HOW TO SELL A HOME FASTER BY STAGING YOUR PROPERTY

Selling a house can be a tricky business, which is why it’s important to declutter your home and make a great first impression by staging your home.

Related: Giving your kitchen the look it deserves

Every angle of your home needs to serve a purpose, from approaching the front of the property to walking through a bedroom. When staging your home, you’re essentially removing your personal style while making it appear homey.

After all, viewers need to imagine their lives fitting with your property. There are professional services that will stage your home, but you can easily do it yourself.

Clear your garden

First impressions of your home start at the curbside, so it’s essential to make sure your front garden looks appealing. You can do this by weeding, pressure washing pavements, and planting pretty flowers. Further, if your doors and windows are looking tired, you should consider repainting or replacing them.

If you’ve got a back garden, you need to give it the same treatment. Mow the grass, dig up the weeds, and create an appealing empty canvas. For those of you with a shed, you should consider repainting to make it look new. Alternatively, if you’ve got the space, you should consider installing garden sheds because additional storage always adds to the value of a home. Look for a place where you will find a full range of different sheds including metal, wooden, and plastic.

Appeal to the senses

Staging a home is primarily about the visual impact of your home, but the other senses play a large part in the process. For example, if a potential buyer smells fresh air throughout your home, they’re more likely to consider putting an offering; all you need to do is plug in air fresheners.

You need to make your home feel comfortable as well, so consider the temperature when people come to view it. If it’s cold outside, put the heating on to demonstrate its efficiency. Alternatively, during the summer, open a window and get yourself a fan.

All rooms need purpose

Every room, or zone, in your home, needs to have a purpose to show versatility. Therefore, if you’re currently using your conservatory to get your laundry done, you need to revert it back to its original use. If you’ve listed your home as a 2-bed property, make sure there are two bedrooms – even if that means tearing down the office. Remember, you are not staying in your house for pleasure anymore, you’re trying to sell it.

Cushions and throws are your friends

Sofas, chairs, and beds start to look tired over time, which is why professionals will put new furniture in your home. However, if you’re doing it yourself and trying to save money, you can hide their worn personality by using a well-placed cushion or throw. For marked tables, you can place a runner to smartly cover them up. Doing this will save you from having to pay for new furniture just to sell your home.

Declutter your home

All homeowners have personal clutter lying around – even in clinically clean homes. However, your clutter doesn’t mean anything to a potential buyer, so get rid of it. Take all of your ornaments off the shelves and put away your family photos – potential buyers are trying to imagine their possessions on the wall. This doesn’t mean you can’t have items in a room, you do live there after all. As a general rule, you should aim to declutter half of a room’s contents, which will help to create a minimalistic vibe.

Mirrors will reflect light

Staging your home is all about creating different visuals, and part of the trick is illusions. Mirrors are a great way to make a room feel larger and more spacious. We suggest placing a mirror opposite a window, which will let it boost the natural light in the room. If you don’t have mirrors in your home, you can pick out a cheap one from a charity or second-hand shop.

Dress your table

Whether you set your table regularly or not at all, it’s important to remember that a well-set dining table is fundamental to effective staging. You don’t need to spend a lot, and you likely have most of the items in your home already. For example, you can throw an elegant tray with some candles on into the middle, and that will be more than enough. Alternatively, if you’ve got matching cutlery and placemats, set the table as if you’re going to sit down for a formal meal.

Circling back to your garden, if you’re trying to sell a home in the summer, consider setting up an outdoor dining area. Doing this will immediately make viewers think about family BBQs and al fresco brunches.

Use flowering plants

Professional stagers always suggest bringing life inside by adding houseplants, which look great and help clean the air. Whether you put plants on in the middle of a kitchen table or by the side of your sofa, plants create an inviting atmosphere. Roses are a great and common flowering plant to consider. Know more about how often to water roses for indoor setup to keep your stage alive. If you’re not one for plant care, you can use fake plants and flowers to achieve the same effect – and you never need to worry about them looking dead.

Fresh bedding helps

You want your home to feel like a home, as opposed to a hotel, which means treading a very fine line. When it comes to your bedroom, don’t feel pressured to make sure everything matches. However, you need to use clean sheets to bring together a fantastic look. To make your room feel cosy, choose fluffy sheets and fold some quality bath towels onto your bed.

Tidy messy cables

Technology has taken over our homes, but it all comes with wires that can quickly look untidy. Therefore, you should consider whether everything in your home needs to be plugged in, and position items that do strategically. If you don’t have space to store unnecessary items, you can simply unplug them and hide the cables behind units. 

Clear and clean kitchen surfaces

Kitchens have evolved past a room for simply cooking in; people are using them for social purposes. Therefore, it’s essential to clear the counters and make them appear more liveable. Put any phone chargers, dish cloths, fridge magnets, and other knick-knacks away until after the viewing. However, you should leave out the kettle and the toaster, as buyers will want to see these.

Remove additional TVs

If you’ve ever been to a professionally staged home, you will notice that there aren’t any TVs. The reason for this is that a TV can distract from the rest of the room. Therefore, if you’ve got any additional TVs in your home, put them into storage while viewings take place. The only place a potential buyer needs to see a TV is in the lounge.

Staging your home properly will help sell your property faster. Start with some light redecorating – painting the walls and making sure doors look new. Then, consider every single perspective in your home and remove personal effects – each room needs to be functional.

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