Trust me, your future self will thank you for doing these things in your Locust Grove home!

Are you thinking of selling your home, but are not quite ready to put it on the market?  Perhaps you are waiting until the spring to sell your Locust Grove home, need to line up moving with a job opportunity, or are watching to see what interest rates do.  No matter the reason, if a move is in your future, then there are some things that you can do now to help prepare your home for the market.  Preparing your Locust Grove home for professional photography and showings is a big task especially in well used rooms in your home. As the old saying goes, the kitchen is the heart of the home, and buyers value the kitchen.  They also tend to have a lot of things in them.  So, in order to prepare this space for staging, here are some things you can do now before your Locust Grove home hits the market. 

Pantry Clean out and Glow Up

Whether you have a large pantry space or a set of cabinets, you want to make this space as appealing as possible.  For home selling purposes, pantries should not look full and should have empty space in them. You want buyers to be able to picture their own items in your Locust Grove home.  Here are some ways to tackle cleaning and organizing this space.

  • Take everything out  Spend an afternoon taking everything out of the pantry.  If you are like us and have two boxes of open elbow macaroni or three half eaten bags of cereal, then combine these items into one.  Pull out everything that is nearing the use by date and set on a separate shelf or countertop in your kitchen.
  • Clean the shelves  Use a bucket of water and rag to wash all the shelves and walls in the pantry.
  • Use trays or shelves to organize and increase space  Adding some additional vertical storage with shelves like these will help to keep your pantry space in your Locust Grove home organized.  Got wire shelving?  Cafeteria trays are a great way to group like items together and prevent them from falling through the shelves.
  • Make a Use it Up Meal Plan  Take all those close to expiring foods and use them to plan meals for the week.  Now only will you be using up the food you already have, you will also be clearing out space in the pantry.

Organize dishes and cookware

Buyers will look inside of cabinets to get an idea of the storage space.  Save some time in the rush to get your Locust Grove home showing ready by decluttering and organizing this area now.

  • It is officially time to go through all those plastic storage containers and match lids to containers.  Recycle the ones that are worn, cracked, or lidless.  
  • Repeat this process for dishes, water bottles, and cookware.  Determine what can be tossed, what can be donated, and what you need to keep.  Be tough.  For example, do you really need twenty five coffee cups in a household of two adults?  Look at what is dusty in the back of cabinet.  If you haven’t used it in a year, then you won’t.
  • Remember to wash the cabinets as you go through them.
  • If you feel like the cabinets are still stuffed, then consider packing up some of the dishes now.  Maybe your holiday items can be placed in a box since you will not be using them.  Not planning on having a party any time soon?  Then pack up the serving plates and wine glasses.

Evaluate small appliance use

Did you jump on the air fryer train with everyone else only to realize that it wasn’t the appliance for you?  Have a blender that hasn’t seen the light of the kitchen in years?  Small appliances can be nice to have if you consistently use them.  However, if you are not, they can be taking up valuable space in your Locust Grove home.  Donate the ones that you haven’t used in over a year.  Pack up the ones that you use occasionally.

Clear the countertops

Help everyone in the family get into the habit of not leaving this on the countertop by starting early.  Buyers like to see lots of space for meal prep on counters and it can be hard to imagine this if there are lots of things on the counter.

  • Remove everything but daily use items  Leave items you use every day on the counter like a coffee maker or toaster, but find a new home for other ones.  Take things that don’t really belong in the kitchen (I’m looking at you nest of charging cords for electronics) and relocate them.
  • Create a stash space  If, despite your best efforts, your countertops still get cluttered with things over the week then grab a basket.  Start tossing all the things in the basket and then assign someone to put it all away at the end of the week.  This also works well for when you have a showing at your Locust Grove home; you can gather everything in the basket and toss it on a high shelf or even in the dishwasher if you are desperate. (Please remember to remove before you start the next load.)

Grab a few new things

Be ready to make your kitchen pretty for showings by having a display only dish towel and new soap dispenser ready to set out.  Replace any worn rugs with new ones and take a look at any curtains or blinds you have in the kitchen.  Ones near a sink or stove can get pretty dirty, so give them a wash or replace as necessary.

Fix any Known Issues

Buyers and home inspectors will notice things like leaking faucets.  If you have any known issues in your kitchen, fix them now.

Deep Clean

Now is the time to give your kitchen a deep clean.  Scrub the outside of your cabinets, clean the inside and outside of appliances, and wash baseboards and the floor.  Make sure to pay close attention to the walls or countertops around the stove, sink, and trash can since these areas are often subject to more wear and tear.

By doing these seven things your kitchen will be ready for staging whenever you are ready to put your Locust Grove home on the market!