Professional home staging companies have people who know what buyers want to see. They know how to best utilize all of the available space in your home. Their professional training can transform your home into a place that you might even have second thoughts about leaving. Professionals know quick and inexpensive decorating tips. They know the areas where you can get the most return for your effort and investment.

If your time is limited, it might be best to hire a professional to stage your home. Also, if your home is in such a state of chaos and uncertainty of space, a professional may be your best option. After years of living in a home, it is easy to become accustomed to its inconveniences and to actually be unaware of the flaws that a potential buyer might quickly notice.

Everyone is not gifted with the talent for decorating. If your talent lies in some area other than designing an attractive home decor, then you should hire a professional to stage the home you want to sell. Professionals know how to make a home look current. They can make rooms look more expansive and feel more inviting.

There are many important things to remember about staging the home. Emphasizing the positives of the home is the biggest thing. Taking the time to set up furniture that helps to show off how large a bedroom is can greatly affect the likelihood of a sale. Another great example is, placing pictures over a fireplace to bring attention to the great detailing in the mantle. Getting prospective buyers to come view a home can sometimes be a difficult process. Posting pictures with ones realtor or even online of a stage home can bring in more foot traffic. The basics of this is common sense; the higher number of people that come to see the home, the higher the chance that it will sell quickly. Pictures of staged homes are more likely to grab the buyer’s attention and get them to look.

An uncluttered entrance is essential. Your driveway and the walkway to your front door should be free of clutter and debris. If you have shrubs, they need to be trimmed so that they don’t cover the windows or branch out into the pathway to your door.

Small details matter. An attractive porch light enhances your home. A mail box at the street or one that is attached to your house should look good. If the one you have is faded. dented, or has paint peeling off of it, replace it. The same is true for house numbers. They need to be easy to read and in good condition. If you let the little things go, a possible buyer might take that as a sign that you tend to neglect other aspects of home upkeep.

If space allows, create an inviting sitting area in your yard. All you need is a bench or a couple of chairs and a table to add appeal to your yard. If weather permits, add some flowers. Flowers in attractive containers are a quick way to liven up a yard.

Potential buyers may drive by your home in the evening. Adding solar lights will make your yard more noticeable. Lights along the walkway are always affective. A well lit garage entrance would also be appealing.

One of the first things you can do is remove family photos from the walls. You can simply cut pictures from magazines and place in the frames to make the walls less personal. If you are a a collector of some sort, pack away your collection. A kitchen filled with a hundred salt and pepper shakers or a living area filled with figurines could be a distraction for a buyer. Limit the amount of decorative items you have in each room.

Make each room have a specific purpose. If you use your dining room table as an office, remove the office related items. Create an attractive dining space. If a bedroom has become a storage room, turn it back into a bedroom or make it an office area.

Remove all clutter. Clutter makes a room look small. It indicates to the possible buyer that there is obviously not enough storage space in the home. Clean out and organize drawers, cabinets, and closes. Buyers will look there. They need to believe there is ample space for them to store their personal items.

You can make impressive changes without spending a lot of money by changing or adding a few things to a room. Pillows and rugs are great ways to add color to a room. Lighting is important. Clean your windows and let the natural light work for you. Sometimes something as simple as a new lamp shade can update a room.

Your first priority should be to clear the clutter from your home, cabinets, drawers, and closets included. If that means packing up some of your personal items and placing them in storage then do so. You want your home to look as spacious as possible.

A fresh coat of paint can totally revitalize a room. If you have painted rooms in extremely bright colors that appeal to you, repaint them in neural tones that have a more universal appeal. Remove personal photos from your walls. Pack away collectibles and toys. If you share your home with a pet, remove the evidence before showing your home. While you love your pet and consider it a family member, buyers often frown on the presence of pets inside the home they are thinking of buying.

Make every room live up to its maximum potential. Buyers want bedrooms. If you have turned a bedroom into a storage room or exercise room, remove the items and stage it as a bedroom. You can rent furniture to do this. Create an inviting eating area. Make your bathrooms look as spacious and updated as possible. Kitchen cabinets can be updated simply by changing the hardware.

Make the exterior of your home visually appealing. Keep the yard maintained. Make use of flowers, plants, outdoor furniture and outdoor lighting to add curb appeal to your home. If you have a deck or patio, make it an extension of your living space.

Old unused boxes and unnecessary clutter that has not been in use for last three months can be cleared. This helps to increase the space of the house while eliminating clutter. Colorful organic magazine holders can be used to stack up papers and magazines which look much cleaner and attractive. The lawn can be neatly mowed and weeds need to be cleared for a prim look.

Scattered furniture can be attractively grouped for a pleasing look and providing more place to walk around. Fireplaces, mantelpieces can be decorated with unique decorative pieces. The kitchen is another most important area in the home. It can be modified during staging by adding fruit bowls and cookery books on the kitchen counters.

Bathrooms can also be dressed while modifying the entire home. This can be done by adding colorful towels, handmade scented soaps, beautiful jars for creams and candles. Any major or minor home repairs should be taken care of before or during staging process. Adding indoor plants can add a fresh look to the home.

Home staging improves the home’s look, making it appealing to prospective buyers. It can also be done to improve the interior design of the house. It can be a fun activity and done within the planned budget and time by organizing one thing at a time.

Almost every buyer is looking for a home with a sufficient amount of space. This includes both storage space and living space. Staging your home in a way that makes it look as if you have plenty of space there will also make a potential buyers believe there is enough space for them in the house. This may require that you add a storage system to your closets to make them more impressive. Clean out your cabinets and drawers. Keeping only the essential in there will make them seem large enough.

