We get asked often by sellers, “Is home staging worth the money?” Our answer is a resounding, “Yes”.
Many home sellers in the Sutherland Shire are mistaken in the idea that home styling is simply a matter of removing your own furniture, moving in the stylist’s furniture and adding a few cushions.
In this article, we help you understand how a home stylist can mitigate issues that might detract from the ultimate sale price of your home.
The key to home staging is to make sure that:
- Your home makes a great first impression.
- Every area of your home has a purpose.
Does your home have all or any of these five problems?
1. Small rooms or oversized rooms
With clever use of rugs, room dividers, or simply organising furniture into groups, a home stylist can break up a large room into zones that make more sense to a potential buyer.
Rooms that appear too small, or seem cramped, might benefit from less furniture. Repainting a small room in a paler, neutral colour can make it seem larger. A large mirror on the dominant wall will appear to double the size of a small room. Decluttering (removing personal photographs and ornaments) to leave more free surfaces will also help to make a small room look larger.
2. Too-dark or too-bright rooms
Sometimes rooms appear darker than they should because furniture and curtains are overly dark and suck up the available light. Light neutral colours help to make a room appear to have more light.
Other tools your stylist might use are mirrors and smart lighting to brighten neglected corners. For rooms that get so much light, you need sunglasses, your stylist might suggest window film or light-filtering blinds.
3. Not enough ‘visual real estate’
One trick a home stylist will use is to make sure that anyone entering the room can see plenty of open floor space or ‘visual real estate’. They achieve this by, for example, replacing heavy wooden furniture such as your coffee table or dining table with a glass version or maybe a table with slimmer lines. Your bulky sofa might be replaced with one with legs.
4. Poor traffic flow
Most of us buy furniture and place it wherever it fits. This might have worked for our family but it can make for some awkward spaces. Home stylists come in with fresh eyes and will reimagine the flow of your home. They might make recommendations such as grouping furniture or changing a standard door to a sliding door. And that awkward space? Your stylist can see possibilities and might even turn that odd space into an intimate reading corner, study nook, or a craft station.
5. Rooms without clear purpose
Hands up all of you who have a guest room that’s sometimes a sewing room, home office or junk room
Your stylist will convert that cluttered room to an inspiring multi-purpose room that maximises space and gives buyers some practical ideas they can use.
We’ve found that homes that are styled and beautifully presented attract higher sale prices, adding thousands of dollars to the end sale price.
Can we help with advice on downsizing?
Having navigated the home sale and downsizing process not only for our real estate clients but also for members of our own family, it’s an area in which we’ve amassed a wealth of knowledge. So don’t hesitate to seek out our help – no obligations.
