The 7 Basics of Home Staging

Preparing your home to hit the market.

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Once you have given special attention to the curb appeal of your home, it’s time to focus on the interior with home staging.

Staged dining room

Home staging is a fundamental step in getting your home ready to sell.  A spacious room can appear smaller when it has more furniture than what is necessary to showcase the area.  Proper home staging can also make a narrow and cluttered living room appear more welcoming.

Accumulation

Whether you’ve lived in your home for 20 years or only 5 years, you more than likely have accumulated a lot of “stuff”. Each wall has that decorative piece you just couldn’t take out of your cart at Target and every previously open space on the floor now has that must-have planter or sculpture you saw at T.J. Maxx.

"83% of buyers’ agents said staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home."
National Association of REALTORS®
2019 Profile of Home Staging

Let's Be Honest

All that “stuff” we’ve accumulated has become clutter. Don’t take that reference personal. Each and every one of us actively live in our homes, and over time they simply get filled in. Home staging will transition you from your house, to their house.

Let’s get started on converting your home into one that appeals to the masses.

1. Declutter

When it comes time to sell, you’re going to move most of your possessions to your next home. Some of those items you’ve been meaning to get rid of and others you are not sure what you were thinking when you originally only went to Home Goods that day for a gift bag. Decluttering can open up a space, making it appear more spacious.

2. Depersonalize

You’ve created great memories. Photos from your trip to Vegas 10 years ago line the hallway, the cute drawing of you by your child that looks more like a monster is displayed on the refrigerator and the family photo in front of the dead elk hovers over the fireplace. Home buyers need to envision themselves living in the house. By removing your personal items, it can change the feel of being in someone’s house to what could be their future home.

3. Clean

This sounds like an easy one, but unless you’ve spent the past 2-3 weeks deep cleaning every bedroom, closet and bathroom, then your home isn’t, “real estate market clean.” A freshly clean home is noticeable the moment you walk thru the front door.

4. Repair

You know that squeaky stair, the sliding glass door that won’t lock so you have a 2×4 keeping it shut and that hole in the wall that you’ve been meaning to patch? Well, it’s time to put on your tool belt (or hire someone) and get them fixed. You can bet they will show up on the home inspection.

5. Neutralize

Your style is unique, but it may not appeal to a broader audience. The bright orange wall you saw on Pinterest that said would liven up the room is going to make the average person’s face look like they just bit into a lemon. It’s nothing personal, just preference. Remember, you want to attract the masses, so going with neutral tones will help you achieve that goal.

6. Light it Up

Closed blinds, the once tiny bush outside the window that has now become a tree and that over-sized ’90s entertainment center blocks the afternoon sun like a solar eclipse. Open the blinds, trim down that bush and list that entertainment center on Craigslist. You want that natural light to brighten up the interior of your home. It will do wonders when it comes time to photograph the interior.

7. Arrange

Now that you’ve decluttered, it’s time to arrange the remaining furniture in a way that sells the idea of the room and the possibilities the new home owner will have. Basically, a dining room should look like a dining a room, not an extension of the living room.

"Staging the living room was found to be most important for buyers (47%), followed by staging the master bedroom (42%), and staging the kitchen (35%)."
National Association of REALTORS®
2019 Profile of Home Staging
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