Bright composition consisting of a white sofa, colored pillows, curtains and drawer unit with table lamp
You don’t need to be selling your home to benefit from these staging tips! If you are selling, home staging has become a common step in the real estate process, with many realtors strongly recommending it to sellers or even considering it necessary for securing an offer. While staging does tend to help a home sell more quickly and at a higher price, the cost of hiring a professional can be staggering.
7 Great Budget Staging Ideas
Consider these easy, do-it-yourself staging shortcuts that capture your buyers’ interest without busting your budget:
- Enliven drab rooms with vibrant accents. While neutral paint colors are typically the best bet for appealing to a wide variety of buyers, they may cause the home to appear bland and impersonal. Adding inexpensive touches, such as brightly colored towels, pillows, or flowers creates an alluring contrast and help the room stand out in buyers’ minds. Another option is to consider painting an accent wall with an eye-catching color. Since a quart of paint should cost under twenty dollars, this simple solution can quickly transform a room.
- Find creative ways to highlight your home’s best features. For example, if you have an impressive master bath, update lighting, buy luxurious towels and assemble a basket of lotions to make it feel like a luxurious spa. This will draw buyers’ eyes toward the features that you want them to see.
- Ensure that the entrance to your home is welcoming. First impressions can be pivotal—particularly when you are selling your home. If the entrance to your home is lackluster or in disrepair, potential buyers may not even bother to see the interior. Spur interest from the start by purchasing a new welcome mat, planting some cheerful-looking flowers, and fixing any damaged paint on or around the front door.
- Give your kitchen and bathrooms a facelift with new hardware. Kitchen and bath remodels carry exorbitant costs and are impractical when your home is already on the market. However, by applying fresh paint to cabinets and replacing faucets and drawer pulls, you can quickly give these rooms an updated appearance without generating substantial costs.
- Employ accessories to help buyers envision themselves living in your home. Remember that the main purpose of staging is to transform your home into a blank slate upon which buyers can picture their new lives—and often, this effect may be achieved with simple, everyday objects. For instance, set a bag of high-quality coffee next to the coffee pot, place empty shopping bags from trendy stores in the master bedroom closet, or stage the dining room table with placemats, cloth napkins, and a bottle of wine and glasses. One thing I do when staging (and I do it in my own home at least once a year!) is to gather all my accessories on the dining room table. Then I group and see how I can redeploy them in interesting and often functional ways. Too many accessories is distracting so pack or give away any that don’t make a room more appealing.
- If you have couches or chairs that are worn or have distracting patterns, conceal them with slipcovers. These guises are relatively inexpensive and will neutralize the room so that buyers can focus their attention on your home’s most important features.
- Visit consignment and thrift stores for furniture if you need to round out an empty room. Often, these outlets are troves of low-cost furniture in surprisingly good condition.
Best Tip of All
Last but certainly not least, use an agent who is willing to help you make decisions and guide you through staging. I’ve gone through home staging courses and this is one of my favorite parts of the home selling process. Call Kathy today 808-344-0469.
Recent Comments