Top Trends in Home Staging During Peak Selling Season

With the most competitive home-selling season of the year underway, many homeowners are leaning on home-staging experts to ensure their property stands out among the rest.

Showhomes franchise system has helped realtors and homeowners sell more than 30,000 residential properties worth more than $10 billion in total by transforming high-end vacant houses into fully-furnished, inviting homes.

Shelly and Pratt Barndollar, owners at the Houston Showhomes, were recently recognized with the “Best Makeover Design” award at the brand’s annual conference for a home they staged in their territory. Feeding off of this momentum, the Barndollars are gearing up for the busy home-selling season in the next coming months.

“The summer months are a competitive time for homes on the market, and it’s our job as the home staging experts to help expedite this process by taking a vacant house and transforming it into a liveable, comforting home,” said Shelly.

While interior design trends are ever-changing, Pratt and Shelly have noticed several develop in the past several months that have continued to stick, including changes in flooring and outdoor spaces.

“Hardwood floors will always be a staple, but we’ve noticed a lot more grey and porcelain tile flooring throughout homes,” said Shelly. “Tile floors match well with a lot of different wallpaper and paints and can be a lot easier to maintain than hardwood.”

Aside from flooring, Shelly and Pratt have also noticed a lot of innovation with outdoor spaces. Rather than using decks and patios for gatherings and cookouts, Shelly said many homeowners are turning outdoor amenities multi-seasonal rooms that families are able to regularly enjoy.

“In a market like Houston where the weather is mild year-round, we’ve seen homeowners putting kitchen units and nice furniture in their outdoor porches and patios, turing these spaces into year-round family rooms rather than areas used mainly for entertainment,” said Shelly.

Another entertainment-focused piece of the home that the Barndollars have seen become more of a staple is the bar or wet bar area. Shelly and Pratt said the open bar layout is very popular and often showcased in the dining or family room.

“Many bars now have added shelving so that if they’re apart of a bigger room like the family or living area, they can store additional items and add back lighting that can highlight certain art or design pieces,” said Shelly.

Home-staging continues to grow more popular in the United States, as staging a house can increase its sale price by up to 15 percent. To accommodate for more homeowners looking to utilize home-staging services, Showhomes is looking to expand into areas of the country where its franchise units would be most helpful, with a specific interest in the Bay Area and the Washington DC-Northern Virginia market.

“We’ve noticed a more prominent need for our services in territories with growing real estate markets, and many regions on both the East and West Coast fall under this category,” said Showhomes COO Matt Kelton.

To read more on the services offered by Showhomes or view open franchising territories, visit https://showhomesfranchise.com/