Seven Common Home Staging Mistakes
You may have a beautiful home. Maybe it’s immaculate and stylishly appointed to suit your tastes. Or, it’s highly upgraded with high-quality features and materials. Perhaps, it’s all of these things!
However, chances are your home isn’t “staged.”
Many people make home staging mistakes that most of them don’t even know they are making. Many confuse home staging with decorating. If you are looking to sell your property, you have to transform your home into something that prospective buyers can easily imagine themselves living in.
So, here are some common home staging mistakes you may be making without even knowing it.
1. Closing the doors.
This is one mistake that far too many people make when staging their home for a showing. Although it may seem natural to close some doors, it’s a mistake.
During the property showing, you want to open all doors and allow free movement of people throughout the home.
2. Hiding the mess.
Potential homebuyers aren’t over for a dinner party. They are there to thoroughly inspect your home. So, while closets may be a great place to hide some stuff, they could actually end up being a liability for you.
Whether it’s clutter, dirt or grime, don’t put it in your closet during property showing or open houses. You want to make sure your home is mess-free during this period.
3. Clutter, clutter everywhere.
One of the first things you must do when staging is to get rid of clutter. Problem is, many people have different definitions when it comes to clutter. It isn’t just the knick-knacks or stacks of magazines found everywhere.
Clutter includes personal items and anything that doesn’t help sell your home’s lifestyle. Essentially, clutter includes things like a pile of books on the coffee table, worn and dirty clothes on your bedroom floor, unworn clothes in the closet, and dishes in your kitchen sink.
4. Not handling the smell.
Sure, your home could look great. However, it could have an odor that you’ve become accustomed to in your own home. Often, pet owners don’t notice the smell of their own pets, but those without them will notice. Similarly, scented plug-ins and fragrance diffusers may be offensive to others – everyone has different tastes! The goal when selling your home is to appeal to a wide range audience – not just to people that enjoy the same scents as you.
To ensure all smells are removed from the home, consider professional cleaning. Most professional cleaners will have certain tricks up their sleeves when it comes to dusting, vacuuming and polishing home surfaces.
5. Forgetting the front yard.
Or the backyard, for that matter! When selling your house, curb appeal speaks volumes. A good curb appeal will ensure that you are giving a first good impression to your potential home buyers.
The good thing about curb appeal is that it doesn’t have to cost you a fortune. Simple repairs and maintenance tasks will do. See our blog on boosting your curb appeal here.
6. Too large or too small furniture pieces.
True, smaller furniture can make a space look bigger. However, it shouldn’t be a reason to get the tiniest furniture you can find.
The furniture in your home has to be proportional to the size of the rooms – rugs included. Additionally, you want the furniture to complement your home’s size, so a small three-seater sofa in a home with five bedrooms may not be appropriate for prospective buyers.
7. Forgetting about lighting.
Your home could be getting good amounts of natural light that you don’t frequently use lamps and overhead lighting. However, if on the day of the showing it’s gloomy outside, then you may need to strategize. You’ll need to enhance the mood inside by turning on the lights and lamps.
If it’s a shiny day, open the drapes and let the sunshine in – your buyers will appreciate it – as long as those windows are clean!
Staging is a vital part of getting your home ready to be sold. When done right, it will draw potential buyers into your home. However, when done wrong, it could do just the opposite.
By hiring Showhomes Greater Raleigh as your professional stagers or staging advisors, we can help you avoid these common home staging mistakes and turn your listing into a Show Home. Contact us today to schedule a constulation!