A playroom may be one of the most used rooms in your home. Whether it’s a part of the living room, in the basement, or an extra bedroom, playrooms tend to get messy quickly. When you are getting ready to put up your home for sale, tackling this area of the house will go a long way in making your home more appealing to buyers. But, how exactly do you keep this room clean while your children are still using it daily? I’ve got some suggestions for you for staging a playroom, and even if you aren’t selling your home in Locust Grove, these tips could help make everyday life easier.
The first step to staging a playroom is to declutter!
No surprise here! This is always the first step in staging a playroom or any other room in your home. Decluttering the playroom will make it easier to manage. However I know from personal experience how hard it can be to do this, since if your child’s around she will claim that the small plastic toy that has been at the bottom of the toy box is suddenly the love of her life that she can’t be without…even though it hasn’t seen the light of day in three years. Depending on your child’s personality, you can have him/her help you go through toys to decide which toys can be donated and which ones to keep. Even if they decide to give away a few, give them praise and encouragement for doing so. You can create a maybe box. In the box, pack away items that your child isn’t sure if they want to give away. This box can be stored and if by the time you are settled into your new home, no toys from the box have been requested, you can give it away. If your children want to keep everything including scraps of paper, it may be simpler to go through their toys alone. Staging a playroom doesn’t mean you have to move every toy, but it is easier to keep up with the room if the amount of toys are minimized. Leave just their favorite toys in the playroom and pack everything else up in boxes ready to be moved to your new home.
Create Storage to hide toys.
One of the biggest challenges in staging a playroom is having places to store the items. Think about some of the furniture that you have elsewhere in the home and consider if you can move one of the pieces into the playroom for storage. A bookshelf can hold all the books and toys can be stashed in decorative baskets. A dresser taken out of the primary bedroom is an easy way to quickly hide all the toys before a showing. A desk gives room for construction paper and crayons. Utilize the closet, if you’ve got one, in the playroom to organize materials too. Just make sure that you don’t stuff it so full that toys come crashing down on a buyer when they open the closet up.
Simplify the Space
When staging a playroom, it’s important to think about how this room functions in relation to the rest of the home. If you are in a neighborhood full of children, then chances are any buyers looking at your home will want to have a playroom. If the playroom is really one of the three bedrooms in your home, you might want to consider staging the playroom as a bedroom, since buyers will probably want to use the room as a bedroom. Talk with your Realtor® to decide what would be best in your particular circumstance. No matter what you decide to do, just remember that not all buyers will use the room as you do. Neutralizing the space by tucking away toys, simplifying the furniture and large toys, and sticking with neutral paint colors will help buyers visualize the room in the way they want to use it.
Get it All in One Spot
Gather all the toys that are scattered throughout the home. Staging the playroom means letting it shine as the play area of the house. Let the living room just be for couches and the office space for working. You can also set some expectations with your children that all toys need to stay in the playroom or be put back at the end of the day. If you do this, then you won’t be running frantically throughout the house before a showing trying to pick up toys that have now become tripping hazards.
Children are involved so this space needs a deep clean
Part of staging a playroom is making sure it looks its best. Take a good look at the walls in the playroom especially at kid height. They may be in need of some attention. If a good scrub down doesn’t help, you might consider repainting the room. Don’t forget to clean any carpeting and wash the curtains and wipe down the blinds so you can open up the windows in the room and let the light inside the home. If you have a desk, table or other furniture in the room, then give those items some attention too.
Special Toys Need a Special Place
It’s important that your children’s special toys are kept safe. Even though buyers are accompanied through the home by Realtors® there is always a chance that another child could see a toy, play with it, and misplace it. Keep a small bag or basket with these special toys in it so that you can take them with you when you have a showing and need to leave the home.
Hopefully these tips will help with staging a playroom, so that you can have your home ready for showings. Looking for tips for staging the other rooms in your house? Follow the link below to check out other home staging blogs.
