This past season has been a little crazy in our house.  We staged and listed our home,  sold it in 18 days, signed a contract to build our dream home and spent countless hours picking out all the perfect pieces.  It is still just the beginning of our new home adventure but, since my life has been consumed with home decor and details I thought I would share a bit about it here!

Getting your house ready to list can be a big project and there are little things you can do to make it show-worthy, like staging! I am no design expert but I am sharing my tips on how to stage your home!

Whether you are working with a real-estate agent or selling privately, getting your house ready for sale and having it staged well is a HUGE way to drive traffic to your listing.  It helps highlight the best features of your home and allows the potential buyers to envision how the space will work for them.

1 – Declutter

When you walk into a home, you don’t want to feel cramped.  Create a blank canvas and let your viewers see the potential for their style in your home by decluttering.  We are very minimalist when it comes to things in our home and we still took out 5 van loads of stuff.  Start room by room so it is not too overwhelming.  Go through each closet, bookshelf, and cabinet.  Make a pile for garbage, donation, keep and store.  Anything that is not essential or needed for everyday use can easily be stored in bins or boxes neatly in the basement.  The rest can be put back and displayed, giving a clean look to the space.

The biggest tip I always hear about listing a home is to de-personalize.  This is true but don’t worry about tearing down too much!  If you have easy to store items like family photos on your bedside table, then put those away.  We kept our gallery wall up because without it, the space would look empty.

In our office closet we left my jewellery, stationary, and a few books.   We stored our off season shoes and jackets that were in the front closet.  Extra blankets and pillows were placed in a bin in the basement.  Whenever we had a showing we picked up the dog bed/bowls and put them away, put our daughters toys in a bin and stored them in the basement, tucked our garbage bins in the basement and put away our alarm clocks and chargers from our bedside tables.

2 – Organize

This kind of goes hand in hand with the decluttering as you can do it along the way.  Organize each closet so that it shows off the space for storage.  Try folding or rolling your towels and placing them neatly in the linen closet; using baskets for any toiletries in the closet or under the bathroom sinks; arranging your jackets and shoes neatly.  If you have a pantry, do a quick organization so it looks tidy.

I bought matching felt hangers and did a closet overhaul to prepare.  Our master walk-in closet is a great feature that I really wanted to show off.  I cleaned out our bathroom vanities and used baskets to keep my toiletries together.

3 – Clean Off the Counters

It may look strange at first because you are used to your coffee pot or toaster on the counter, but a clean counter just accentuates the kitchen.  It makes it look bigger and really shows all the counter space.

We kept our fruit bowl to add some colour and texture, along with a utensil holder and some cook books.  These pieces, however, were all placed intentionally to add to the space.  Ikea was a great resource for the glass jar and wooden spoons.

4 – Spa Please!

When you walk into a spa you instantly feel relaxed (or is that just me?).  Bring that feeling to your house with a simple refresh. Use plain white towels in the bathrooms for a neutral, spa-like feel.  You don’t have to spend a fortune – you can find them for $5 at Walmart or Target.

Make your bedrooms feel spa/hotel like too!  A simple hack for a plush looking bed – double up your comforters and fold them over!  When you make your bed, use a second comforter or duvet under the first.  This gives it a fluffy, plush look.  Then fold down your sheets and comforter.  Your pillows should all be stacked on the sheet itself with the comforter folded just below them.

The basics are done!  You could simply stop here and your home would look great, but the next steps are where the magic happens!

5 – Decor!

This is where it gets fun!  Bring your house together with intentional decor pieces.  I spent about $600 on decor items for this process.  Fresh pillow cases (only $6 from Ikea!), artificial plants to add greenery (another Ikea find!), candles and vases (from Homesense) and coffee table books.  You can certainly use what you have at home!  Take inventory and figure out what you need to fill the spaces.  I wanted to have the same pot for my plants throughout the house and give it some consistency.   It is amazing how a simple potted plant can add so much warmth and energy to a room.  Some people may think it is silly to spend that much money to decorate a house you are about to sell, but I made sure that all the decor items I chose were also pieces I could use in my new house.  So really, it was an excuse for me to stock up on new decor!

Styling a coffee table can make a room feel lived in without feeling messy.  Look for pieces that add dimension and texture.  I went with a tall vase, some stacked coffee table books and potted succulents.

Set the table!  I picked up these neutral placemats at Ikea (clearly this was my go-to spot!) and set the table with plates and napkins to add some style to the room.

Use your greenery as accents throughout the house.  Big or small, a simple potted plant can give a room a fresh feeling.  I used these artificial plants and white pots (from, surprise, Ikea!) in the bathrooms, the living room and even the laundry room!

6 – Give that lived-in feel

As much as you want your house to be a blank canvas to a potential buyer so they can envision their own items in the house, setting the stage to give the house a lived in feel makes it feel cozy and inviting.  I shared a few of my tips for this already.  Setting the table can not only add style to your home but allow your buyers to picture themselves hosting parties! **Style Tip ** Do you have bar stools?  Angle them so that they are open to the room.  This creates an inviting feel to come and sit down!

Creating cozy nooks with purpose shows off how to use the space.  In my daughters room there was an empty corner so I grabbed her rug and made it into a reading nook.  I set it up with pillows and put out books to show the intention of the space.

I wanted our ensuite bath to feel luxurious so I draped a fluffy white towel over the tub, along with a fresh plant and a book.  This little touch makes the bathroom feel cozy and ready for a relaxing retreat.

7 – Hire a Photographer!

This is a big one!  Your photos are the first thing that someone sees and will determine if a potential buyer picks up the phone to schedule a viewing.  You want your photos to stand out, look crisp and clean, and really highlight the best of the house.  I am a blogger and love taking photos, but I don’t take indoor photos for a living so I wanted a professional.  Some real estate agents will include this in their package, so don’t be afraid to ask!  Since we sold our house privately, we found a hired a local real estate photographer for $150, which was the best investment we could have made.  He  took his time and knew the best angles to show off our homes best features.

Although listing and selling your house can be stressful, I really enjoyed it.  It was a great opportunity to purge and get rid of things that we didn’t plan on bringing into the new house plus it gave me a little creativity to play with when styling the house.  We didn’t pick the finishings in our home and it is not the style that I plan on using for our new home, but that didn’t mean it had to cost a ton of money to make it ready for showing.  The idea is to use what you have and highlight the best features.

XO
Katrina Gwen Rose

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