Whenever I meet with sellers to discuss listing their homes, the topic of home staging always arises. Since the purpose of home staging is to highlight the best qualities of your home, I am always happy to make suggestions to homeowners and answer any questions they might have.  If you are in the process of staging your home or are selling soon, then here are some mistakes to avoid when staging your home that I’ve seen throughout my experience as a Locust Grove REALTOR®.

Waiting until the Day Before to Begin

Whether it is a photoshoot date or the date your home is supposed to go on the market, waiting until the day before to start staging is never a good idea.  It adds extra stress onto the seller, and, often, home staging can’t be completed in a day.  Why?  To stage a home, you first have to declutter it and this process can take longer than a day.

What to do instead

Start preparing to stage your home the second you decide to sell it.  In the weeks or months before you actually put it on the market, take some time everyday to go through one area of your home and declutter.  Then, when your Locust Grove REALTOR ® makes staging suggestions, you have already cleared a lot of clutter out of your home and don’t have to worry about where to put things that came out of one piece of disregarded furniture into a closet.

The furniture doesn’t fit the room

A large section to lounge on while watching tv is comfortable and cozy.  However, when that sectional is so large that it partially blocks the doorway or is taking up three walls of a room, it gives buyer’s the impression that the room is too small.  In reality, the room could be a standard size, but the furniture is just too big.  When staging your home, it’s time to remove pieces of furniture that don’t fit the scale of the room.  This can also apply to dining tables, beds, and other large furniture pieces.

What to do instead

It’s important to remember that the way a home is staged is not necessarily the way you would choose to live in it and that’s okay.  You may need to temporarily change out the furniture placement in your home to create spaces that can be easily walked through by buyers.  We want to highlight the space in the room and it’s functionality for buyers, but it’s hard for many people to look past rooms cramped with furniture.  If you don’t have anywhere else to place large pieces of furniture, but you don’t want to get rid of them, then consider renting a short term storage unit.

Placing everything in closets and cupboards

In order to stage a room, the objects no longer being used need to go somewhere.  Adding all these things to your closets and cupboards is not the place.  Why?  Buyers are interested in the storage space in your home and will open closets to see how much room is inside.  If the shelves are full, then buyers may assume that your home is lacking storage space.

What to do instead

When you are preparing to stage a home, it is a great time to really ask yourself if you want to move this item to another home or if it is time to let it go.  Just like you declutter a room, you also need to declutter cupboards and closets.  If you find a collection of items that you want to keep but aren’t using currently, then pack them up in a box which you can neatly stack in a basement or garage.

Messy kid spaces

Children and their messes can be a full time job.  Leaving a child’s space untouched because you think buyers will understand that this is a child’s room really won’t benefit you.  Remember, not all buyers are going to use that room as a child’s room.

What to do instead

Help your child keep the space clean by having baskets that can easily slide under the bed or onto the floor of the closet to hold their toys.  Then, start a new routine where every evening all the toys are put away.  While decluttering a child’s room comes with its own set of challenges (see more here), starting earlier will help your child understand your expectations of room cleanliness.

Leaving painting for the new owner

Sometimes sellers don’t want to paint a room because they don’t know what color the potential buyer would like.  This is true; you can’t read someone else’s mind.  However, giving walls a fresh coat of paint in a neutral color better allows buyers to envision their own things in the space.  In addition, there are paint colors that look fantastic when they are paired with furniture and other decorations. However, when those things are removed from the room, the paint color isn’t always as flattering.

What to do instead

Ask your Locust Grove REALTOR ® if there are any colors in your home that the agent would recommend switching to neutral shades.  Usually darker, hard to paint over shades of red are ones to repaint.  If you have a room that has a lot of furniture against a wall, take a look at the condition of the paint in this room.  Sometimes you will notice a lot of scuffs that are hidden when the furniture is in that place.