5 Inexpensive Home Staging Ideas

1) Paint over any dramatic colors in your home.

While you might love the lime green of your kitchen walls or deep plum color of the walls in your bedroom, the people looking to buy a home may not be able to see their own bedding and furniture in your space with those colors gracing the walls. Repainting with muted colors will make your space more neutral and appealing.

2) Check your window treatments.

Drapes or roman shades are often more appealing than mini blinds to prospective buyers. You can make either inexpensively if you've got a sewing machine and some fabric.

If your mini blinds are staying, make sure they are dust free. Take the time to dust and wash any horizontal or vertical blinds well.

3) Hide old or stongly patterned furniture

If your furniture is worn, or excessively flowery, covering chairs and sofas with slip covers can hide old, worn furniture, and hide patterns that might distract buyers from the overall space.

4) Expand tight spaces with mirrors

Mirrors also lend the appearance of a much more wide-open space than having no mirrors would accomplish. If you have a fire place, strategically located mirrors can spread the warmth and coziness (if not the heat) of a fire throughout the room making the room as a whole seem like a much more enjoyable place to escape the winter "blahs".

5) Accessorize without cluttering.

Remove your existing knick knaks and add just a few decorative touches. Artwork, candles, vases, and floral arrangements placed sparingly and strategically can give the room a more polished look.

What Does Home Staging Focus On?

Through home staging, properties are enhanced and improved by the efforts of a professional, who analyzes the best course of action for a specific residence. The goal is to make a home more inviting and appealing to a potential homebuyer, who may otherwise miss out on some of the things that makes the property unique and livable. Often, after a round of staging, the overall value of the property is elevated as repairs, redecoration, renovations, and supplementary landscaping details are added. In cases where a home is vacant, rental furniture may replace the emptiness of a residence.

The Difference Between Home Staging and Home Decorating

Home staging is not, I repeat NOT, home decorating.

Redecorating a home focuses on the seller and their personality. It makes the home more comfortable and usable for you and your family.

Home staging is not concerned with your comfort. In fact, some of the things you'll need to do when staging your home are downright inconvenient for you.

For example, keeping the kitchen counters free of EVERYTHING can mean keeping the coffee maker in a cupboard. In my house, at least, that'd be a major inconvenience.

Pet food bowls need to disappear off the floor too... a most inconvenient situation for fluffy the cat, wouldn't you say?

And family photos and other mementos that might remind a buyer that you actually live there need to be removed too.

Doesn't sound like home decorating anymore, does it?

And all this is hard to do if you love and live in the home. That's why it is often helpful to hire a professional , who will see the home with a visitor's eyes, to stage your home.

The Aim of Home Staging

Over the years, the real estate market has suffered a few ups and downs, which has prompted individuals selling their home to turn towards other methods in an effort to entice buyers. Since there is an increase in the number of homes for sale, every bit of help is greatly needed to set aside a property from the next in order to encourage a purchase. One of the more popular tactics that homeowners consider is home staging, which transforms a residence before it reaches the real estate market.

The aim of home staging is to sell a house as quickly as possible, as well as get top dollar for the property. Some people do not feel investing in such a service is necessary, but for some, the outcome has been more than satisfactory. When it comes to the cost of home staging, prices vary depending on the state or city that you reside at. If the local demand for professionally staged homes is high, you may benefit from competitive prices. Generally, homeowners should expect to pay between $500 and $5,000.

Sprucing up the Exterior and Yard

People buy what they see. If they like what they see, it is of greater worth to them. Their overall perception of the home needs to be positive, favorable, and hopeful – to fit into the unfolding of their dreams. Value is relative – hence the variation in different appraisers’ perceptions. The neighborhood is very important – location, location, location! Make sure that your house matches the standards that are evident when assessing other houses in the vicinity.

The best makeover you can give your house is one that captures its original style. An upgraded facade protects your home from structural damage and gives it an aura of solid quality. To make a good impression from the moment potential buyers pull up to the house is vital. First glimpses of the home will include the exterior, the garden and lawn, roofing or shingles, window frames, trim and the front door – and first impressions count, and they last! Peeling trim or odd exterior colors could lose you their attention before they come inside.

A lush lawn leaves the impression that someone cares about this home. Well-kept homes sell faster than those that aren't. "Curb appeal" is a crucial first impression that can make buyers either wary or eager to step inside. Be sure your garden look great, trash cans and bikes are put away, house numbers are attractive and easy to see, the front door looks awesome (because you've replaced or painted it and maybe updated the hardware), and that you have some attractive potted plants by the door.

Home Staging Blog

If you're about to sell your home, you'll realize more value for your property if you stage it for selling.

What that means, in general, is that you're taking away all those things that make it your home, in order to turn it into a generic, 'dream space' for potential buyers to see and visualize themselves in.

This blog will be for ideas, photos, tips and tricks for doctoring your home (as the Brits call it) to prepare it for sale.