5 Simple Home Staging Tips
When you’re getting a house ready to sell, you’ll start to hear a lot about home staging. Home staging is the idea of prepping a house to appeal to buyers. And it’s actually quite different from decorating. Decorating your home is about creating a space that appeals to your own personality. Home staging is about creating a blank canvas where buys can insert themselves and their personality into a home. It may seem hard to create a space that appeals to many types of people and still evokes emotion, but in fact there are a few simple tips you can follow to make the most of your home staging.
Declutter
One of the first things you’ll want to do when getting your home ready to sell is declutter. When we live in a space we inevitably collect more than is necessary. So clear out as much as possible. This is especially true of the objects that are very personal or specific to you. Take down the family photos that line the mantel, remove the furniture that feels squeezed in, take out the stacks of books and magazines that don’t fit in the shelves.
Neutral colors
Bold colors can be striking, and when decorating your home, can create that unique space that you love. But when you’re home staging, too much bold color can be off putting for buyers. It’s best to paint your walls in neutral colors and to choose furniture and items that work as complements. Small pops of color can work by giving subtle cues, but stay away from overwhelming your potential buyers.
Take a Step Back
Now that you’ve decluttered and created rooms with a neutral color palette, it’s time to take a step back and look at each room as an outsider. Do the rooms readily give a sense of place and meaning? Does the dining room feel like a place for entertaining a dinner party? Or could the desk in the corner feel like a contradiction? Also, take a look for any artwork or decorations that an outsider might find offensive or distasteful. Each room should shine with its purpose and should invite buyers to envision themselves living in the house.
Create Groupings
Creating groupings is a time honored design technique that can also work well in home staging. Taking items that have similar use and grouping them together adds cohesion to a space. Groups of three can be especially appealing visually. You can use this idea with furniture, accessories, knick knacks or art. Instead of lining the back counter in your kitchen with canisters, pick a few focal points and create intentional groupings. Instead of separating two chairs on either side of a sofa put them on the same side and stage a cozy reading area.
Enhance Windows
The final home staging tip is to make sure you are making the most of your windows. Windows let in light and bring warmth to a space. The windows of a house are important to home buyers and they will want to know how a space will feel with its natural light. Don’t hide them behind heavy drapes. Use simple and light window treatments to maximize the windows’ presence in a space. You can also place a mirror opposite a window in a small room to make it feel bigger. And make sure those windows clean enough to sparkle!
As you can see, most of these tips are simple, but can add a lot to your home’s appeal. The biggest thing to remember when staging your home is that you don’t know the exact personality of the people who might want to buy the house. Your job is to create a space that is warm and inviting, that doesn’t distract with overly bright color or too much clutter and that lets your potential buyers fill the space with thoughts of their own lives.