Staging your home will help people feel comfortable in there. You want prospective buyers to feel so comfortable in your home that they want to stay there. You want them to visualize their family enjoying a meal in the lovely dining area you created. You want your bathroom to be staged in a way that someone would immediately think of how pleasant it would be to enjoy a relaxing bath or an invigorating shower there. A master bedroom should be staged to look like a haven of retreat. If you have a view from the windows in there, capitalize on that view when staging your home.

Staging an outdoor area also has benefits. If you have a patio or deck, create an extension of your living area there. A buyer would love the idea of having extra space to entertain or relax. An attractive outdoor space can be a major selling point for your home.

We’ve all heard the saying, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” That little nugget has some teeth doesn’t it? It certainly doesn’t fall short on applicable scenarios. And somewhere in the top 10, I would bet, is, “Staging your home for sale.”

If you’re trying to impress a prospective buyer, it makes sense to start with what they see first — the curbside appeal. You may not have the budget to do a major overhaul, but cleaning, painting and adding some greenery to your front yard can set the tone for a more inviting, appealing space.

Never Underestimate the Power of the Paint Can

If you’re looking for an inexpensive transformation, look no further than your nearest paint can. Adding a fresh coat of paint to the walls can instantly add brightness, space, charm and a brand new look and feel to any room in your home. It’s the ultimate optical illusion.

Clean and De-clutter

Stock up on the trash bags and get busy! Start throwing away or moving anything that doesn’t belong in each room. Getting rid of junk and clutter will have one of the biggest effects on your home staging efforts, bar none.

Go Back to Basics

Got the bright idea two years ago to convert the living room into all things gaming? Your next prospective buyer may not be so inclined. Arrange your home so that all rooms are being shown as originally intended when built.

Remove Yourself

Help your buyer to see themselves, not you, in your space. Remove all pictures, plaques, awards, mementos, artwork and loose clothing. Think “showroom floor”. This is no time to express yourself. Make every room as simple and generic as possible so that your home has appeal to the widest audience.

Home staging is also important since it can help bring out all of the best aspects in a home. It is also important in pulling attention away from negative aspects of the home. Bringing attention to large windows through a placement of a couch facing the window is also a great way to bring attention to that specific detail. Using a twin sized bed in a smaller room can help make the room look larger, where as a queen sized bed could make the room look incredibly tiny.

One of the best ways to get people to come to an open house is to post pictures of a staged home on the internet or with the realtor. Staged pictures grab the attention of buyers and help to peak their interest in the home. This interest leads to them visiting the open house. The more people that visit the open house, the higher the chance of getting the offer the homeowner wants.

Here are my five favorite home staging tips, so you can help each property you stage sell faster and for more money:

1. Reduce drive-bys

Imagine you’re on a home hunting mission. Your real estate agent has ten properties to show you on a Saturday afternoon. When you drive up to what could be your dream home, you see a rusted-out mailbox, broken handrail and children’s toys strewn across the lawn which hasn’t seen a lawn mower in weeks. You’re probably going to say, “Um, no thanks, let’s move on.”

Curb appeal is so important. If the outside of a house looks like this, a potential buyer is going to think nobody cares about it. You should make sure, no matter what, that lawns are freshly cut, leaves are raked or snow shoveled from the driveway. A potted or hanging plant can make a big difference near the entrance. Repair or replace any obvious defects, often this is cheaper to do than a prospective buyer will imagine. Make sure the walk ways and porches are swept clean and garbage and recycling containers are tucked away at the rear of the house or in the garage. Make sure the exterior gets a good pressure wash and the decks are scrubbed clean. It’s a good alternative to painting and once everything’s clean you might see it doesn’t need to be repainted at all – perhaps just a touch up will do.

2. One man’s junk is not necessarily another man’s treasure, it may be their reason not to buy the house

De-cluttering is essential. Tackle one area at a time so the task isn’t so overwhelming. If you’re doing this with your client, make sure they look at each item carefully before deciding whether it’s to keep or to toss. Each closet will probably have to be gone through more than once to get its contents down to the absolute essentials, but it will be worth it. If the home owner is having a tough time parting with things, recommend they rent a storage locker so they can keep their beloved items, just remove them from the house they’re selling. They’ll have to move it eventually anyway!

3. Avoid wandering eyes

You want to make sure there are no little problems in a room that will have a potential buyer looking from one flaw to another thinking about they work they’ll have to do. You want them to see the bigger picture and imagine themselves living there. For example, do a walkthrough and look for chipped paint on the door frames. These can be filled in with “white out”. Old nail holes can often be hidden behind strategically hung art, but don’t just throw things on the wall where the old nail was (see point 5). Peeling wallpaper should be glued back down. Make sure there are covers on all electrical outlets and light switches, and replace any that are cracked. These little things make a big difference!

4. Color is your friend when it’s time to sell a house

If you have to repaint a home’s interior, or some rooms in a home, try to choose a pleasing color palette that allows each room to flow nicely into the next. All colors should go together. Try to repeat one signature color throughout a home. Maybe it’s the feature color in one room used as an accent in the others, through accessories or throw cushions.

5. Make a big impact with a little art

By strategically using art, you can enhance a home’s perceived value, draw the eye away from tiny flaws, give an otherwise uninteresting space a focal point and replace personal memorabilia.

Position art at eye level and use pieces that are appropriate to the size of the wall. Art with a large frame on a small wall can make the entire area seem smaller. Avoid religious art, or anything edgy that could be offensive to some potential buyers.