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Home Staging

Trying to sell your house? “Staging” can help. Staging involves styling, cleaning and depersonalizing homes. In other words you create a “scene” for the potential buyer and you hope that they will envision themselves living in that scene. Also, you take away anything that might discourage them from wanting to buy your house. Take a look at these tips from Keller Williams Realty and Home Staging of Alabama:

Make a good first impression with curb appeal. Replace the rusty mailbox or those porch rails; paint the front door if it needs it; add potted flowers or greenery by the front door’s exterior; cut the grass. I have to say when we were buying our home the first time we looked at it the grass was not cut. The house looked a lot more appealing when we returned a second time and the grass was cut.

Give your home a deep cleaning. Use Mr. Clean to remove marks from base boards, walls and refrigerators. Also, clean the windows, window sills and blinds. I use a heavy duty window cleaner that I purchased at Sherwin Williams and it really cleans the grim off much better than anything you can buy at the grocery store.

Get rid of bathroom rugs and toilet seat covers. An uncovered bathroom floor makes the room look bigger. I would also replace the shower curtain unless it’s custom made for the bathroom.

A new coat of paint does wonders for any room. You can clean and clean but it will never look as good as a fresh coat of paint.

Remove small ktichen appliances like mixers and toaster ovens to reveal valuable counter space. Even if you don’t have a lot of counter space, it will enhance what you have.

Add a short lamp in the corner of the kitchen counter to illuminate counterspace or if the cord to the lamp looks unattractive you could burn a scented candle. A friend swore that scented candles sold her house.

Remove magnets and all clutter from the refrigerator doors.

Pack up extra things you don’t need, like off-season clothes and linens so the closets will look spacious and neat.

Make sure the kid’s play room is clean. Pack away as many toys as you possibly can without making your kids crazy.

Remove excess artwork, magazine racks and tables, if the cover up a lot of wall space or take up a lot of floor space. Potential buyers will focus more on the art and not the wall.

A few big pieces of furniture make a room look bigger than a lot of little pieces. Also if you tend to have a lot of knick knacks you should probably pack them away.

Add extra lighting; a home that appears dark and depressing can depress potential buyers. Open the blinds to let in the natural sunlight.

If your house is crammed with stuff and there is no place to pack it away, consider having a professional organizer or really good friend who is organized help you get rid of some things.

How effective is staging? A Houston staging expert claims that after she “stages” a home, it sells within two weeks. She also says that it can be difficult to do the staging yourself because of the emotional component. According to her, people can not look at their house objectively because they’ve lived there and it looks fine to them. They don’t understand that other people may not like their choice of paint color, furniture or accessories. Most homeowners are so emotinally attached to their homes that they can’t give an objective view.

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