Useful Tips When Staging Your Home

Jan Britt is an award-winning interior designer and professional home stager with more than 20 years of experience. She has been teaching multiple design courses at CPE for more than 20 years. Her current courses include Decorating and Design for the Home (The Basics, Beyond the Basics), Holiday Decorating Ideas, and Staging Your Home for Resale.

Here, Jan shares some useful tips to keep mind when selling your home.

Replace, fix, and repair on a budget

Most people who are getting ready to sell their home want to make the house look good before they put on the market. Some homeowners make a mistake thinking that as they replace, fix, and repair items that they must buy the very best products because that is what they would want if they were going to buy this house.

Yes, of course, you need to purchase supplies or appliances that are good, but they do not have to be high-end items. Often, in the Atlanta area, the price of your house or neighborhood dictates what quality items you must buy.

Save on paint

When you are getting your house ready to sell, you do not have to put the extra money into satin or eggshell paint. You can save money by painting the house with flat paint. The flat paint will also help disguise the imperfections of your drywall.

Consider your kitchen backsplash

As you stage your home, you might have to update your kitchen backsplash area. Use caution when you chose your new tile. Right now, subway or the glass tiles are in style. There are many different types and quality. Unless you have a very high-end home, you do not need to buy the best quality of tile to create an attractive backsplash. The backsplash needs to look updated, have a quality look, and coordinate with the countertop and the cupboards.

Now that you have chosen a suitable tile for your backsplash, be careful what grout color you use. Try to pick a grout that will blend in with the tile color. In doing so, the grout will create an illusion into the tile and will not appear to be so much of a contrast that it turns into the “star of the show.”

While staging your home, try not to install the tiles with an unusual pattern or a variety of different pattern designs or the tiles will then become the focal point instead of the cupboards or countertop.

Take care of the moulding

Some homeowners try to save money and time by not painting the brown wood moulding in their house that is around the doors and windows. Many times that is a mistake.

The brown moulding reminds the potential buyer that the home is older and tells them how much work they must do or pay someone else to paint it white/off-white to update the house. The buyer will also wonder what else in this house has not been updated.

Choose the right carpet

Don’t try to be creative with your choice of the carpet when you are going to sell your home. Everyone has different tastes. Unusual patterns or colors may not appeal to your buyers; neutral tones are best. For an inexpensive carpet with an expensive feel, buy a good pad.

When it comes to home staging, minor updates can make a big difference.

Learn more helpful tips from Jan in Staging Your Home for Resale, Decorating and Design for the Home, and Holiday Decorating Ideas.