When I'm driving, I'm always looking at "For Sale" signs. Often times, those signs are up for far too long. Then, I run home and look at the interior pictures on line to see if there's anything I would have done differently. In a lot of cases, the home hasn't been staged or hasn't been staged properly. The definition of staging is simply to prepare the home for sale so a potential buyer can visualize themselves in the space.
So today, I'm republishing the 10 Simple Steps for Staging a room:
1. Stand in the Doorway. This is where buyers stand before they decide to step into a room. If a buyer won't step in, they won't buy your house. You need to see what buyers see and make changes that will invite them in to every room of the house.
2. Pick a Staging Point. Ask yourself "How will a buyer use this room?" If it's a bedroom, the Staging point is usually the bed….living room could be the fireplace. Then stage the room around this focal point.
3. Make a plan. Once you know what your focal point will be, plan what you're going to change and get started.
4. Clear the clutter. De-accessorize the entire room. Take out all the pictures, mirrors, and accessories. Get down to the "bones" of the room.
5. Divide into piles. Pack, toss, give away and sell. Some things will go back when you are staging.
6. Get rid of some furniture. Less is more to make a room look larger. Often times we simply move furniture to other rooms.
7. Decide what furniture has to stay. Keep the basics and get rid of the extras. A lot of living rooms have a couch, loveseat and 2 chairs. We often remove either the couch loveseat to make the room look larger.
8. Arrange the furniture the way you want it. Stand back again and see if the room makes "space sense" and it's inviting and easy to walk around. There is no real right or wrong….just keep working with the furniture until the room looks spacious and open.
9. Rebuild with accessories. Bring back in some accessories (often from other areas of the house). Not too many and nothing "personal" like photographs etc.
10. Fine-tune. Stand in the doorway again. Is there anything else you need to do? Anything else that should be removed? Are the blinds/shades straight? Then have a friend come in and look at the rooms again!
Start with staging your home and then next week we'll continue with other issues may hold up the successful sale of a home.
