Staging a home for sale is simply preparing a house to be sold. Before you show a home to any potential buyer, you want to make sure the staging is perfect and knowing how to spruce it up will send home buyers heading for their checkbooks.Here is some come-hither staging tips to prep a house and turn it into a desirable and marketable home.  

Get Rid of the Clutter

• Editing is number one, as in PURGE. Take everything out first so you can start with a blank canvas.

• ·Then sort into three piles: save, donate and trash. Decide what you have an emotional connection to and bring back some of the pieces to implement into the new design.

• I have a rule: if you bring something in, you have to take something out. Plus, it’s very hard to effectively clean a house when you have too much furniture and clutter.

Clean!

• This should go without saying, but giving your house a thorough cleaning is a must. Trim your trees, pull weeds, paint any peeling trim, clean windows and screens, remove damaged screens – make it spotless.

• You want it to look big and expansive. Hire a professional cleaning service if you have to. Also, take out personal artifacts or anything that could turn off the buyer, such as family photos. Making your house clutter-free and sparkling clean is a must.

Paint

• Keep the backdrop neutral and bring in color through accessories. Neutral colors will give you longevity, work with a variety of styles and aren’t going to offend people.

Begin Staging and Bring Back Some Furniture

• You want someone to come in and see a very clean palette and, really, less is more. People want to know where they’re going to put their bed, their TV, where they’re going to sit and have dinner, but that’s it. Most people have a few good things that you can work with.

• However if something is really big or heavy and doesn’t work with the house. If you need help on this you can go to furniture rental companies and solicit help from the people who work there, which can save you a lot of money. A well-staged house sells faster than an empty one.

Add Accessories

• ·Start with a neutral backdrop and bring in your color through rugs, throw pillows, coffee table books, flowers, photographs and art work. All those things can be moved around.

• ·I use a lot of black and white photography, but be careful with art – people can be repelled by certain colors. You want to appeal to a large audience and not go crazy with a specific or bright color that might offend people.

Bring In Flowers And Plants

•  A space is never quite right without plants, flowers and living objects. At the very end of a project, I always bring in fresh flowers and plants – living, nothing fake.

• It brings color, texture and life to the room. Just by editing, cleaning, bringing in flowers and candles – that’s all really important.

Curb Appeal

• It’s important to make a good first impression before buyers even walk into your house. Start by trimming your trees, which brings more light into the house and makes the house look bigger.

• Plant flowers, put in a new lawn (sod is only $1/sq. ft.), paint the front door and flank it with potted plants, repaint trim or stucco, get new house numbers and mailbox (if necessary) and replace light fixtures.

• ·Even if you don’t replace all the lights, do the porch light. I also like to add a couple of low voltage lights at night, which gives a house curb appeal at night. Outdoor lighting is key. These simple and easy tricks make a big difference.