Once you’ve grasped the basics, home staging is a cinch. Making the most of your interior decor is a must when it comes to putting your home on the market. Here are 8 tips to help you stage your home.
Even if your house isn’t for sale, you can use these tips once a season when you clean out your cottage, condo or semi-detached home. Because when it comes right down to it, staging is simply the art of making your home comfortable, attractive and inviting.
1. Create a welcoming ambiance
As with human relationships, a home’s first impressions are very important. Take the time to tidy the entrance and front steps of your home and add some colourful flowers. Shake out the doormat, clear the gutters, polish the doorknob and make sure the mailbox is in good condition. Be sure to freshen up your paintwork as needed.
2. Put things away and depersonalize your home
Inside, the first step is to tidy up and put things away to depersonalize the home as much as possible. Put away any prescription bottles lying around the bathroom, remove any coupons posted on the fridge, and take down any calendars with your appointments marked on them. Make it easy for visitors to picture themselves living in your home. Make the most of this opportunity to sort things using the KonMari method and purge any items that spark no joy for you or that have no use.
3. Make minor improvements
Without redoing the kitchen or bathroom, several minor initiatives can have a big impact. Low-cost examples include adding a ceramic kitchen back splash, changing your kitchen cabinet doorhandles, buying a new shower curtain and replacing the broken mirror in the master bedroom.
4. Use virtual tools
Are you keen on repainting but having trouble choosing a colour? Are you unsure how to arrange your rooms to maximize space? Online home staging tools are available to help you visualize changes before you go ahead and make them. They also provide advice on creating accents in your living spaces and on adding a professional touch to your decor before a showing.
5. Place fresh, ironed sheets on the bed
Choose your prettiest sheets or buy a new set to make the bedroom look picture-perfect. Much like for a hotel, you need to give people the impression that if they bought the house, they’d be the first people to sleep in the bedroom. Iron the sheets, pillowcases and duvet cover and spritz the bed with a soothing room perfume.
6. Clean out the pantry
It is quite likely that visitors will spend time opening cupboards and drawers all over the house. It may be unrealistic to think you can tidy everything away, but be sure to take the time to clear out and clean the food pantry. Throw out any expired food and clean up any sticky, unsightly spills.
If you have a spice cupboard, now would be a good time to get it better organized. Empty it out, discard any expired items, clean the containers and inside the cabinet, and then put everything back in order.
7. Clean the kitchen and bathroom thoroughly
The entire house needs to be spotless, especially the kitchen and bathroom. Wash the walls and floor and polish the chrome to make it shine. Be sure to clean areas that you don’t see at first glance but that visitors will spot, e.g. the stove hood, the baseboard heaters, the shelf of hygiene products in the shower.
8. Choose your room perfume carefully
Forget about the clichéd cookies baking in the oven. Most people prefer visiting homes that exude a clean and relaxing fragrance rather than the smell of food. Opt for scents such as eucalyptus, basil or lemon. Get your essential oil diffusers working for about an hour before a showing. You can also light a scented candle in the bathroom.
Content creator for her blog Tellement Swell and her YouTube channel, Eve Martel has a boundless passion for interior décor and organization. The daughter of an architect, she grew up surrounded by her father’s Danish design magazines and blueprints. Just like that friend who always has the best tips, she shares ideas for turning your home into a stunning, peaceful haven.
