The easier that you make it for buyers to fall in love with your home, the faster it will sell. In addition to enhancing curb appeal, staging the interior with popular tastes in mind will make your house more appealing, create more interest, and entice more people to consider making an offer.
The challenge is doing all this within the short amount of time that you have between signing the listing agreement and your first showings. The following plan will help you get the best possible results within the few short days you have.
Step 1: Get rid of clutter
- Pack up unnecessary items and furniture, and either store them neatly in your garage or move them to a storage facility. Don’t just move all your stuff to a spare room — multi-purpose “junk” rooms are unappealing.
- Clean out and organize closets and built-in bookshelves. Storage space is one of the features that sell homes.
- Put away kid’s and pet’s toys.
Step 2: Clean, clean, clean
- Give your entire house a thorough, top-to-bottom vacuuming and dusting.
- Kitchens, bathrooms, floors, and windows should be sparkling.
- Get rid of pet odors by steam cleaning rugs and washing surfaces.
- While your home is for sale and is being shown, make sure to clean up before leaving the house each day. If weather permits, open windows to allow in fresh air.
Step 3: Organize furniture
- Too much or too little furniture can make your house seem awkward. Move things around to create balance throughout your home and give each room a purpose (home office, guest room, play room, reading spot, exercise room, TV room).
- Move furniture away from walls and create small groups of “conversation-friendly” setups — spaces where people can picture themselves enjoying time with friends and family. Groupings also create a nice flow through each room and can make your home seem more spacious.
Step 4: Decorate with intention
- Create a relaxing, gender-neutral master bedroom with soft colors, cozy linens, and accent pillows.
- For bathrooms, think “spa” — white towels, robes, rugs, and shower curtains, as well as freshly cleaned soap containers, toothbrush holders, and garbage baskets.
- Turn a bare dining room table into an inviting gathering space by setting it as you would for an intimate dinner party.
- Use accents like fresh flowers and plants to create color highlights throughout your home.
Step 5: Brighten things up
- Dark homes can seem dreary. To help make your house feel as bright and airy as possible, increase the wattage in lamps and ceiling lights to total around 100 watts per 50 square feet.
- Create even lighting throughout your home by turning on your available overhead fixtures, task-specific lights (under-cabinet, reading), and accent lighting (table, wall, floor lamps).
- Open drapes and blinds to allow in natural light.