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Home Staging Tips

What is Home Staging and how does it help me sell my home?

Top 10 Home Staging Rules

Staging tricks & tips

What accessories does a professional Home Stager use?

What are problems with staging your home?

What is Home Staging and how does it help me sell my home?

Home staging is beyond decorating and cleaning. It's about creating a mood. Staging makes your house look bigger, brighter, cleaner, warmer, more loving and, best of all, it makes home buyers want to buy it.

Staging is what you do after you've cleaned, de-cluttered, painted and made minor repairs. It's all about decorating each room to its full potential.

Staging a room does not mean making it sterile and lifeless. The purpose of staging is to create a feeling of "warmth" and "hominess".

If there are 10 homes for sale in your neighborhood, you definitely want to "stage" your home before showing it because of the competition with the other homes. You want to make sure that your home is the one that buyers are most impressed by.

Home Staging is the very best way to get top dollar for your home as you prepare it for sale. Homes that are "staged" sell faster and for more money! This is because "staging" sets the scene throughout the house to create immediate buyer interest in your property. This will then lead to your home selling for the highest possible price in today's market.

Top 10 Home Staging Rules

CLUTTER:

CLEAN:

LIGHT:

FURNITURE:

PAINT:

KITCHEN:

BATHROOMS:

ODOR:

ART:

FLOORS:

FINISH:

Staging Tricks & Tips

ALL ROOMS:

Less is Best! Rooms that have too much furniture and accessories make a room look smaller. Consider the flow of traffic throughout the rooms. Reduce the furniture to create open floor space.

Vacant rooms will also make a room appear smaller. Adding a few furniture pieces, rug, and window treatments will show buyers a room's potential.

Depersonalize the room by removing family pictures, memorabilia, awards, diplomas and religious items. You want the buyer to be able to picture themselves living in that space.

Remove all offensive or controversial magazines and artwork. Take all the fish plaques or deer heads off the wall.

Open the windows when possible to let in fresh air. There is nothing worse than the smell of smoke or pet odors.

Brighten the room - Turn on the lights and open the curtains, drapes, blinds, try energy saving 60 watt light bulbs. A good window cleaning will let in more light.

Extra touches - Fresh flowers, a comfy throw on the couch, a new log in the fireplace.

KITCHEN:

Apply orange oil to cabinets that appear worn to renew their original luster

Put out large bowls of fruit such as polished apples, bright oranges, luscious grapes

Arrange colorful and fun cookbooks on the counters

BATHROOMS:

Add baskets filled with spa treatments such as Towels tied with ribbons, Scented soaps, Lotions, Moisturizing & Facial jars

Put aroma therapy candles along the edge of the jacuzzi tub

DECKS & LANDSCAPING:

Show off your "Outdoor" living space

Plants and potted flowers

Picnic tables with bright, plastic dinner plates, napkins and stemware

Put up strings of party lights or Chinese Paper Lanterns

What accessories should a seller use to "Stage a Home"?

The following are items a professional home stager would use to spruce up a house. You may have many of these items already. If you don't, they can be purchased at any home decorating store, Target or Wal-Mart.

Mirrors

Plants / Silk Flowers

Floor & Table Lamps

Candles and Candle Holders

Artwork

Area and Throw Rugs

Love Seats

Ottomans

Throw Pillows

Afghans

Baskets

Tables & Chairs

Bassinet

Inflatable Queen Size Beds

Fancy Bath soaps and Spa supplies

What are the Problems with Staging Your Home?

If you are living in your home while trying to sell it, it is difficult to go about your daily functions in a room that has been "staged".

For example, paperwork, files and books would need to be cleared off a desk

In the kitchen: toasters, blenders and loaves of bread would need to be cleared from the counters. A big trash can would need to be hidden or removed.

In an entranceway: umbrellas, shoes and jackets would need to be removed.

Bedrooms would need to be cleaned up and laudry put away.

In bathrooms, vanities would need to be cleared off and bottles of personalized items would need to be put into cabinets.