7 Easy DIY Home Staging Tips

Hi there friends...TGIF!!

Anyone out there getting ready to sell their home or maybe you're already in the process?

 Well today I have a special contributor Sarah Kellner a writer for The Home Depot giving us great DIY home staging ideas.

7 Easy Home Staging Tips for Every Budget
By Sarah Kellner

If you're planning to sell your home, you're probably very familiar with the idea of home staging. The goal of this process is not only to make your home appealing to potential buyers, but to make it appear desirable to the highest number of buyers, therefore helping you sell your property faster and for more money.
The best part about home staging is that, when armed with a little knowledge and a motivated attitude, you can do everything yourself. DIY home staging means saving money as well as ensuring that the projects are completed to your standards and tastes.
Here are seven things that you can do right now to boost your home's appeal.

Lighting
Creating an appealing lighting scheme is first on the staging checklist. Who wants to walk through a house that is as dark and poorly lit as a cave, let alone buy it? Not many people. The answer here is to maximize natural light and create attractive and inviting schemes with artificial lighting. First, clean all of your windows, and then make sure your window coverings are light and gauzy enough to let in the sun but still provide privacy.
To create an attractive lighting scheme, we recommend splurging on a few elegant fixtures like chandeliers, pendants and sconces, and putting all major light sources on dimmers so you can completely customize the mood. It's also smart to highlight the unique aspects of your home with lighting. Emphasizing architectural features like archways with sconces, and artwork with track lighting are great examples. Finally, make sure you swap out any dated, grubby switch plates that may be hanging around.

Remove Personal Items
The key to proper home staging is helping potential home buyers to envision your home as their own. You want it to show like a model. One of the quickest ways to do this is to remove all personal items like photos, and children's artwork from the fridge.

Clear Away Clutter
Speaking of off-putting, nothing can turn off potential buyers faster than cluttered surfaces and junk everywhere. Make sure your kitchen and bathroom counters are clear and that all kids' toys are packed away and "stowed for the duration." Jennifer Radice, a veteran realtor with Coldwell Banker of Boca Raton, Fla., advises home sellers to, "Pack up 90 percent of your home." This might sound extreme, but you want buyers to focus on the bones of your home, not the titles in your DVD collection. She suggests putting everything in organized boxes and containers in a corner of your garage, and anything left over should go to a temporary storage unit.

Painting with Neutrals
Another thing to remember when staging your home is that everyone's tastes are different, and while you may be enamored with your cranberry-colored dining room or turquoise accent wall, others may not feel the same way. The easy solve for this is to give your interiors a facelift with soothing, neutral colors. We especially love grays because they can work with a wide range of décor styles.

Clean, Clean, Clean
This might seem obvious, but it's important to note that you're not cleaning the same way you would for houseguests—you're taking it to the next level. As a former housekeeper at a five-star Florida bed and breakfast called Port d'Hiver, I can attest to the benefits of what the hospitality industry calls "zone cleaning." This goes above and beyond normal scrubbing and vacuuming. Zone cleaning includes everything from dusting ceiling fans and blinds, to scrubbing the scuffs from baseboards with a Magic Eraser, to polishing the metal on lamps and bathroom fixtures. Make sure you cover every square inch.

Deodorize
In addition to making your home visually appealing, you also want it to please the olfactory senses. Every house has a distinct smell, and you want yours to be positive one (not strangely reminiscent of Campbell's soup or worse, a litter box). You want your home to smell great, but you don't want to attack people's noses with cheap linen-scented plug-ins either. One solution we love is simmer pots. By gently stewing a number of naturally fragrant items like orange peels and whole cloves in a pot on the stove, you can make your home smell wonderful. Another great way to entice potential buyers is to bake cookies and brew a fresh pot of coffee before a showing.

Curb Appeal
Since the first thing potential home buyers will see when they visit your home is the yard, façade and front door, pay special attention to these areas. Mow your lawn, trim hedges, pull weeds, and add wreaths and potted plants for easy outdoor decorations. Don't forget your mailbox, fence and front door. Do they need replacing or a fresh coat of paint? Add it to your curb appeal checklist.
While this isn't everything you should do to stage your home, it's a great start. When in doubt, put yourself in the buyer's shoes. Now get selling!

Sarah Kellner writes on interior design and decorating, including home staging, for Home Depot. Sarah's tips on lighting, painting and organization are designed to help homeowners increase the appeal and value of their homes. To view many of the lighting options mentioned by Sarah in her article, you can visit Home Depot's sconces and vanity lighting page.

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Have a super weekend!