Home Staging 101: Presenting Your Home in the Best Light
Even the most beautiful and well-maintained homes can benefit from some basic home staging to attract the best homebuyers and offers. Here are a few home staging tips to help give potential homebuyers the best impression of your home, while making it easy for them to imagine themselves living there.
The Real on Curb Appeal
Potential homebuyers will begin to formulate their opinion about your home even before they step through your door. Trimming bushes, planting
blooming flowers, replenishing mulch, and power-washing the exterior sets the proper tone. Also, cracks in driveways and sidewalks may make the homebuyer suspicious about how well you’ve maintained the rest of your home, so be sure to patch or repave those areas. Re-sealing pavers will give them a new luster to make a great impression.
Keep Calm and Clean the Clutter
You don’t need to get rid of everything that’s important to you, just select only the best stuff to leave out, and pack the rest away (for now) and out of sight. An over-abundance of personal items and collectibles tend to make your home look unorganized and cramped. It’s all about streamlining your living and storage spaces, accentuating square footage, and enabling people to be able to see there’s ample room for their own things.
Make Your Home for Sale Sparkle
The difference between regular home cleaning and home staging cleaning is like the difference between a car wash and auto detailing. Use that elbow grease to scrub the floors and walls, de-grease the appliances, remove any hard water stains, polish the furniture until it shines, wipe down all surfaces, vacuum even behind the couch, and scour every nook and cranny in your home. It makes a difference. If you don’t have the time or energy, consider hiring a professional to do the job.
Take Steps to Create Attractive Flooring
Your floors are one of the first things a potential home buyer notices, so it’s worth the time, money and effort to revitalize, or even replace worn or outdated flooring. If your carpets are newer and not warn, rent a professional-grade carpet cleaning system to get them looking their best. If they are shabby looking or very dated, install new carpeting, wood laminate, or vinyl tile flooring – all are relatively affordable. If you have hardwood floors, get one of the many hardwood floor reviving solutions that will restore your hardwood floor’s natural beauty.
If Your Walls Could Talk…
They’d say, “PAINT ME!” Colors are very subjective, and your favorite shade of chartreuse – or that outdated wallpaper – may be a real turn-off to a buyer. Clean, freshly-applied neutral-colored paint on your walls goes a long way in helping a homebuyer see themselves and their own furniture there. You want them thinking they can move right in without having to do a lot of work.
Get Cooking in the Kitchen
If your kitchen cabinets are dated, consider re-staining them, or painting them. Swap out the old hardware with some stylish new pulls and knobs, and get new color-coordinated accessories like mats, rugs, curtains, towels, and more. Add a few plants to liven up the space, and de-clutter your counter space. If your major appliances are very old, it may be a good investment to upgrade.
Create a Relaxing Respite in the Bathroom
Bathrooms are often the only place someone can get a few moments to themselves in a busy household. Stage yours to be inviting, spotless, and as updated as possible. Scour any hard water or mildew stains, replace old toilet seats, and if you have an old-looking vanity sink, it’s probably best to replace it with a pedestal. Liven up the décor with matching curtains, towels, bath mats, bath accessories and toilet seat covers.
Lighten up!
Nothing makes a living space seem larger and more inviting than light. Besure to let as much natural light in as possible by opening up curtains and shades, and opting for more sheer window treatments than heavy drapery. Boost your home’s natural lighting by adding additional table and floor lamps.
Scents and Sensibilities
We all love our furry family members, but they can leave odors that you may have gotten used to. Carpeting and walls can really trap in offensive pet odors, so you’ll need to replace old carpet and re-paint walls in neutral shades. Clean all pet toys and bedding, and add a HEPA air filtration system to help get rid of pet odors in rooms pets spend most time in.
By addressing these few home staging fundamentals, you help sell your home as quickly as possible, while doing all you can to get the most for your home. A side benefit is that you have begun the process of cleaning, weeding out and moving.
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