Staging a Home to Sell, 10 proven staging tips + design trends

This article should take less than four minutes to read. 4 minutes.

Staging + Design

1. Remain Neutral

   You want to speak to all buyers, statistically, and in principle that can be often hard to accomplish. Thankfully most of today’s interior design trends are more neutral and clean than the bolder darker colors of the ’90s and early 2000s.
   
   What we are looking to do is create a palate that will speak to the widest range of buyers. Avoiding the outer fringes of eclectic design, we are looking for moves that are general crowd-pleasers. If you find yourself looking at properties online what are the common notes that speak to you. Those are also likely to be the same colors of themes that speak to the greater audience we are marketing to.
   
   

2. Keep it Simple

   Eliminate all of the business and clutter. Less is more, and in this case, less stuff = more money. If you are a minimalist you might just want to skip to the next item, but if your home is filled with boxes of National Geographics it’s time we have a little talk.
   
   One of the simplest tricks you can do to declutter a property is to move some of your items into the garage. This is also a good time to prepare for the upcoming move. Why not get started now by donating a few items to charity, or even selling off a few pieces of furniture now.
   
   

3. Should I Remove Personal Items?

   The answer is usually always yes. We all agree that your family is extremely adorable, but large numbers of photos can be a bit much when selling a home online. We do recommend removing most of the personal photos for photography.
   
   Bear in mind that we are going to be distributing photos, renderings, and virtual walkthroughs of your home to thousands of individuals. This is not only for safety and personal privacy, but this also helps to remove clutter and minimalism. Bringing us to our next item.
   
   

4. How to make your home look bigger

   Pretend like you are taking a picture of a fish you just caught. You know the old trick where you see someone holding that rainbow trout in front of them. Same concept here.
   
   It is a great deal easier to move some furniture, repositions a few items, or remove clutter than it is to remove walls and open up space. Working with the geometry of our cameras we are able to reposition furniture in a way that often portrays in a larger more open way.
   
   

5. Is there a Common Theme?

   Unify a design theme. Let’s try to unify our style through the home. We can do this by not only removing a few items we we discussed earlier but also by bringing in some new fresh items of record. Let’s stick with a palette that again unifies the overall design.
   
   

6. Ditch the Fake Plants?

   Do we even need to go there? We have been guilty of this in the past. Having hired many home stagers in the past we have seen it all. On a few occasions, we have seen plants enhance a space. Often times this can go too far and comes across as cheap.
   
   As an alternative, we suggest bringing in some fresh flowers for our photography. A few simple touches can go along way, and make the home smell great for showings. Just remember to keep in line with the design and color scheme, and please don’t go overboard.
   
   

7. Staging Furniture

   Contracting out staging furniture can be a big help. We always bring in furniture for new construction, spec homes, and vacant properties. We have worked with several companies that do a fantastic job time and time again. Our strong background in design helps us pair your home with a home staging company that will align with your design.
   
   Mid-century modern, rustic, classic, traditional, modern farmhouse? We can help you find the right furnishings to go with your property.

8. Proper use of Props

   We love props. A few good items can really warm up a home and help create a warm inviting photograph. We are looking to connect a buyer to your home emotionally. We want your home to speak to buyers in a way that will make them feel cozy and comfortable in your home.
   
   

9. The Linens

   Now is a good time to think about buying a few new bath towels, white perhaps. While you’re at it let’s go ahead and get a new bath mat and shower curtain. These will go well in your new home, and could possibly pay for themselves several times over.
   
   

10. Professional Photography

    All of our properties are photographed by professional photographers. When it comes to selling a home you do get what you pay for, and it often equates to your bottom line at the closing table.
    
    As a firm, we set extremely high standards for our listings and are always striving to do a better job for our clients. We look forward to showing you how. At bozehome + Co. Real Estate, we look forward to letting our experience in design and real estate guide you through the process of selling your home.