Welcome Home: How to Stage a Home for Free

Getting your house ready to put on the market can be an anxious affair.

You may worry about your home’s minor flaws or fret that it will stay on the market longer than you hoped. Putting your house on the market does come with uncertainty, but knowing how to stage a home will make you feel more prepared.

Many people hire professionals to stage their homes. Why? Because it helps them to sell faster.

It gives the buyer an image of the home’s potential and how they will feel living there. It shows them what the house would look like at its best so they can feel more comfortable making an offer.

It’s important to remember that not all buyers have vivid imaginations. They may be too distracted by your home’s current state to see past it, which could result in losing a potential buyer and your home sitting on the market longer.

You’ll need to stage it to avoid this scenario and ensure that your home presents itself in the best light. Discover how to stage your home for free or on a budget.

How to Stage Your Home on a Budget

Staging your home differs from decorating your home. Decorating your home involves your sense of style and unique taste. Staging a home appeals to the masses.

Staging a home also involves organizing objects. It requires planning and tact when placing items in the house. Staging is all about having a crisp, clean design that gives the buyer a starting point for adding their unique style.

Staging your home doesn’t need to be expensive, however. You can often do it for free with a few tips and tricks. Staging is all about pleasing the eye and creating a comfortable environment, so it doesn’t require a total remodel.

Explore the following tips for staging your home before your first showing or open house.

1. Cleaning

The first step in staging your home is thoroughly cleaning it. Start by vacuuming the floors, cleaning the bathrooms, and mopping the floors. Then, wash the walls, baseboards, and cabinetry.

It’s also important to get your appliances as clean as possible. Many buyers can be deterred by the need to purchase new appliances, so these items must look their best. Also, make sure to remove any odors from the home, as this can distract buyers who may fear they won’t be able to eliminate them.

2. Create Closet Space

Closets appear bigger when there are fewer items in them. Pack up some of your clothing or other items to create more closet space. This will make buyers feel like your home has more storage space, which is important to most buyers.

3. Remove Family Photos

Removing family photos better allows buyers to feel like the home is already theirs. Remove family photos from the walls, shelves, and tables. You should also put away any memorabilia or other highly personal items, such as family keepsakes.

4. Decrease Clutter

A cluttered home makes buyers feel like there’s less space. Declutter your home by removing unnecessary pieces of furniture, clearing off kitchen counters, and decreasing the amount of personal decor. Try also to declutter your garage if possible.

5. Pack Up 30%

Aim to pack up at least 30% of your belongings from each room. This will also help declutter and give buyers less to look at, allowing them to focus on your home’s most important features. Place your moving boxes in the attic or a storage unit if available.

6. Rearrange the Furniture

Properly placed furniture can help a room to be more appealing. It can also make it appear more spacious.

Arrange the furniture more openly so the layout flows more smoothly.

Removing furniture that seems to crowd the room is also a good idea.

7. Strategically Place Everyday Items

The goal of staging isn’t to make the home look like it isn’t lived in. Staging aims to inspire the buyer to see themselves living in your home and feeling comfortable.

Strategically place everyday items in specific places to make buyers feel more comfortable. For example, put a newspaper and a cup on your kitchen table. You can also place a book near a chair in your sunroom.

This draws buyers in and excites them about starting the next chapter of their lives.

8. Spruce Up the Exterior

Lastly, it’s essential to spruce up the exterior of your home. A house for sale needs to have some curb appeal to entice buyers. Curb appeal is extremely important because it’s the first impression buyers have.

Power wash your siding, pull weeds, and trim your bushes. You could also consider planting some flowers. Mowing the grass is also a great way to make your exterior stand out. Add outdoor plants in containers along pathways at the front and rear of your home.

Do a drive-by and critically assess your curb appeal – is it creating the right first impression? Outdoor living can be the tipping point for getting that all-important house sale.

How to Stage Your Home: Taking Action

Knowing how to stage your home is just the first step. After learning these tips, you’ll need to implement them.

First, create a staging design plan. Make a to-do list of all the areas you want to spruce up and what you’ll need to complete each task.

It’s also helpful to ask friends and family to help you during the staging process, especially if you need to move large pieces of furniture.

Set aside time whenever you can, ,uch as on the weekends, , nd plan to complete one room at a time. You can also ask each family member to stage their room to save time and effort. Once they’re done, check the work and enjoy the fruits of everyone’s labor.

It’s also helpful to get a seal of approval from your realtor. You can also ask your realtor for their staging tips as well.

Want to learn more about the home selling process? Check out our blog post to learn all about what you’ll need to do to prepare, sell, and close your current home.