Staging your home is one of the most important things to do if you want to sell your home quickly, but oftentimes staging a home while still living in it is a lot easier said than done.
The key to staging your home while still living in it is to pretend that you are already moving out of your house.
You may be asking yourself, “What does that mean?” Well, the short answer is that you want to pack up all unnecessary items and live a minimalist lifestyle.
But for a more comprehensive answer continue reading.
How to Stage Your Home While Still Living in It
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Depersonalize
Depersonalizing your home is one of the hardest parts of selling your house. You’ve spent years putting together your home exactly the way you want it. However, the “personal touches” you’ve added to your home may not be what’s best in order to sell your house.
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Declutter
Most people have a lot (I repeat, a lot) of stuff in their homes. It is very difficult to stage your home if you don’t have space to work with. Start packing up stuff in your home to free up space and make your eventual move a lot easier on yourself. Many experts say that you want to reduce the amount of stuff in your home by 30% to 50% during the staging process. Pack, donate, or throw away non-essential items in your home.
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Organize & Clean
Once your home is staged you need to keep it clean. You’ve put in the work to make your home ready for sale, so, keep it that way. Put away something when you use it. Continually cleaning and organizing your home allows you to show it on short notice.
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Room-by-Room Guide
Kitchen
Clean off your kitchen countertops of any unnecessary items; coffee makers, knife sets, and fruit bowls are ok to have on the counter as decoration. Clean off your refrigerator of any magnets and pictures. Organize your cabinets, home buyers will sometimes look through them to see how much storage you have.
Living Room
As mentioned above, you want to depersonalize your home, consider removing family photos on the walls, and replace it with some art. Think about rearranging your furniture and removing some pieces of furniture if the room looks crowded. Remove any extra cords around the tv that makes it look messy. You may want to add some pillows to add a pop of color to the room, throw rugs can instantly change the look of a room!
Dining Room
Depending upon the size of the room, consider removing all furniture except for the table chairs. Keep the table setting to a minimum, you don’t want to overcrowd the table. A simple centerpiece is enough; it is also ok if you don’t have anything on your table at all.
Bedrooms
Make sure that your bed is made neatly. Clean off nightstands and dressers of any clutter; pack away any personal items you may have throughout the room. The less stuff you have in your closet the better, you want to make it look as big as possible. A messy closet looks like a small closet.
Bathrooms
Wipe down everything in your bathroom, sink, mirror, and counter; clean the shower and tub. Try not to have any personal care products out on display for buyers to see. Add baskets to store loss items. You should pack up extra towels to free up space.
Basement
The key to staging a basement is to give it a function. The basement can be anything, Mancave, home gym, or theater room but it can’t be everything; choose a function and run with it. You want to lighten up the basement as much as possible, add lamps, consider painting the walls a lighter color.
If you primarily use your basement for storage, make sure that it is nicely organized; it’s better to start cleaning things out before selling your home than waiting until the last minute.
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Talk to a Real Estate Agent
Maybe staging is not your thing, don’t stress! Most real estate agents have a good idea of how to stage a home in order to sell it and if they don’t they know of people who do. If you would like help staging your home, reach out to one of our Realtors!
We hope this guide to staging your home has been helpful.
Even if you aren’t selling your home now, you should still consider staging your home for yourself!
If you have any other questions, feel free to leave a comment down below!
