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4. Paint the rooms, doors, windows if necessary. Repainting is one of the best investments for selling and can increase the price considerably if done right. Consider painting rooms with neutral colours and lighter shades, even children’s rooms. No unicorn rainbows or bright pinks and avoid anything overwhelming in terms of colours, patterns and quirky decorations – they are not for everyone’s taste and when selling a property it should appeal to ordinary buyers. Here is a neutral colour scheme from Leyland which shows very good colours for home staging:
Another suggestion: try to pull together a scheme through the whole house, one that makes it more stylish.
How to stage a property for sale
1. Cleaning is the most important thing, not just an ordinary cleaning, but a proper one: spring
cleaning, windows, corners, floor shine, furniture, and professional cleaning of the carpets and rugs.
2. If the property is occupied, need decluttering; remove all unnecessary furniture, objects
from all rooms and surfaces; organise and tidy them (including cupboards and wardrobes). You may need to store stuff somewhere else temporarily. The appearance of the property should be airy, bright, clean, tidy and well organised
3. Repairing all damage, squeaking floors, squeaking doors, worn surfaces, damaged
counter top, broken tiles etc. which make the buyers wanting to reduce the prices, thinking about how much would cost for them to fix or change.
5. Furnishing: 90% of buyers prefer to see furnished properties that they can imagine living in. However, this doesn’t mean any furniture. Remove outdated, worn or heavy pieces and replace with lighter, more attractive ones that do not take up much space and which improve the overall appearance. DIY and shabby pieces are nice, but are not always suitable for a property on sale. The room should not be crowded with furniture as this would make it appear much smaller. Airy rooms appear bigger. On the other hand find a use for all the empty nooks, corners and dead spaces. Keep in mind the function of every room and furnish appropriately!
If the property is unfurnished, consider to rent furniture, however, you need to calculate if it worth or not. You can rent furniture and accessories in a package for 1-3 bedroom property for 1-3 months. The price is reasonable but not that cheap. Certainly worth hiring furniture If the property not too big but sell on higher price.
6. Lighting is very important! If possible, take photographs for the sale on a sunny day. If this is
not possible, just light the property well.
Change outdated lamps for more stylish ones and replace the bulbs with strong daylight types. You can also use local lamps to make rooms more atmospheric.
7. Decoration, accessories: that is when you can give more personality to the rooms.
Decoration should be striking and unique. If everything is too neutral the room could appear boring and impersonal. Rooms need to be atmospheric and lively. After considering all the advantages and disadvantage of a property, buyers choose emotionally (a buyer once said about a property they had just placed an offer for: “I don’t know why I like this house, it just feels right when I am in it”).
So how you get this result? Give the room some splash of colours, textures and patterns with furnishing and accessories. Feature wall, cushions, throw, a striking artwork.... The rule: nothing should be overwhelming or cloying.
FAQs: - Do I need rugs for staging?
Rugs make rooms cosier, and homey but if you have a feature floor it is sometimes better to not hide it with a rug.
- Do I need to put up curtains? If the scenery is attractive it is not necessary to put up curtains at all. If the scenery is unappealing, a well-made voile is the best choice, but always let as much natural light in as you can. Heavy curtains pull aside – make rooms bright
A few well placed, striking artworks are also a good option to make a room that little bit more attractive.
Healthy plants, flowers and fruit bowls give a lively finishing touch for any decorations – don’t forget to use them.
8. Outdoor (entrance, porch, patio, garden): when the buyers go for viewing the first thing they
see is the front of the property and the entrance and the first impression is very important. All of the things above stand for the outdoor space too, repair and paint the entrance door, the outside of the windows too, tidy the space, put away all the unnecessary objects, like tools, children toys, weed out the garden so the first sought of the buyers wont be “How much I should invest in this to look right?” A nice potted plant arrangement either side of the door is very inviting, worth to invest in them. Well maintained garden and flower baskets show, this property is a loved one, and buyers will have a good impression.
9. For the viewing: make sure you have done all the above but also make sure, every room
smell nice, rid off all the bad smells, air the rooms well and use aroma candles, air fresheners. Leave the doors open for the viewer so they can walk around freely.
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