Professional Staging Tips

If you are trying to sell your home, you may be considering hiring an accredited staging professional to help you get your home ready for the market. An accredited staging professional will help you arrange the items in your home to make it as appealing as possible to those that will be viewing it. While professional home staging is helpful when selling your home, you may find that the cost of hiring someone with accredited staging professional training is prohibitive. There are several things you can do yourself to stage the home without the help of a professional

Get Rid of Clutter

One of the most important things that an accredited staging professional will help you do is eliminate clutter in your home. This is something you can easily do without hiring someone. The problem is that most homeowners are accustomed to their clutter. Instead of viewing items as clutter, they view them as their valued possessions. However, your collection of collectible plates that are lining the shelves in your den may not be appealing to someone who is seeing your home as a potential buyer. You need to eliminate as much as possible from your home. Consider renting a storage unit and packing some of these items away until the home sells. If you do not truly need or want the items, donate them to charity.

One place where clutter almost always accumulates is on a bookshelf. If you have bookshelves in your home, clear them off and pack away those belongings until you move. If you can, then you can remove the bookshelf altogether. However, if this is not possible, you can make it a more attractive part of your home by adding a few neutral decorative items to it after removing the belongings that are normally stored there.

Carefully Place Furniture

One of the most important things that are involved with professional home staging is furniture placement. The home needs to have furniture in it, but at the same time it should not look crowded with furniture. In each room, consider how full it looks. Remove pieces of furniture that add to the cluttered look. Leave just enough furniture to help the potential buyers to picture themselves in the home.

If your home has unique or outdated furniture, you may want to consider renting some neutral pieces from a rental store and storing some of your more eclectic sets. Again, you want the home to appeal to the widest range of buyers, and sometimes outdated furniture can be a big drawback. This is one of the biggest secrets of the home staging profession.

Notice What Draws the Eye

When you walk into a portion of your home, where is your eye drawn? If you want to utilize professional home staging strategies, then ask yourself this question for every area of your home. If you notice that your eye is drawn to one particular window, then make sure that window is clean and well dressed. If you notice that one spot on the wall is what draws your eye, then hang a nice painting there. If a cluttered desk or bookshelf is the attention piece of the room, clean it up. Those with accredited staging professional training will do this exercise with every room in the home.

As you are walking through your home, you will often find that the damaged areas of the rooms are what you notice. Peeling wallpaper and chipped paint almost always draw the eye. If you find these types of problems, take the time to fix them before putting the home on the market. If you find that you have a difficult time looking at your home with an appraising eye, ask a friend to look at it with you and provide you with an honest opinion.

Brighten up the Place

Any professional home staging book or website will tell you to let in as much natural light as possible. The lighter a room is, the better. If you find that a portion of your home has little natural light and always looks dark, install some extra lighting or place some floor lamps in the room to help brighten it up. If the walls are dark, you might want to consider painting them a lighter color. Even if you like the dark color, remember the home needs to appeal to the general public, not you.

Put Some Nature in the Home

Put out fresh flowers and let in some fresh air when you are getting ready to have a showing. Flowers add color and create a focal point to the home. Letting in some fresh air will keep the home from feeling stuffy and closed. Even if it is cold outside, open the windows for a little while before the showing. This will give the home enough time to warm up before your guests start arriving, but it will also provide much needed fresh air in the home.

Home staging is not difficult, if you look at the home through the eyes of the potential buyer. Get rid of clutter, clean it up, and open the doors to potential buyers. With a few staging tips, you will quickly sell your home. For more information on home staging, visit: