Home Staging…we’ve all heard of this trend when selling your home. Most people think of home staging as a luxury that high-end home owners use to sell their expensive properties. But home staging is no longer for only wealthy homeowners, but for every home seller. Professional stagers can be expensive, so how do you accomplish home staging on your own with a very small budget? Here are some basic staging tips that every homeowner can utilize in transforming their homes just like a home stagers.
DIY Home Staging for Every Home Seller
1. De-cluttering is the number one staging must and should be the first thing you do. Your home is your castle and sometimes that castle has a few piles of papers sitting around collecting dust. This is a great time to start clearing out the old, setting items aside for a yard sale, and throwing out the junk. Remove extras in every room that are not necessary. Extra furniture and knick knacks just make a room feel smaller. Removing these excess items makes your rooms look more spacious.
Now don’t get discouraged, this is the hard part but it can be done if you stay focused on the task. Start in one room of your home and remove all photos, picture frames and memorabilia. Then clean out closets, under beds, tables and drawers. If you haven’t used an item in over a year then it’s time to let it go. This is not a one day job, space this out over a few weeks in order to prevent burnout.
2. Now that you have taken the time to de-clutter, you should have many items ready to leave your home and earn you a little money in the process. Now is a great time in your staging process to have your yard sale, because you can then take the proceeds from your sale and use them to continue your staging projects. Advertise, price your items and collect some cash. Don’t forget – once the sale is complete, be sure to donate your unsold items. You finally de-cluttered, so don’t bring those items back into your home.
3. We all try to personalize our homes to fit our style. When you are selling a home, it’s best to neutralize your color palette. Warm neutrals on the walls will go a long way in bringing cohesion to your rooms and creating an inviting atmosphere. Paint is relatively inexpensive, so you just need to put in some elbow grease to get this step accomplished.
4. First impressions are everything in home sales. If your home does not have curb appeal, some buyers will never walk into it. So, spend a small amount of time and money sprucing up your entryway. Painting your front door, replacing outdated house numbers and mailbox, and adding a few potted plants and a welcome mat will make the right first impression to get buyers in the door.
5. We all wish we could buy new bathroom and kitchen cabinets to give our rooms an updated look. But if you are trying to sell, you do not want to invest tons of extra cash into your home. You can give your kitchen and bathroom cabinets a major facelift with a little help of a can of paint and some new cabinet hardware. By removing outdated hardware, adding a fresh coat of paint to older cabinets and then installing new hardware, you can have brand new looking cabinets for under $100.
6. Finally, buyers can overlook a few needed repairs if your home is squeaky clean. Cleaning your home top to bottom is essential. Start with cobwebs in corners and work down until you finish at the baseboards. If it’s in your budget, you can hire a cleaning crew to come help you make your home sparkle.
With some legwork and elbow grease, you can get your home “market ready” in a short period of time without paying a high priced stager. Now get to work!!
