When Walls Talk: Tips for Staging Your Home Successfully

Home staging is the act of preparing your property for sale by portraying it in the best possible light. As well as helping to sell your home much faster, successful staging can even add value to your home by making it more desirable to potential buyers. Professional home stagers can charge up to £100 an hour for their services, but you do not need to spend a small fortune to get your property ready for inspection. The following tips will help you stage your home effectively and attract more buyers to your property.

Declutter Your Home

The most important part of home staging is removing all of your personal items such as photographs, souvenirs and children’s toys from plain sight. Buyers need to see your home as a blank canvas in order to picture themselves living in the space, and that can be hard to do if they are surrounded by your personal effects. Hire a storage unit, and begin removing all unnecessary items from your home. Never be tempted to cram all of your items into a closet or attic space as potential buyers will also want to see these areas. For examples of homes that have been staged for purchase, you can learn more by browsing estate agent listings.

Set The Stage

Once you have removed all of the clutter from your home, you will need to take a step back and view your home from a potential buyer’s viewpoint. Does your home appear bright and airy? Does it look clean and well maintained? If not, then you will need to spend a little time and money bringing it up to code. If you have recently repainted your home, then you only need to perform a deep cleaning to get everything new and shiny in time for the first viewing. Hiring a professional cleaning team to scrub your home from top to bottom is the best way to get your home looking like new , or you could perform the task yourself to save a little money. If your walls have seen better days, then it is advisable to repaint them before allowing people inside. Any rooms that are painted with a dark or incredibly bright colour should also be repainted to avoid scaring away potential buyers. Choose neutral colours such as cream, beige or warm whites when redecorating your home. Bare walls are also a big no-no when staging your home, so place a large mirror or artwork on the wall that will complement the space.

Improve Your Home’s Functionality

Homes that appear functional and better suited to everyday living will sell much faster than those with rooms that have no clear purpose. If you have spare rooms that are currently being used for storage, then now is the time to transform them into a useful living space. A home office, spare bedroom or formal dining room will increase your home’s appeal and may even add to its value. If you live in a small flat or bungalow, some clever space savers such as folding tables or hidden storage units will help to create the illusion of more space.

Don’t Forget About The Exterior

The outside of your home is the first thing buyers see, and an attractive exterior is incredibly important for setting the tone for the rest of the property. Curb appeal used to involve simply cutting the grass and raking up dead leaves, but professional home stagers now advise their clients to really pull out all the stops if they want to sell their home. Professional landscaping is worth its weight in gold when it comes to attracting buyers, and can make a huge difference to the overall look and feel of your home. If you cannot afford to repaint the exterior of your home, hire a professional company to clean it using compressed air to blast away any dirt, grime and mildew.

When it comes to home staging, paying attention to the small details can make a big difference. Make sure all broken light bulbs are replaced and all windows, doors and cabinets are in good working order. Ask a friend or your real estate agent to walk around your home and give an honest impression of each room. Be on the lookout for things such as dark or dingy spaces, cluttered workspaces or bare walls that appear cold and uninviting. Most importantly, try to create a balanced, harmonious atmosphere that will make buyers feel at home the minute they step through the door.

Madeleine Stanley has worked in retail store design for many years and uses these creative talents for dressing shop windows to provide useful tips and suggestions for homeowners looking to make the most of their space. She likes to share her ideas with an online audience and writes for a variety of lifestyle and property websites.