The Benefits of Home Staging

Have you been, or are you thinking of, trying to sell your home? We all know that in today’s market that can be challenging. By utilizing a few techniques for Home Staging, you’ll be attracting many more prospective buyers than the empty house down the street, and getting that SOLD sign up quicker than you think.

The Benefits of Home Staging

What’s Beyond Your Front Door?

Many Realtors will tell you that curb appeal is one of the first places to start when wanting to list your home – which is true – but curb appeal will only get potential buyers to the front door. What happens after they cross the threshold? Ask any Home Staging Expert and they will tell you what lies behind the front door is what will make or break the deal.

Although your buyer will be considering things like how many bedrooms there are, the location, the price, and perhaps they’ll even ooh and awe over how well the Garage is Organized, but what will really seal the deal is how they feel when they enter the home, and if it’s a place they can visualize their family living. That is exactly what staging your home can accomplish for you … and them.

Where\’s the Counter? Home Staging Includes De-Cluttering

Home Staging Techniques

  • Smell: This will be the first hurdle you’ll have to overcome. Obviously your home has to be clean. I’m not talking about the smell of bleach radiating out of the woodwork, but clean as in linen, or laundry fresh. Hire a professional if you have too. Once that requirement has been met, secondary smells will come into play: consider baking cookies, brewing a fresh pot of coffee, burning a candle. Get the buyer to equate the home with pleasant, emotion provoking smells.
  • De-Clutter: No matter how much square footage your home boasts, it can’t be seen if it’s covered with “stuff”. Is your beautiful kitchen granite counter showcasing every kitchen appliance known to man? Can your buyer see the double sinks in the bathroom, or are they filled with the hair brushes, makeup and washcloths? Put things away.
  • Personal Effects: No one wants to see your bills piled on the kitchen counter or your under clothes in a basket waiting to be washed. Take down all those photos of the family that adorn your walls and all the awards and certificates that clutter your shelves. Your buyer doesn’t want to see little Junior’s photo on the wall, they want to see the WALL.
  • Furnishings: Consider keeping only the minimum amount of furniture in the home; sofa, a chair or two, an end table, dining table, beds … the essentials. If your home is wall to wall furniture, there is no room left for the buyer to envision their own furniture in that space. Besides that, the more furniture in your home, the smaller it will look.
  • Accessories: It’s important to dress up your home with decorative touches here and there, but it’s equally important to not over do it. You’re selling the home, not the products. Add a beautiful bouquet of flowers to the center island, have place settings on your table, adorn the fireplace with candles sticks and place fresh towels over the tub.
  • Ambiance: A good place to start is by utilizing the Lighting Design of your home. Create a welcoming ambiance by adjusting the lights accordingly. Turn on the lamps, light a candle or two in the bathroom, have the fireplace glowing … all of this will create an emotional and welcoming response to anyone who walks into the room.

Staging a Vacant Home

What if you’ve already moved out the home? Should you still consider home staging? Absolutely. How do you think a buyer feels when they walk into a cold, empty house? Cold and empty, most likely. Sure they can see the beautiful fireplace and the rich hardwood, but it won’t draw them in emotionally. They need a visual of how this home would wrap itself around their family. Sell the emotion. Sell the home.

Please check out our web page of Interior Design Ideas and Photos for more helpful information in all aspects of home designing. While there, browse our interior designer directory where you’ll find professional qualified designing firms that can assist you with all areas of your home, office or business.