Staging A Home For the Summer Market

Summer is usually one of the best times to sell your home and the summer season is also the most fun to stage and decorate for!  Having witnessed my mom just do this for her house (and sell it in record time), along with her neighbor’s home that she volunteered to help stage (which, after being on the market for 2 years, sold within weeks of her completed work; go Mom!), I have amassed some outstanding tips for women looking to successfully stage their homes for quick summer sale.

De-clutter, depersonalize, and neutralize! The first thing you can do is clean up. Tidy up cluttered spaces and find places to store everything. Most of what you find is probably stuff you will never actually need once you move, so consider having a garage sale to get rid of everything you absolutely don’t need. The fewer things you will have to move, the better (especially if you are going to have to recruit or pay help!).

Once you’ve tossed the junk, look at your furniture. When staging a home, you need your house to be totally maximized in every respect. Therefore, re-arrange furniture to make each room look its biggest. This may temporarily involve removing and storing some pieces you plan on keeping. Just make sure the room still appears functional (i.e., leave the TV, the couch, the armchair, etc, but maybe cut out the love seat, crazy antique wood carving table you got from your Aunt Louise, and any nonessentials). If you have a friend or family member that can keep your excess stuff for you, then great, if not go ahead and rent storage. My mom assured me that the money she invested in a storage facility more than paid itself off with the speed of sale!

Be discerning about which pieces you decide to leave or take, however. I heard from a real estate agent that women shop for things, while men shop for structure. If you have a quaint little antique sewing table in an open corner or along a wall, and it contributes to your theme, don’t hide it! It may sell your house. The woman who bought my mom’s place took it on the condition that she could have the headboard, the curtains, the flatscreen TV wall-mounts, and the cushions on the window seat in her breakfast nook!
With depersonalizing, try to limit excess family photos and other sentimental touches that would make it harder for someone else to see themselves in your home.

Try to neutralize bold colors (even if you love them) on your walls and permanent fixtures by replacing wallpaper with softer paint, repainting old paint, or staining brightly painted wood pieces. My mom’s neighbor actually had lots of problems selling his house because he had eccentric wallpaper, bright blue walls, and a pink bathroom! Eyesore.

 Flood the house with light.  There is an ideal way to do this to ensure that you don’t go over the top. Leave you blinds halfway opened where they allow light to float up toward the ceiling (as opposed to down toward the ground). This coats everything in natural light and makes the ceilings to look a bit higher. People love natural light, and if they can be convinced that your place is a magnet for it, they will much more likely to buy.

 Finally, you need to assess your curb appeal. Keeping the landscaping tidy, manicured, balanced, and simple, not hodge-podge, or complicated, signals to the potential buyer that your place is attractive from the street, and that the greenery is easy to maintain once they have the keys. Keep the windows free of high shrubs or exotic plants that could steal away the limelight.

If you stick to these basics, then you have already maximized your chances of selling your house in a flash. Remember, you are not trying to sell your own personal style,  just your house.
 
Author Bio: Ethan S. writes on behalf of Design55, a UK-based designer furniture shop. Design55 Living Rooms is the best place to headquarter the furnishing of your new home.