1. Kick clutter to the curb. No one wants to go to look at a potential new home and be climbing over clutter. Your home should have the right amount of furniture and decorative items, but nothing extra. Think of staging like creating a show house. Clutter also makes a house appear smaller than it is. A good rule of thumb for staging is to remove half of what is in the home and then use the remaining fifty percent to stage the home.
2. Group the furniture. It is a common misconception that
placing furniture against the walls will create the illusion of more space.
This actually has the opposite effect and causes the space to feel smaller.
Grouping furniture into conversational groups that flow well with the room will
open up the room, make it easier to navigate, improve traffic flow and make it
appear bigger.
3. Repurpose a storage room. If you have a room that is used for storage it
needs to be cleaned out immediately. You want to be able to stage this room in
a way that showcases its potential. Make it into a guest room, office, hobby
room or something else what will apply to buyers. You can use furniture and
accessories that you already have to create this room.
4. Use the right lighting. You need a good mix of ambient,
accent and task lighting. The truth is, most homes do not have the right
lighting. You want a home to be the perfect mix of warm, but still bright
enough to be able to get things done. A good way to ensure that you have enough
lighting is to make sure that for every 50 square feet, you have 100 watts.
5. Paint your home. Neutral and cool colors are the most
appealing to potential buyers. If you have dark colors in your home, you want
to go over these with a more neutral color. Neutral colors will fit the taste
of most people and they can be painted over if a new buyer wants color changes.
6. Accessorize with a pop of color. The walls are neutral and so is most of the furniture. This allows you to have some fun with accessories. Do not be afraid of small accents of orange, purple, yellow, red or turquoise. These can draw the eye to things that you want to show off. For example, if you have a really great fireplace in the family room, add two small pieces that are colorful and eye-catching to the mantle.
7. Be more sporadic with wall hangings. Many people hang everything on their
walls at pretty much the same height. This pretty much allows these items to
get lost on the walls. Take paintings, mirrors and other wall decorations and
hang them at different heights. This will keep the pieces visible and will give
rooms a little spice.
8. Decorate in odd numbers. When you are decorating a side
table, for example, place an odd number of objects on it. Most side tables will
neatly accommodate three to five pieces. These pieces should be of different
heights and shapes. For example, a short stack of books, a wide and shallow
bowl, a picture frame or two that are different and a tall vase can be the
perfect combination.
About the Author: Jennifer D’Angelo is
a real estate professional who lives and works in the Chicagoland area. Check
out Right Residential's site for more information about Jen’s work.
1 comment:
Very solid advice for staging. I appreciate that your advice can be used without breaking the bank. So many times I read that a professional home stager is your best bet. Not true. Being in the real estate biz myself, I agree with your recommendations and I believe that the homeowner can carry out most tasks by themeselves. Just be careful with the painting part, lol.
Great post Jennifer, you know your stuff!
Cheers,
Tony Brayley.
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