DIY: Is Your Home for Sale? Stage your Home and get Your Bucks!
First Step - Clean the Stage:
- Clean and organize EVERYTHING. Don’t just shove things in a closet or cupboard. People who are considering purchasing a home look everywhere (yes, even in your undie drawer!). A clean, well-organized home tells the buyer that you enjoyed living there and maintained it lovingly.
- Have the windows professionally washed; a clean, bright connection to the outdoors does wonders. Consider removing the screens (put them in the garage) for the best, clear view possible.
- De-personalize the space. It’s a good idea to remove scraps of paper, your mail, other miscellaneous "junk", any religious artifacts, and pictures of Aunt Nellie's 90th birthday stuck to the frig.
- Invest in a fresh coat of paint, change the carpeting, and have your wood floors lightly sanded. Unless it's fabulous already, these small investments make your home feel clean, fresh and sparkle like new.
Second Step - Set the Stage:
- "Three" Rules! To highlight features like built-in shelves, try grouping three related objects together, or accentuate related themes. When adding accessories to a coffee table or counter-top, add visual interest by varying the height of the accessories selected. For example, you might use a tall vase of fresh flowers, a candle, and a stack of books or magazines.
- Life is Easy! Create the image that your home is easy to maintain, and you can live there graciously, no matter the size. A large home shouldn’t appear that it is high-maintenance; a small home or condo should feel cozy, not cramped.
- Clean Up Your Act! You still need to live in the house with your mail and other necessities; putting them in baskets creates a showroom-like way to keep your junk close.
- Don't Forget to Smell the Flowers! Fresh flowers add a gracious and welcoming energy to a room
- Judge a Book by Its Cover! Pack all books unless they are arranged solely for display. Leave only hardcover books, organized by size and the color of their covers. Turn books so the white edges of their pages show rather than the binders and they'll appear uniform. Stack them on top of each other for true "window shopping" display!
- Color me YOURS! Neutralize your home's color scheme so others can imagine theirs in your space. Color is allowed in small doses and as an accent only. Stick to more neutral tones with accents that are more universally accepted; warm olives, rich reds or butter yellows - in small doses. Do not scream, "Look at me!"
- Let's Party! Highlight a small area for entertaining, whether it be a couple of elegant glasses and wine rack, a stack of nice dishes and cloth napkins, or an attractive coffee pot and large mugs. It conveys that your home is inviting, you're proud to have people in your nest and you're not afraid of entertaining no matter what the size!
- Put furniture in an empty house! An empty house looks dejected. Unfortunately, most people don't have the imagination to see beyond what is immediately in front of them. And if what they see is completely empty, they're imagining a life void of feeling and expression. Sounds depressing, aye? No need to stage every room of an empty house; just key rooms if that's is all you can afford.
- Look to home furnishings catalog; Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware and Ballard Design to name a few, for ideas on display to appeal to the masses. The photo vignettes and products on right are all by Pottery Barn.
- If you still need help or don't have the time to do it right, HIRE A PROFESSIONAL!
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| (via designhouse) An long, narrow living room with a cold floor gets a warm welcome with staging. |
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| (via designhouse) A small, empty dining room appears welcoming and cozy with just a few touches. |
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