Home staging tips
Don’t wait until it’s time to move before you put some effort into beautifying your house
When we prepared to sell our last house, I remember looking around after we were finally done all the minor repairs, repainting, decluttering and staging to get ready to list. Our home looked better than it ever had, just as we were about to leave it.
I wondered, why didn’t we do all this before, when we could have enjoyed it?
It’s human nature, I suppose. Life is busy, and without a deadline to get the house ready for photo shoots and open houses, it’s easy to put off the nagging little things that can so easily be put off for another day.
Most of us these days put some effort into staging our homes to sell. But it’s not a bad idea to think about “staging ” to live too.
We don’t all have the budget to bring in an interior designer, replace our furniture or take on major renovations. Staging is a nice middle ground: it works with what you have to highlight what’s great about your home. It’s less intimidating, more accessible, and more practical.
Many stagers offer an affordable in-home consultation, which can help identify some small but significant touches to pretty up your space. Many are also willing to work with a client just on specific rooms, or for specific projects like adding curb appeal, selecting furniture or picking paint colours.
For example, one tip I got from a home stager is to check the light reflective value (LRV ) of your paint colours when trying to choose between shades. This number is usually found on paint chips, and indicates how well a colour reflects light. The higher the number, the brighter a painted room will appear.
Shades that may not look so different on the paint chip may have very different light reflective values. Compare some of Benjamin Moore’s most popular neutral greys: Revere Pewter’s LRV number is just 55.51, whereas Gray Owl comes in at 65.77, and Pale Oak at 69.89. For a brighter room, the winner would be Pale Oak.
Every home has a list of minor touch-ups that could be easily corrected with a trip to the hardware store and a little elbow grease. Every room could be refreshed with a little rearranging of the furniture, new pillows or fresh flowers, or a fresh coat of paint.
Over time, it’s easy to stop noticing those little things that need doing. Filling the nail holes in the walls, repainting the moulding or upgrading your décor is all too easy to do “tomorrow.” But the sooner you get it done, the more time you have to love the home you’re in.