Best Home Staging Tips
Are you having a hard time determining where to start your own home staging? Well, I feel your pain. When I Google the phrase 'home staging tips,' I came up with 29,300 results. Going through that result list is a daunting task and would be overwhelming for any home seller.
To help home sellers narrow down their options, I did my own research on the Web and found a great list of basic tips on HGTV.com. The recommendations I found can be applied to both dwelling and selling. While there's plenty being written when it comes to home staging, this list of tips is a great starting place for advice that will help any home seller begin their own project. Here are my top 10 favorite tips:
WORK ON YOUR ENTRANCE
Whether you are on a job interview, going on a first date or selling your home, first impressions matter. What buyers see on the outside starts to inform them on what to expect on the inside. So clean it up, touch up the paint, add plants and flowers, and in general, make the buyer feel welcomed.
CLEAR OUT CLUTTER
We think countertops, cabinets, closets, garages, basements and attics as storage spaces, but often they become clutter keepers. Purging out the old is not only therapeutic but allows a path for the new. Remember, too much clutter distracts and obstructs buyers from seeing what you are selling. So clear it out.
LESS FURNITURE, MORE HOUSE
A room full of furniture can feel as cluttered as an accountant's desktop during tax season. Removing all but what is necessary in a room will make it look and feel bigger. Extra furniture can always be used in another room.
When you float furniture, remember to bring it off the walls into the center of the room. The rooms will begin to feel more open, interesting and visually appealing. Experiment with angles and corners when moving furniture.
CROSS-POLLINATE
After living in a home for a long time, sellers have a tendency of seeing their furnishings, art and accessories used only one way. But moving pieces that have always been used in one room into another can give new meaning to any old space. And don't stop with furniture. Color, texture and style elements that dominate one room can be moved into another to help create flow and continuity from one area to the next.
GIVE OLD ROOMS NEW PURPOSE
As time moves on, the way people live and use their homes often change. Extra bedrooms become television dens, which then become home offices. Basements go from being storage areas to recreation or media rooms. Setting up an old room with a new purpose will help buyers see the potential and possibilities of how the room can be utilized.
LAMP AND LIGHT DONE RIGHT
Lighting in a home that is too dim, too harsh or too cold can work against the sale of it. Warm and balanced lighting is what it's all about. Using a combination of different lighting types — such as overhead, accent or task lamps — in each room will give a home the overall appealing glow buyers like. Oh, and don't forget to light up the exterior, especially near the entrance. Utilizing natural sunlight by opening up drapes will also help buyers see the home's distinct features.
COLOR WITHIN THE LINES
Wallpaper is out and color paints are a must, especially when selling a home. Wallpaper is typically a very personal design expression that looks dated overtime. While the popularity of color does trend, updating with paint is an easy and inexpensive way to freshen up a home that is for sale. Don't limit yourself to white as the only neutral color. Some shades of white can be the worst color for neutralizing a room. There is a wide variety of beiges, tans, taupes, soft gold and greens that are not only trendy in a buyer's eyes, but will also work well with your furnishings while you are selling.
HANG ART ARTFULLY
Considering the average person in this country is between 5-foot-6- and 5-foot-8-inches tall, you should always try to hang art at the eye level. As a rule of thumb, the viewer should always be looking slightly above center of the piece. Placement is also important. Sellers should envision how a homebuyer will walk through the home and which walls they will actually look at. That will help determine where the art should be hung and where it's not needed.
OUTDOORS COMES IN
Bringing in flowers and plants can help breath life back into a home. Adding foliage will help to soften a room, especially if it's in an area that's darker and more rustic. While bringing the outdoors inside is a great tip, sometimes live plants are not available or practical. Don't be afraid to invest in QUALITY silk plants and dried flowers, but remember a dusty silk or old faded dried arrangement can look as dead as any living plant that died. Finally, avoid seasonal plants and flowers and go for the green basics.
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