Professional home stagers are used to highlight the assets of a home, with an eye toward a quick sale. However, there’s not too much magic in what they do, as you can implement some of the same design strategies when listing your home for sale.
First, walk through each room in your home and focus on the floors. Can a potential buyer see the flooring in each room, or do area rugs cover a large amount of your tile or hardwood? Or, if you have carpet, is your carpet clean and in good condition? Clean floors are critical for that initial positive impression.
Second, are there personal items in each room that may distract a potential buyer from looking at the actual features of your home. For example, do you have family photos around the room? Those should be tucked away before you list your home for sale, as they make it more difficult for potential buyers to see themselves in your home. Do you have sports paraphernalia or collections of items displayed in your room? While these items may be things you cherish, they are distracting to buyers and may cause it to be difficult for a buyer to imagine themselves living in your home.
Third, are your countertops in your kitchen and bathroom clean, and free of personal items or clutter? To highlight the beautiful features of your home and the spaciousness of these important spaces, eliminating any and all non-essential items from these horizontal surfaces is a quick and easy task when staging your home for sale.
Finally, how is the lighting in each room of your home? Are all of your window treatments opened to increase natural light in your rooms? Are your windows sparkling clean? Are any of your lamps and fixtures missing lightbulbs? All of these steps are easy ways to increase the ability of buyers to notice and appreciate all of the features in your home.
We would be happy to walk through your home and to give you more staging tips specific to your own home.