Styling a Home for Sale
Article by Kassandra Richards Interior Designer and StylistWhen selling your car you take it to be detailed, when selling a boat you give it a polish so why when selling your house would you not have it styled. People under estimate the power of creating a "Vision for Your Space" or in this case a vision for what might become someone else's.
People need to visualise living in your home. They want it to function in the way that they need it to, they want their furniture to fit and work in each area and they want to imagine their children playing in the living room or their office fitting into the study.
So how do you do this? De clutter and neutralise. Essentially your home needs to represent a display home. Here are some great tips to get started but if the whole process seems overwhelming Tweaq's team can get it started for you with some great ideas or even take it the whole way from pack up to property styling.
TOP 5 TIPS
- Remove everything personal ie. photos, children's toys, knick knacks that might mean something to you but have no relation to anyone else. I know this seems like a pain but your going to have to pack it up to move anyway so you are just getting the job started.
- Clean clean clean. There is nothing worse than walking into a home and not wanting to touch anything in it. Potential sellers need to feel comfortable, so comfortable that they feel they can open robes and snoop around a little. Professional cleaners are very inexpensive and its one less job for you to do.
- Curb appeal. Potential buyers see the front of your home before they even exit their car. Mowing the lawn and hosing down paths with a bit of fresh mulch creates great curb appeal at very little cost.
- Style your home in neutral tones. This way you aren't excluding any potential buyers and those that like colour will visualise adding it. A fresh coat of paint never goes astray and it is the cheapest way to literally add $1000 of dollars to your sale.
Renovator for profit Cherie Barber's #1 tip is "Add a lick of paint for every $1 spent you get a $10 return"
- Ambiance. Tap into the human senses. Visually create soft lighting through lamps, scented candles for great aroma and make sure the home is at a comfortable temperature finish everything off with some low background music and you complete the full experience. Anyone viewing your home will walk into a warm welcoming environment. If you can have your viewers come in the late afternoon this is a great opportunity for them to see the home in all lighting aspects and is perfect for starting with the outdoor areas and moving in as it gets darker for great mood lighting.