Selling a home can be stressful and making sure your home shows well is key to selling it quickly and for top dollar. Professional staging is ideal but can get very expensive, with the average cost ranging from £2,500 to £6,000. However, you can stage your home beautifully on a budget with some effort and creativity. Here are tips for affordably staging your home for sale.
Declutter and Deep Clean
The first step to staging is an intensive decluttering and deep cleaning. Go through every room and clear out excess furniture, personal items, knickknacks, toys and other clutter. Donate, sell or store these items. Then do a meticulous cleaning of every room – clean walls and flooring, wash windows, dust lighting fixtures, and scrub bathrooms and kitchen. A clean, clutter-free home will automatically show much better.
Style Simply
With your home decluttered, you can focus on styling it. Fortunately, a staged look doesn’t require expensive new furniture and decor. Start by rearranging existing furniture to create an inviting flow in each room. Clear out pieces that cramp rooms. Next incorporate design touches like fresh flowers, plants, books and artwork arranged attractively. Candles and bowls of lemons also add welcoming style. Freshen things up with new inexpensive accent pillows, throws, placemats and shower curtains.
Accentuate Architectural Details
When showing your home, you want buyers to notice beautiful architectural features. Draw attention to these through staging. Highlight built-in bookshelves with displayed books and objects. Arrange furniture to direct eyes towards fireplaces, mouldings and chandeliers. Add track lighting or sconces to illuminate a pretty stained-glass window. Essentially, use staging to showcase the best features of your home.
Style Neutrally
When selling your home, you want buyers to imagine themselves living there, rather than being distracted by your decorating taste. So, take a neutral approach with staging. Use furniture slipcovers, pillows, throws and towels in the home’s paint colours or simple palettes like white, tan and grey. Pack away personal photos, bold art and brightly coloured accessories which can be polarising. Stick to simple, neutral decor that has mass buyer appeal.
Mind the Curb Appeal
You only have one chance to make a good first impression on buyers. When they first pull up, ensure your home’s exterior looks inviting. Thoroughly clean the entryway, front porch, yard and landscaping around your home. Paint or power wash exterior surfaces like siding or brick as needed. Add inexpensive touches like potted plants, stylish door mats, new house numbers and exterior lighting. For a final touch, place benches or chairs near the entryway to encourage buyers to sit and enjoy living in your lovely home.
With basic decluttering, cleaning, furniture arranging and styling, you can stage your home to look like a model listing without going over budget. Proper staging can pay off tremendously in both quicker selling times and higher sales prices! Get in contact here for more information!
