Home staging is a method of decorating meant to highlight your home’s most impressive features to woo or win the hearts of potential buyers. Therefore, good home staging makes every effort to help potential buyers visualize themselves in the home.
According to the National Association of Realtor’s 2017 Staging Stats Report, 49% of buyers’ agents believe it impacts how buyers view the home. Meanwhile, 21% of sellers say that staging boosts the home’s value by between 6% and 10%. Sellers also say that it significantly reduces the time to sell.
So, today we want to look at how to stage a house for sale, focusing on the living room. In other words, what are some of the best ways to stage your living room during a home sale?
1. Pare down the furniture
The first thing you need to do is remove the clutter, and one of the major contributors to clutter in the living areas is furniture. So, the first thing you need to do is whisk away as much furniture as possible. Ideally, you need to take out half of the furniture or more.
Doing so does three things to the living room. First, it makes the room look bigger and more spacious. Secondly, it creates enough room for potential buyers to walk around when touring the area. Finally, it makes it easy for potential buyers to access the most important features of the space, such as fireplace furniture and built-in bookshelves.
2. Play with the room’s dimensions
When staging a home for sale, the most important thing is to make your spaces appear cozy and comfortable. So, cutting down the clutter is a good step. However, you also want to play around with the layout to make the space even more charming.
For instance, if the room is small, you need to create the illusion of expansiveness. An easy way to make a small room appear bigger is to place larger and taller furniture pieces in a far corner. Alternatively, if the room is cavernous, you want to “shrink” it to create the impression of a more cohesive space. An easy way to make a large space appear smaller is to place longer and taller furniture on either side of the entryway.
3. Make it neutral; but not boring
You’re probably already aware that one of the major rules of home staging is to make everything neutral. You need to do the same in your living rooms.
Begin with the walls. The best wall paint color when staging is a middle-of-the-road color. For instance, grey works like a charm because no one really hates it. White and beige are other excellent color choices. We recommend using the 60:30:10 rule or relying on the season when choosing accessories. For instance, floral patterns in the summer and cozy throws in winter work excellently.
4. Depersonalize the space
In the spirit of keeping things neutral, it’s in you and your potential customer’s best interests that you depersonalize the room. Potential customers want to visualize themselves in the room. Unfortunately, this becomes difficult with personal items floating all over.
So, remove the photos, your kids’ artwork, framed diplomas, and all traces of personal collections, and replace them with generic artwork.
5. Arrange the seating around a focal point
Many people prefer the fireplace because it’s the natural focal point in the living room. However, the area close to a large window with a beautiful view works too. Alternatively, set the seating area next to a large piece of art.
The most important advice here is to choose a practical location and seating arrangement as practical as possible, keeping in mind that you want prospective buyers to imagine themselves in the space.
6. Make the most of mirrors
Mirrors have an interesting psychological impact on humans. People know they’re happy in their environment if they see themselves smiling in the mirror. Unsurprisingly, the opposite is true. They know they shouldn’t be in that place if their reflection in the mirror isn’t too happy. So, it’s a great way to help them see themselves in the house.
Also, don’t forget that mirrors make small spaces appear bigger as they reflect light throughout the area.
7. Add pleasant aromas
Finally, you can’t discuss how to stage a house for sale without mentioning the need to make your home smell good. A nice smell has an instant effect on the way we feel and think, making it a little easier to win the hearts of prospective buyers. More importantly, sweet aromas can help diffuse lingering odors from last night’s dinner.
So, get a diffuser and position it in the entryway to make a positive first impression. A vase full of fragrant flowers will also do the trick.
Summary
Now you know how to stage a house for sale, particularly the living room. Don’t forget to deep-clean the entire area before you begin the staging work.
