Three Simple Principles of Home Staging

Like it or not, in today's real estate market, you need just about every advantage as a home seller. While you can't control many things about the real estate process, there are a number of simple things that you can do to make your home a bit more appealing. One of the easiest ideas to give your home that edge is the idea of staging rooms.

The idea of staging is certainly not a new one. For as long as people have been allowing guests and friends into their homes, people have wanted to make sure that the rooms are good looking and inviting. Staging is nothing more than making sure the various rooms in your home looks the best and most appealing for the potential buyers. In order to accomplish this, there are a few simple principles to remember. In the following paragraphs, we'll take a look at a few of these principles, as well as how to apply them to staging two specific rooms of your home, namely the kitchen and the bathroom.

Principle # 1 A Clean Space Brings Feelings of Home

Think back to when you bought your home. Most likely you saw a number of homes where the kitchen was dingy, or you saw signs of mildew in the bathroom shower, or some smudges on the mirror. How did you view the house? Could you see past the dirt and grime? And what about the smell? For most buyers, if they have to imagine what the room would be like if was clean; they have a good deal of trouble seeing beyond the grime. So, before you make any significant changes, do a through cleaning. In the bathroom, clean the tiles with a strong scouring cleaner, clean the shower door, and replace the towels with fresh ones, preferably a matching set.

In the kitchen, remember that even through this is an area of cooking, family and friendship, a potential buyer only wants to see the fun times to come, not evidence of the fun times of the past. When showing your home, make sure that the fruit in the bowl on the kitchen table isn't overripe, and your countertops are clean and clear of spilled juice or bread crumbs.

Principle #2: A Simple Background Shows the Most Potential

Take a look around your bathroom. Are there little ducks on the ceiling border? Are the wall tiles a colorful assortment of vibrant blues purples or yellows? Are your fixtures mismatched because of years of repairs or replacement? While the bathroom to you might have the comfort of familiarity, to a potential buyer it looks lived in. If a potential buyer thinks the room looks lived in, he will have to work harder at imagining himself in that same room. For most people, the easiest way to imagine themselves in a house, to think that a certain house could potentially become their home, is to place them in the house and ask "Does this feel comfortable?" So, by staging, you are trying to make sure that they answer that question with a resounding "Yes!"

So, in the bathroom consider removing the ducks and replacing them with a simple solid border. Or perhaps replace the fixtures with a matching set. The more that you do to make the background become just that a background, the more likely a person will feel comfortable within the room.

Principle # 3 The Less Clutter, the More Space You Have.

Chances are good that your kitchen is filled with various jars and containers. Perhaps there is a spice rack to the left of your stove. Or maybe there are a few empty boxes of pasta sitting next to the cupboard. While you might have gotten used to the clutter, in the eyes of a potential buyers the clutter is distracting. All though cute knick-knacks on display in your kitchen can potentially become an annoyance to the potential buyer. So, consider putting those mismatched containers away, and putting your spice collection in a nearby out of sight drawer. By reducing the clutter in your kitchen, you can bring a more open and spacious presentation of your kitchen to the eyes of a potential buyer.

These three principles can be easily adapted and expanded upon in a number of different ways. By staging the various rooms in your home, you increase the possibility of a buyer walking in and completely falling in love with your house, the way you did, so many years ago.