Four Essential Tips for Staging Your Home

Buying a new home is so personal. Yet, to sell yours, you’ll want to remove so many of your homey, personal touches. This is part of staging your home: buyers should be able to picture themselves living in your house—not picture you living in your house.

Successful staging will boost your home’s appeal—and your chances of selling. And there are two rooms that often need the most staging: bedrooms and bathrooms.

You might decide your house looks good enough as-is. But even in a strong market, a little staging could boost the offers you receive.

Think like a buyer

Staging lets you see your house with fresh perspective and helps you correct any eyesores you may have become used to over the years. It helps you to view some of your beloved items as clutter and gives you the initiative to clear away unneeded items.

Staging will also help you in the packing process, which inevitably involves streamlining and downsizing.

Bedrooms equal comfort

A bedroom should be a place of serenity. Stage your bedroom to convey a tone of comfort and relaxation. You want it to appear spacious. Here are some tips for presenting your bedroom:

§  Paint it in soft, neutral tones

§  Remove all furniture other than a bed, a dresser and a few knickknacks

§  Remove at least half of your wardrobe from your closet to make the closet seem larger

§  Clear away clutter, shoes, reading material and family photos

§  Invest in new linens and throw pillows

§  Steam clean the carpets, clean the windows and dust the shades

Bathrooms can be beautiful

Purchasers don’t spend a lot of time in bathrooms, so your bathrooms have to make a great first impression. Bathrooms should be impeccably clean and somewhat modern. Here are some bathroom staging tips:

§  Replace old bathroom fixtures, such as towel rods and faucets, with sleek new ones

§  Hang luxurious-looking towels to match the bathroom’s color scheme

§  Layer towels on the rack, smaller towels over larger towels

§  Before an open house, put a bouquet of fresh flowers in the bathroom

§  Ruthlessly clean mold and dirt from tiles and shower doors

§  Add spa-like accessories, such as candles, scented soaps in baskets and glass containers holding cotton balls

Cleanliness is a virtue

Cleanliness trumps all. Buyers have to imagine themselves living in your home, and they will have a hard time picturing themselves living in a dirty house. In fact, the top of your to-do list when you list home to sell should be a deep, thorough clean, like your house probably hasn’t seen since you moved in.

§  Remove mold and mildew

§  Scour away lime stains left by hard water

§  Clean windows inside and out

§  Steam carpets

§  Wash all linens and curtains

If you smoke or have a pet, be especially vigilant about eradicating those odors—because a clean, well-staged home should bring you a quick and profitable sale.

Based on an earlier version by Gilan Gertz.