7 home staging tips to take note of before selling your home

Home staging can be quite challenging as many considerations and concerns arise. Factors such as renovation availability, cost and quality come to mind when sellers want to prepare their homes for listing and public viewing.

However, there is a good number of resale property listings that need help appealing to home buyers. This can be due to images showcasing cluttered homes, outdated furnishings, and unpleasant wall colours.

Before listing their home on property sites like 99.co, most home sellers still need to understand the importance of providing an appealing image.

Potential buyers will be less likely to be interested in your home without proper home staging, and you may have to succumb to a price negotiation if your home’s first impressions disappoint. Furthermore, you will compete with many other home sellers in the same block or neighbourhood; hence it pays to ensure that your home stands out from others.

So here are seven tips to help homeowners spruce up their homes to appeal to potential buyers:

1.  Decluttering and organisation

Decluttering is of utmost importance in the home staging process. Before deciding on renovation works or even acquiring spanking-new furniture, homeowners must clear out all the unwanted items in their homes and organise their stuff.

Clutter makes a home appear smaller and dirtier than it is. It is possible for a large open space to look cramped and unappealing if too much furniture, decor, and miscellaneous items are crammed together. Maintaining your home clutter-free will help it appear larger and more spacious. Keeping only essential furniture, removing anything that impedes traffic flow, and editing your decor just enough to define each space will make your home warm and welcoming.

Additionally, including the right amount of storage solutions in the home will be beneficial. Buyers will see this as an additional advantage, as they can store their belongings effectively without cluttering up other essential living spaces.

2.  Brightening up the living and dining area

The living and dining area is the cornerstone of any home. When people enter a home, it is most likely that the first space that they will encounter is the living room. Therefore, home sellers must make a good first impression on potential buyers by showcasing a living room that is both warm and inviting.

Firstly, you would want to brighten the space by giving it a fresh coat of paint. Lighter paint colours will reflect natural light, making the space appear larger. 

Choose a light and neutral colour palette if you would want to create a more expansive atmosphere. Consider colour tones such as beige, white and creams. This painting strategy enhances the visible space, and buyers will likely perceive the room to be much bigger than it is in both a home walkthrough setting and on listing pages.

Secondly, choose the type of flooring that directly contrasts your wall colour. For instance, dark floorings such as brown wood or grey vinyl give a sense of depth to the buyer, in contrast to lighter wall colours like white or beige. This will help prevent the space from looking too plain and empty and makes the living area more inviting. This method helps send a positive message to buyers as they would be more inclined to invite their family and friends to hang out in such an attractive space.

Lastly, having a centre piece in your living and dining area can make the room stand out.

Ornaments like a house plant, artefact or designer furniture can help set the living space’s tone. Centre pieces give character to a space, along with wall colour and floor combinations, helping to set a common theme and feel. Through this, home sellers can tell an unwritten story about their home, giving buyers more meaning to consider living there by picturing themselves in it.

3.  The bedroom

The bedroom is a space for people to unwind and rest. Hence it is wise to follow these steps to help potential buyers visualise themselves in a comforting setting:

• Neutral tones: The decor and colour scheme of the bedroom should be kept gender-neutral, which will appeal to both male and female buyers.
• Essential furnishings: Staging a room requires only essential furniture aside from the bed, such as side tables, lamps, and dressers. Coordinating your furniture in the room is highly recommended to create a cohesive look. Furthermore, painting or refacing old furniture can be cheaper than buying brand-new furniture if you need the right pieces or are on a limited budget.
• Add accent cushions: Extra decorative pillows will instantly enhance the comfort and luxury of your bed. Adding pops of colour, pattern, and texture can create a more relaxed ambience while adding some visual interest for potential buyers.

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4.  The study

With the growing trend of more people having to work from home due to Covid-19 measures, it is now customary to have a dedicated area in the home to work or study at.

Therefore, it is wise to include a study corner or home office in your staging process to gain the interest of buyers; here are some pointers to look out for:

• The right furniture: To appeal to a wider audience, selecting gender-neutral-coloured desks and chairs is key. Choose desks with earthy tones, such as wooden ones, or if you are looking for a cheaper alternative, wood-like textured desks are good too. For the chair, a small home office chair would suffice as long as all the colours of the desk and chair complement each other.
• The right placement: It is best to place your study area next to a window or a corner with plenty of natural light. Studies have shown that having natural light while working or studying helps to boost a person’s health, happiness, and productivity levels. This form of placement will draw the attention of potential buyers as they envision themselves working there efficiently and in a productive manner.
• The right decor: Accent pieces like stationary, notebooks and mini plants allow buyers to visualise themselves in the space.

5.  Flexible spaces

A flexible space or room is a bonus, as it can allow potential buyers to reimagine and create a space that will better suit their needs. These spaces can be reconfigured into various forms, such as a child’s play area, study corner or even a walk-in wardrobe. Highlighting the capabilities of flexible spaces to buyers will help increase your home’s value proposition.

6.  The kitchen

Moving on to the kitchen, where coffee is brewed, meals are cooked, and culinary creativity takes flight. There is a saying that the kitchen is the heart of the home, so here are a few steps to follow when staging your kitchen:

• Clutter-free countertops: Just like the other areas of the home, the kitchen tops should be kept clean and mess-free to drive buyers’ attention to the kitchen elements that matter.
• The correct accent colour: Ensure that the colours chosen for your kitchen walls, fixtures, and furniture are distinct from the other home areas, as there needs to be a harmonious flow throughout the different spaces. For example, if your home has a neutral colour palette, stick to earthy tones and hues like whites and light browns for the kitchen.
• Decorative pieces: To make the kitchen feel homely and realistic for potential buyers, adding ornaments such as neatly hung kitchen tools, spices, or a simple bowl of fruit will help give your kitchen space some character with a little pop of colour.

7.  The bathrooms

A common mistake homeowners make is concentrating only on the main living areas. They spend less time on minor components such as the bathrooms. Sellers need to realise that buyers are interested in bathrooms and that it can influence their overall perception of your property. So here are some tips to elevate these spaces:

• Give it a deep clean: Nobody likes to use a dirty washroom or bathroom; hence it is wise to give the entire space a generous clean to avoid buyers questioning the overall cleanliness of the toilets and the home.
• Smart organisation: Add storage solutions such as mirror cabinets, towel racks and shelves. Buyers would be drawn to well-organised layouts, giving them a clearer picture of how they can store their toiletries.
• Updated fixtures: It is beneficial for various bathroom fixtures, such as faucets and showers, to match the theme and colour palette of the space. If you are on a budget, inexpensive yet tasteful fixtures can be found online; ensure that every element complements each other.

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This article was first published in 99.co.