure to thoroughly clean and get any tough stains off of the surfaces.
Let the light in! Open the curtains, make sure the windows are nice and clean and let as much natural light in as you can. If you currently have darker or intense colours on the wall this is a time that you should consider switching to a more neutral and lighter palette. Neutral walls and rooms allow buyers to visualize their space in your home.
When thinking about how to decorate think about how your home is lived in. Comfortable throw blankets make a living room look inviting. A cookbook and a well set up cooking area in the kitchen can help buyers see themselves preparing meals for their families.
Think Smart. Having some tech friendly things installed in your home can give an overall great impression that your home is up to date and you care about it. There are still very few people who do this and I’ve seen first-hand how this can make a great impression and help a home stand out over its competition. Smart Light switches and thermostats to name a few can really make life easier in our already busy day to day lives. Don’t break the bank on them since they’ll be staying with the home. Buy a few for the main areas of the home, and leave a note telling buyers to feel free to use them while they’re touring your home. You’ll see financial gain and have fun with this one.
