Tips for Staging Your Home

 

Tips for staging your home
By Craig Mann, Interior Designer

When getting ready to sell, staging is a great avenue for any new or existing home. It’s important to make sure future buyers can see themselves living in the home. Here are some simple tricks to help you along the way:

A little dusting goes a long way: It’s obvious, but not always done. Make sure your space is clean. Dust and clutter only distract the eye and give a negative impression. Remove shoes and clothing from sightlines, and make sure the kitchen is cleared of food and crumbs. People will look in the oven! Here’s a tip of the trade- in your bathroom put your toilet seat down and covered. Replace dirty towels with clean ones, and use fresh soap. Make the bed. No one ones to feel awkward in the bedroom!

Simplify floor plans: Remove excess furniture, chests, cabinets, chairs or tables. Configure Floor plans so the buyer can get around easily to get a feel for the space. Less furniture will give the feeling of space and larger rooms. Pull furniture away from walls. To make your room look larger, float furniture in cozy conversation groups. Staging is also great for those odd or awkward spaces in your home. For example, for a space that is off the kitchen, create it into a breakfast nook or set it up as a little home office space. Give the buyers something to think about. Sometimes it can be a selling point.
Don’t oversimplify because keeping some furniture in house can give the buyers an idea how it would look when totally furnished.

Stay with clean colors: Stay with neutral colors. Whites and neutral will give an appearance of a larger room. There’s nothing wrong with a using color as contrast on featured walls, but keep it on the lighter side and avoid any color that is jarring. Keep the colors true to the architecture. For example, bright white may great for a modern home or room, but would not be the best choice for a Tuscan style room where a creamy butter color would be better.
You can always add pops of color from accessories you might choose.

Creative kitchen and bathroom updates: You don’t have to spend a lot of money to update your kitchen and bath. Replacing an old lighting fixture. Repaint old cabinets, maybe something lighter and brighter. Replacing new cabinet knows and drawer pulls can make a difference. Keep it clean, light and bright.

Spacious closets: Buyers will peek inside your closets. Closet space can be a make or break point for these buyers, so show your closets to their full advantage. Make sure they look clean. A fresh of paint won’t hurt. Remove anything that is musty or smelly and consider a light fragrance to mask any closet smell. Clear out excess clothing or goods, and aim to free up about 20 to 30 percent space in each closet. This gives the impression your closets are very spacious.

Simplify accessories: As much as you love them, this is the time to put away all those family photos and knick- knacks. Everything should look clean and spacious. Personal art is important in any home, but may not connect with new buyers. So replace them with mirrors which are a great alternative. They maximize light and make rooms look larger. Floor rugs should also be removed. Potential buys like to see wood floors and tiles.
Dining tables can be set. Use white plates and pop it with a colorful napkin.
Pops of color can also be used in throw pillows or blankets.
When it comes to eye-pleasing accessorizing, odd numbers are preferable, especially three. And scale is important. Just remember, it’s about the room, not the accessory.

Accent lighting: Make sure you turn on all the lights when your showing your home. Remember you are creating an atmosphere. Make use of dimmers or adjust wattage to create drama, especially in small spaces. Light up dark corners with floor lamps. Make sure the bulbs are bright and clean! Change out dark lamp shades to lighter brighter shades.

These are some things I have done to successfully stage homes to sell which I hope you find helpful. Remember keep true to your architecture and simplify your space so your buyer can see themselves living in it. I have no doubt using these simple tips you will be on your way to a successful sale. Of course, if you need professional help, Mr. Mann’s Design can do this for you at reasonable cost. You’ll recoup your investment with a ‘sold’ sign! Staging