Stageing a Home?

[Disney Ontario]

Hi, Has anyone staged thier own home before? Or know where to find good advise and pictures of staged homes?
We have just started painting and decluttering our home in hope to be ready in a year to sell.We just want to know what people are looking for in a home.
Also, we live in a split level semi and is it ok for the main floor/hallway to be in the browns and tans then give the bedrooms some colour.eg.blue, pink,purple?

 

[ksjayhawks]

HGTV website would have some ideas. http://www.hgtv.com/topics/home-staging/index.html

Here are some other websites I found by googling home staging:

http://www.homestagingchannel.com/index.php?id=

http://www.stagedhomes.com/training/staging-tips/homestagingtipsforhomesellers.php

http://www.homebuyinginstitute.com/staging/

http://staging101.com/

Google home staging and you will find many more.

The main thing seems to be to keep the house neutral--so I would stay away from the colors you have listed in the bedrooms, you don't want the buyers to think about the work they would have to do to repaint; have it uncluttered so it looks spacious; do not have a lot of stuff on the kitchen counters; and keep it impersonal--in the sense that your personal family pictures and items should not stand out as you want buyers to picture themselves living there.

 

[toverly]

One of the easiest ways to stage a house is to take photos of it or look thru a camera lens. When you look at the photos, it will become clearer what is extra and needs to be removed. If the photo looks cluttered, remove the clutter. Basically you are packing up your personal items and knick knacks. Look at it as premoving and it shouldn't be too hard. Move everything personal and take a minimalist approach to what is left.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

A big thing is to scale down your closets. Make them look roomy and light.
I also agree that the wall colors should be neutral, buyers want to envision their own furnishings in the home. Also if one room is pink but they have boys they are just going see work. You want to present your house as move in ready.
Keep clutter up off the floor, remove any unnecessary furniture to free up wall space. Don't shove all the furniture up against the walls if you have the space.

 

[hopemax]

As a recent home buyer, I have some tips.

While we were looking, I watched HGTV all day. It seemed like if a room had color, they gave the neutral spiel. But if the house was neutral, then they said, you needed a little color, and they would paint the room green, blue, a dark chocolate, etc. I think they make things up as they go along. But, honestly, I am not a neutral person. The living room, master and hallway in our house are painted a nice neutral color, and all it is, is a sign to me that I have to repaint. I hate it.

There is some truth to the painting though. My scrap room, was a girl's bedroom and it was painted lavender. It took a coat of tinted primer, and 2 coats to cover, and I still think, depending on angle I can see the lavender. If you have colors that are hard to cover, screams from an era that is not now, or really are going to be limited to who likes them (lime, orange, etc). Then repaint.

More important to me was 1. Cleanliness. Cleanliness should be obvious, but apparently it's not. Even houses that didn't have clutter, had a thick layer of gunk along baseboards, the grime that builds up around doors and light switches from repetitive use. Nothing turned me off more, than a house that didn't even look "company ready." Then I wondered what evils were lurking. And the houses where it was obvious that the animals were allowed to use the basement as a potty. Have a friend come over and check for smells, that you get used to from living there. Magic erasers are your friends. When I helped my Dad get his house ready, we washed down everything, and I was surprised how much better the walls looked just from a good cleaning.

2. Lighting. Part of this does refer back to the paint issue, if the paint makes the room look darker, repaint. Make sure your windows are uncovered when you leave. The staging shows usually remove blinds and heavy curtains, but you still have to live there, so at least make sure they are pulled back for showings. Really dark spaces, like finished basements, or large rooms with only one bulb as a light, may need additional lighting. That could cost some money, but if you need it and can install them yourself, I'd do it.

3. Anything from your parents era...get rid of. Carpet, wallpaper, light fixtures from the 70's, bathroom fixtures if you can.

4. Make your small spaces as functional as you can. Usually, there is just too much stuff squeezed in making look small. But you don't want to take too much stuff out so then people wonder what sized bed or dresser would fit in this small bedroom? Make sure your furniture is the proper scale for the room. A lot of furniture that is sold, seems to big for most normal spaces. If you have a love seat and a couch in your living room, and have storage, remove one of them.

 

[MazdaUK]

Our house was almost all magnolia when we moved in....and still is, mostly yes, the hall needs repainting (but must wait til DS16's new furniture has gone up the stairs), and the dining room can do with it (but I'd have to move my scrap stuff.....). Just painted DS10's room blue - it took 2 coats as it was yellow before. DS16s room went from blue to....different blue and took only one coat.

Magic erasers are good, but you can find you need to paint as the clean bits show up too much As others said, remove any personalisation - including family photos etc. (unless they are on the wall and would leave a dirty mark), vases/ornaments (but the odd glass vase with nice clean water and fresh flowers can ad to the sparkle), soft toys (persuade any small kids they can manage with one or two for the moment - bribe if necessary!). If you have a lot of coats hanging up, especially in the hall, try to reduce it to just one or two nice ones in colours that work with your decor. House Dr said no shoes in hallways - if you have no-where else then make sure they don't announce their presence too much. Make sure you don't forget garage,basement, loft or shed - you have to clear them out when you move so get rid of junk now (especially cracked plastic plant pots - I swear they breed!!) and if you've been saving anything in the loft other than holiday decorations think about if your grandkids will really need all those clothes/toys/mom and dad's old school books and either donate or store anything you're not going to use before you sell. If you can hoover/sweep these spaces to reduce dust.

Wash all lightbulbs and hard light fittings (glass etc.) and wash windows and curtains (brush very heavy curtains if you're leaving them in the house and don't want the expense of dry cleaning) - if the sun comes out it really shows dirt in these areas, but if they're clean everything looks all fresh and lovely.