Seven Tips for Staging Your House

We sold our house on Monday. Yay!  It was a long week of cleaning, organizing and prepping, but it all payed off.  We are one step closer to moving into our new home in a few months.  I decided to write this post to share some tips I learned about staging a house for showings.  We were able to sell our house in one week on the market.  

First things first, you want to de-clutter and de-personalize your whole house.  Get rid of any personal photos and knickknacks.  Buyers want to be able to picture themselves in your home and it's easy for them to do that when there aren't any personal photos.  I found it helpful to have an honest personal come in and tell me what I should remove (my sister) because after awhile you become so immune to things you don't see it anymore.  My sister is really honest with me and she was able to say "you need to get rid of this." it really helped having her do that.  When you're done it will feel like your house is empty but oddly enough that is what attracts buyers when they look at the pictures online or come and see the house for showings.   

Office area

Instead of leaving our laptop out I put out paper and pencils

Tided up our linen closet

Put out a basket of rolled up towels and flowers

Kyle put his tools in the crawl space

He made the bins in the crawl space look neat

Next you want to pack away items you won't need until you move. This includes seasonal clothes for next summer, toys, extra linens, and outdoor stuff.  It freed up a lot more room in the house and made it seem bigger to the buyers eyes.  "Less is More" as they say.  We were fortunate to be able to store lots of stuff in my parents basement as well at Kyle's grandma's condo.   We also had charities come and pick up items we no longer needed.  It's amazing how much stuff you collect over the years.  If you are like us and have little ones you want to make sure all their toys and baby gear is packed away to make your house a clean slate.  We had purchased a nice whicker chest from Ikea that was great for hiding away toys during each showing.  

I was able to borrow some decor from a friend 

Displayed some cookbooks and flowers in the kitchen

Left some containers on the shelves downstairs

We took out our seasonal clothes to make it look bigger

After you should touch up paint around the house especially in your front entrance where buyers will get their first impression of your house.  This includes your front door and trim.  Luckily my cousin Greg is a professional painter and all he does is paint for a living.  He has painted our house before and does an amazing job in a fraction of the time it would take us to do the same job.  He was able to come and paint our basement as well as touch up paint through out the house including the front entrance, front door, trim around the door and garage and paint the walls along the stairwells.  It is unreal what a fresh coat of paint can do to a house, it makes it look brand new! 

Fresh flowers for the living room

The Ikea chest for hiding toys

The powder room

Our ensuite bathroom

Then you need to clean, clean, and clean some more.  Just when you think it's clean you should clean again!  Make everything sparkle.  Our relator told me something that stuck with me, once a buyer notices something dirty they start to look for things wrong with the house.  I also heard that buyers will judge how clean your house is by checking out your fridge and oven.  So I made sure those were clean as a whistle.  In between showings I would clean as I went to make sure it stayed beautiful.  I would have a small grocery bag for garbage that I would take out before leaving for a showing.  I would wash dishes after we ate and put them away and not leave anything in the dishwasher dirty.  In the bathrooms I made sure to put a fresh toilet paper roll on and put the garbage can with the toilet brush under the sink hidden away.  

Our basement with a set up exercise corner

We painted the basement a light grey to make it bright 

I found a plan online for the electrical box door. 

Our basement bathroom

Go out and purchase fresh flowers to put in rooms around the house.  I bought two large bouquets with a mixture of flowers in different colours.   I also purchased some small short vases to use to display flowers.  It freshened up rooms really nicely and just gave a nice punch of colour for neutral rooms. 

Our kitchen with only fruit and flowers on the counters

I made the stainless steel appliances sparkle

Try and use white linens and towels if you can in your bathrooms and bedrooms.  It gives the appearance of clean and fresh.  It also brightens up the room.  In our downstairs bedroom I left the duvet cover off the duvet and used white pillow cases and it really brightened up the room.  In each bathroom I used white towels and layered them.  I realized we didn't have very many white towels so I took a quick trip to Walmart and was able to purchase some cheap white towels.  

Our master bedroom 

Spare bedroom in the basement

Make sure the smell in your house is netural and makes a good first impression.  I made sure not to cook anything with onions, garlic or spice a few days before the showings.  I didn't cook all week during the showings and open house not only for the potential of smelling up the house but because I didn't have the time either.  We ate out twice and were invited to eat at Kyle's grandmas and Kyle's parents.  Before our first showing my sister told me to cut up lemon peel and boil it in a pot on the stove.  It made the house smell and fresh and new.  My sister also put some drops of lavender oil on cotton balls and placed them in various areas around the house.  

Our living room

Our dining room