If you’ve ever sold your home, or if you’re just obsessed with HGTV like I am, you understand the importance of staging your home before selling. Putting your home in the best light possible with proper staging can make a huge difference in the price you can potentially earn from your home. While the Property Brothers may come in and renovate much-needed areas for maximum resale value, you can still make small changes yourself to increase the potential price of your home through these 5 items you must stage before selling your home.
A clean home is important for both your personal wellbeing and receiving higher offers for your home. Use items like pillows, art and blankets to make your home look happy, comfortable and lived in to paint a picture for prospective buyers. Beautiful staging is important for both the photos and the open house in order to attract more offers on your home.
1. Pillows & Textiles
There are two types of people – those who love pillows too much and those who don’t love them enough. Having clean, fluffed, beautiful pillows on your couch can lend to the ambience of your home. It presents a comfortable place to sit and lounge, and it’s the perfect way to add color to a neutral space. Add a couple pillows to your couch or bed to create a cozy vibes that buyers will love.
As far as other textiles, be sure to swap out stained blankets and pillows, and replace dark curtains with light, sheer ones. Potential buyers want to see the light in a home and feel welcomed, and too many dark colors may send the wrong message.
2. Plants
Bring plants inside to add life to your space. Add small pots to shelves, place larger standing plants next to other furniture and even hang terrariums from the ceiling. Make sure they stay alive throughout the house showings! Plants will demonstrate to buyers the amount of light in the house.
3. Dining Room Table
If you can, style the dining room table for an open house or photos to show what a lovely space your dining room could be for potential buyers. Adding full place settings, a centerpiece and other pieces will make buyers want to sit down and enjoy a meal right then and there. This is also an opportunity to show the space available in the room. Be sure the table is not overly large for the space and include the correct number of chairs to demonstrate how many guests can fit at the table.
4. Rugs
Rugs can help break up wide open spaces, add color and create comfort in a room. Staging rugs in your home can help buyers picture what the space could look like for them. Areas you should consider adding rugs if you don’t already have them include the entryway, beneath the dining room table or in the center of the living room. Research the proper sized rugs for each space, and you’ll see your home decor improve immediately.
5. Photos & Wall Art
There’s a fine line between plain walls and busy walls. Depending on the space available in your home, hanging wall art and family photos is highly recommended, but all art should be hung at eye level and hang straight. Walls should not be completely covered with art (unless that’s your style, of course) because you don’t want to distract buyers from the rest of the house. Busy walls can also make rooms appear smaller than they really are.
There are many other ways to stage your home, but these five items are the best way to get started without breaking the bank or hiring a contractor. Even small steps like these can help you stage your home and earn more from the sale than you expected!
