8 home-staging tips
Get your home sale-ready with these eight easy steps, by Bea Taylor.
When the decision to sell a house is made, what follows next is usually a rigmarole of fixing up so it’s presentable enough to sell. But sometimes when the homeowners see the house in its full glory, they question whether they want to move at all.
These eight home-staging tricks will get your house looking sharp enough to sell, even if you don’t want to.
1. REAL PLANTS IN EVERY ROOM
“Even in the toilet,” says Kate Alexander interior stylist and home stager of Places and Graces.
“Plants require care and attention, if there are alive and healthy plants in every room it gives a signal that the house too is lived in and cared for.”
Flowers are lovely, she says, but they die faster than plants. “You’ll go broke buying fresh bunches every week,” she says.
2. FURNITURE PLACEMENT
Generally, we want to make a room feel larger instead of smaller, and furniture placement is a key element in this.
People normally scan a room from left to right. If you place the tallest piece of furniture in the far left corner of a room, the room will appear larger.
3. VIEWS
Alexander recommends walking around the house and pausing where people are likely to stop – if these points are not pleasing to the eye, move it or change it up.
For example, the front door is the first place you stop, she says. “What will they see when they enter and how will this affect how they view the rest of the house?”
4. STASH THE TV
Television screens are getting bigger and bigger, and unless they’re The Frame Samsung TV (which doubles as a piece of art), they can look like a big black hole in your living room.
They also occupy valuable wall space and often make rooms appear smaller.
Try finding a clever way to incorporate it into your decor – maybe it can be hidden behind a screen.
5. BEDS
They tend to dominate the bedroom, so pay attention to how beds look. “Don’t make your bed like a hotel, but do make it a little bit nicer than you would on a normal day,” says Alexander.
Make sure you have a few euro pillows, normal pillows, extra cushions and at least one throw.
“Beds are a good way to pick up colour in a room, so try to match with a piece of art,” says Alexander.
6. DIVERSION THEORY
This, says Alexander, is something she employs in most of the houses she styles.
“If there’s something you can’t easily fix, then you need to divert the eye somewhere else. When you try and hide it, what you’re trying to do usually becomes obvious.”
Instead, place a beautiful or interesting object somewhere else in the room, she says.
7. COHESION
“The overall feeling should be one of balance and consistency,” she says.
Start with the entry, as this is where people first see, and make sure the theme is carried all the way through. It may be a case of needing to add more colour (you can do this with throws, cushions and art) or taking away from a room that’s “completely out there”.
8. PAINT THE FENCE DARK
“This is a fail-safe way to improve your backyard,” says Alexander.
The dark colour acts as a spotlight for the garden planted in front of it. “A dark fence essentially turns invisible, it’s less obvious so all the attention is focussed on the lovely, lush green plants. They will really pop.” Check out Homed, the new home of home ideas, on Stuff.