If you’re like me, you struggle in the home design arena. I get inspired by bloggers and influencers like the rest of us and thank God for that. I finally have an idea of how make my house look like home. My kids help with that too – sticky table tops, dry crusty play dough in carpet, slime accidents, you name it. When it came time to selling the house, I knew staging would be a must. I knew enough to get me started, but I needed the pro’s to come in and tell me what’s up. What? Not everyone wants to see every surface area pouring with picture frames of my loved ones!?
Here’s the thing. Stagers know how to simplify your home so strangers can come in and imagine their things in each of the rooms. They position things in your home based off the angle the pictures will be taken, too. They also know how to simplify your home so even you appreciate it more. Whether you’re planning a move, or simply want to love your space more, here are my top ten take aways from our experience staging and selling in a crazy market.
- Less is more: get rid of all of the clutter, purge, donate, and throw away. Then repeat a few more times. Your surface areas should have very little on them in general including your kitchen counters. Each end of a console table might only have 2 things. A frame, and a votive? Sure. A vase with fake greenery and a candle. Done. I personally prefer things in threes but our stagers said 2 was enough.
- Stick something green, real or fake in every room. Fake eucalyptus is very on trend I hear. Here’s the bunch I got.
- Fruit over flowers in the kitchen. This is mostly for those of you selling and then leaving your house. Citrus like lemons and limes will last longer then flowers will if you’re leaving town while you show your house.
- Black and white accents pack a punch, however I do hear buffalo check is making its way out. (They told me this about teal once too but that hasn’t stopped me.)
- How to fix a throw blanket? Literally throw it. Like toss it across the couch corner. Done.
- How to make a bed? Watch this.
- You want a pop of color when getting pictures taken, and it can be as simple as a glassybaby. Apply this to #1.
- Speaking of colors, coral is very IN right now for primary bedrooms. Bring in coral elements like rugs, bed spreads, throws, or votives as your pop of color in there if you need an accent.
- Clean out your drawers and cabinets with only the essentials. Since moving out all of the crap we never used, I am realizing I would be just fine with never seeing any of it again. Turns out, the essentials are plenty.
- Set your dining table when prepping for pictures. No silverware, just a wine glass, decent sized charger, plate and napkin and ring will do!
Let me know if you try any of these out. If there are any pros out there willing to add a few more tips, we’d love to hear of things we can do as homeowners to love our space even more.