How to Stage Your Home to be Sold

If you are trying to sell your house it is all about making the potential buyers feel like they could see themselves living in your home, and to do that you need to stage your home like a pro! And who better to listen to, then a pro like me!

First of all, let me tell you why you should listen to me:

I am an interior designer and I have worked in many areas of the industry including Home Staging, Model Homes and Residential Design, so I know what I am talking about here. I also graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Interior Architecture and Design and I started my own company which educates homeowners (like yourself) about Interior Design.

So let’s get into why you are here: In this e-book you will learn the Step-by- Step Process to Stage Your Home to be Sold.

Likely the hardest part of staging your home is finding the motivation to get started. I get it. Life gets busy. And without the potential for a future sale on the horizon, it can be difficult to get started. So you just may need to artificially create the momentum to get started in the process. I suggest tackling one room at a time. As I say in my e-course How to Organize and Declutter Your Home you don’t need to overwhelm yourself or you will just end up frustrated and possibly resentful. To simplify things:

Start with one end of the room (Doesn’t matter where- Personally, I go left to right around the room from the entrance door, starting with the bottom section, then the middle section, and lastly the top section - I don’t know why, it’s just what I find easiest).

REMOVE YOUR POSSESSIONS

Remove 1/3 of your possessions. Those who stage a home for sale will tell you to remove roughly 33% of your personal possessions from the property. Less stuff means your rooms/closets have room to breathe and feel more spacious. A decluttered home is calm and inviting. This may be easier if you were actually moving (natural purging almost always takes place during transition), but if you wouldn’t take it with you when you moved, why let it take up space in your life today?

Grab some cardboard boxes and walk through your home room-by- room, closet-by-closet, and drawer-by- drawer. Collect all the stuff you no longer need or love.

Donate it, sell it, or give it away. Find a home for everything. Walking again through your home, make note of the items that are stored in your field of vision (think countertops, toys, entertainment units). Why are those items stored out in the open? Are they in the wrong room?

Are they too big to be stored out of sight? Is their proper home too crowded? Intentionally identify the visible clutter. Ask questions to identify the problem. And brainstorm a new solution. Find new places to store these items out of sight. Visible clutter pulls at our attention and distracts us on an on giong basis. On the other hand, clean, undistracted rooms promote relaxation and intentionality.

Remove most of your personal decorations as it subtly communicates “I live here, not you,” to your potential buyer. And that is not a good aura to give the future residents of your home. You want potential buyers to envision themselves in your home, not feel as if they are just a guest, or worse; an intruder in your home.

DECLUTTER

Declutter counter tops, cupboards, and drawers. Buyers always open cupboards, drawers, and closets. Unfortunately, storage spaces packed too tightly look small, unsightly, and counter-productive. Remove unneeded items from everyday storage spaces. This won’t be difficult. You have likely collected a number of items over the years that are no longer necessary. At this point, they are only taking up space in your storage areas. Discard them. As an added benefit, you just may realize you have had enough storage space all along.

One of the biggest areas most home owners overlook when trying to sell their home is storage space- especially closets. Don’t try to stuff your closets full of all the things you removed in the steps before you got to this. Rent a storage unit if necessary. There is nothing more embarrassing than opening a closet door to find your kids toys, your laundry, and random nick-nacks come tumbling down on a potential buyer.

If you would like more help with weeding through the clutter in your home, take a look at my e-course “How to Organize and Declutter Your Home”.

CURB APPEAL

Consider the “curb appeal”. Realtors will tell you that you can never spend too much attention on curb appeal. Your potential buyer will likely make their decision on your home within the first few minutes of entering. Therefore, first impressions are the most important. And the very first impression they receive is when they pull into your driveway and walk up to your front door. Don’t neglect the outside of your home. If you have children, clean up their toys. If you have shrubs, prune them. Lay fresh mulch. Put some grass seed on the bare spots in your yard. Paint your foundation. Plant some flowers. After all, you pull into your driveway almost everyday of your life. Don’t you want to pull into something you’d like to purchase all over again?. Also, make sure your outdoor lighting is in good, clean, working condition.

CLEAN

Clean thoroughly. Clean the surface. Then, clean deeper. Give extra attention to corners and windows and hard-to- reach areas. Just like in the bathroom, make clean and bright your goal. If you’ve successfully removed a good portion of personal possessions, you’ll find this task far easier to complete.

Give your bathroom the attention it deserves. Put away personal hygiene products. Scrub bathtubs, toilets, and shower walls. Make clean and bright your goal.

REPAIRS

Complete minor repairs. Take a notepad and create a to-do list of minor home repairs such as wall nicks, paint touch-ups, squeaky doors, running toilets, loose pieces, and burnt out light bulbs. Most of the minor repairs can be handled in less than 20 minutes for less than $15 and can be found with a simple Google search. Eventually, the repairs need to happen, and if they can be taken care of before you sell your house, why not repair them (while you can still enjoy them too)? The investment sure beats walking back into your bathroom to wiggle the handle on a running toilet 3 times a day.

Need to tackle a major repair like your roof? Research your solutions. These major repairs can be costly, which you can decide if the investment is worth the price you are listing your home at. Keep in mind an inspector/realtor might ask you to have these items repaired prior to selling anyway.

In addition, I have a book “Everything you need to know about Interior Design”. Have you ever been to a family member or friend's house and it just feels "stuffy" or closed off? That room might make you feel uncomfortable or claustrophobic because that's a room that is badly designed. Interior Design isn't just about making a room look nice, it is about making a room function and feel it's best, and we all want the places that we spend the most of our time to feel and function at their best.

This book is available on our website:www.krystinkrebsinteriors.com where you can find out how to enroll as well as many other educational services that we offer.