When you are selling your home it’s important to help buyers see it in its very best light. If you’re selling luxury real estate it might be a good idea to get some professional help and hire a home staging company, but there’s also plenty of touches you can add yourself to add appeal and perceived value to your home. We’ve rounded up a few simple DIY home staging projects that will help you stand out in the MLS listing.
We’re going to take you room by room to show what makes your home stand out when you’re staging it yourself.
Exterior
Buyers judge a book by its cover. In order to catch the eye of a potential buyer, your home must have ‘curb appeal’. A shabby exterior won’t do you any favors in staging your home, so make sure you take some simple steps to make the outside of your home as inviting as the inside.
- Clean up the lawn, driveway, and frontals.
- Make sure windows are clean and curtains are open and the house looks inviting.
- Use a window box if your house suits one to display some bright, colorful flowers that say, “Come in and see more”!
- If you have a porch, make sure it is just as inviting as your doorstep by offering comfortable seating and perhaps a floral accent on a side table.
- Make sure your front door is eye-catching. Err on the side of boldness and choose a color buyers are sure to remember and accessorize with a fun door knocker for extra wow factor.
Entryway/foyer
The first impressions continue as buyers walk in your front door, so make sure your entryway is free of clutter and looks (and smells!) great. Hang a large mirror over your hallway table to make the space look bigger and organize hallway items creatively.
Living room
Once inside, buyers like to imagine themselves with their own belongings in your home. Help them to realize their vision by decluttering your space, removing large collections of knick knacks, bizarre accessories, and too many of any one item from shelves, coffee tables and other surfaces. Books are great, but intersperse thought-provoking and quirky items on bookshelves and turn some books on their sides to break up the space.
Walls
Make sure any wall art you have in your staged home (and there ought to be wall art) is framed and hung nicely. Feel free to include important family photos, but don’t overdo it with personal flair. Keep any potentially offensive or controversial material away for the time being and stick to art and slogans most buyers will love. For a large space, try an on-trend gallery wall. This fantastic tutorial from Love Grows Wild gives step by step instructions for a perfectly even gallery.
Kitchen/Dining room
Try setting up your kitchen and dining space as if you’re just about to host a fabulous dinner party. Stock the fruit bowl with bright citrus fruits and put a show-stopping centerpiece on your dining table so potential buyers can imagine themselves throwing parties and celebrating holidays with friends and family in your house. Always decorate for the season; if it’s holiday time, decorate accordingly but modestly. For springtime, a low maintenance DIY centerpiece like this one will be sure to impress buyers.
Bathrooms/Laundry rooms
The key to a properly staged bathroom or laundry room (aside from cleanliness, of course!) is storage. This clever laundry room makeover can easily apply to family bathrooms as well.
Backyard
The same rules apply for the outside of the house as for the inside: eliminate clutter and keep it clean! Create a space buyers want to use themselves by setting up a bistro table and chairs in the backyard and hanging soft lights throughout if the space allows. Buyers won’t be able to help imagining themselves sitting underneath the stars with friends on a warm summer night.
As with any home staging project, repainting and adding greenery to the house brightens up tired, drab spaces. Make use of these and other DIY tips to freshen up your space.
This guest post is written by Bryn Huntpalmer. Bryn is a mother of two young children living in Austin, Texas where she currently works as the editor of Modernize and nurtures her HGTV obsession.
