Over the past few years, home offices have gotten a lot more use. Whether you created a space in the corner of a bedroom or have always had a room in your home dedicated as an office, these are important spaces that get used a lot. When you are selling your home, staging a home office is important for two reasons. First, having a neat and orderly space helps buyers be able to picture the office as it is and what else it could be. Not every buyer is in need of an office, so the room may become something else. Second, staging a home office helps you organize the space and think about how to secure any sensitive information you might have that you don’t want others to see. While much information is stored online, there are jobs that keep paperwork (or you just have personal information) that should not be easily accessible to others.
Declutter
This tip for staging a home office should come as no surprise. The first step in staging any room is to declutter. Gather up all the papers and decide what to keep and what to trash. Find a spot where you can place sensitive information (like client’s names, bills with your social security number on it, a list of passwords) that is secure. This might be a locked filing cabinet or safe. While buyers are accompanied by Realtors® during a showing, it’s never bad to be cautious.
Simplify the furniture
Pare down the furniture to the basics that you need for an office and removing the extra pieces is an important step in staging a home office. Sometimes offices, especially if they are a part of another room, tend to feel tight and lacking space. Simplifying the furniture so that buyers can easily walk around the room, but you still have what you need to work is beneficial to the appearance of the space.
Clean off the desk space
When staging a home office, present a clean desk. File away any papers that sit on your desk. If you’ve got other papers that you reference frequently, then tuck everything in a folder that can be placed in a drawer or use one of these file folder holders. Gather up all those pens and put them in a holder; it can be a mason jar or old decorative coffee mug. Having all of these systems in place will make it easier to clean up in the evening or tuck everything away quickly if you have an unexpected showing.
Organize the bookcase
Do you have a bookcase full of books, papers, and knick-knacks? When staging a home office, go through the bookcase and determine what books to keep or donate. Simplify the amount of material on each shelf and get rid of the loose papers.
Utilize the closet
Use the closet in the office to store additional office supplies and stash equipment you need for your job but don’t use every day. A hanging organizer on the back of a door can help hold everything but still make it appear neat for staging a home office purposes. Just make sure that if the buyers open the closet to see the space inside that the items won’t come crashing down on them.
Use vertical space
If your work space is a corner of a room, then take advantage of the vertical space on the wall to add storage when you are staging a home office. Install a few long floating shelves and use coordinated baskets to stash your office supplies. Doing this helps get everything that you need off of your desk but still within reach.
Let there be light
Having good lighting is important for any room in the home, but it is especially important in a room that someone is going to be in for a large part of the day. If the office has awesome natural lighting, then open up those curtains and let the sun shine inside the room! If the room is lacking, switch out the bulbs to a brighter light while staging a home office and add a desk light to illuminate the space.
Interested in learning more about staging the rooms in your home. Check out some other blogs below.
