What Is Home Staging? The Best House Staging Tips

Home staging is the practice of furnishing and styling your property to get it ready for a sale. Staging a home helps enhance the appearance of your home for potential buyers, as it helps them to better visualize themselves living in the space. 

While there are home staging professionals to stage your home for you, the cost can become expensive. Staging your home yourself not only can cut costs, but you can keep the furniture you buy for your new home. 

House staging can help potential buyers see that your home does not need work done to move in, which can persuade the buyer to immediately put in an offer for your home. It is essential to understand how to stage a home properly to experience the benefits of home staging. 

Why Home Staging Is Important 

Home staging is important for various reasons, but the most important thing to remember is that first impressions matter. When selling your home, you want to get the most for it rather than settling for a lower selling price. 

Staging your home is essential to create a more emotional purchase for the buyer, who may feel more attracted to your home if it is staged. The buyer wants the house to appeal to them aesthetically and fulfill their dreams, and staging your home can help create the aesthetic they are looking for. 

How to Stage a House for Sale 

While you can hire a professional to stage your home for you, home staging can be done at an affordable cost by staging it yourself. 

Home staging is important; it helps your home look more appealing in person and staging photos. You can add certain items to various rooms in your home when staging a house.

Staging the Kitchen and Dining Room

When staging your kitchen, some of the most important things you can do is clear off the countertops, replace hardware, paint the cabinets, update the lighting, or use some colorful accents. 

You can also add placemats to your kitchen table. The dining room table should be cleared off and appropriately set using a matching dinnerware set. You can also add wine glasses to the table setting to make it more aesthetically pleasing and formal. 

Staging the Living Room

Home staging your living room is simple. First, you should do your best to repair cosmetic issues that may deter buyers. Consider polishing your floors, replacing lightbulbs, and patching any wall holes. 

Then, you should deep clean your living space, including your lighting, baseboards, moldings, windows, and carpets. 

To appeal to buyers, you can add artwork to your walls, new throw pillows, a mirror, or accent tables. Some neutral-colored furnishings with accents can make your living room more inviting.

Add Wall Decor 

Adding wall decor to your home can help your home seem more inviting and warm. In addition, wall decor can make a room seem larger than it is. Wall decor is often added when home staging because it helps pull a space together and complete the look. 

When decorating your walls, choose smaller pieces of decor for narrow walls and larger pieces for big walls. The artwork or wall decor should be hung at eye level. You do not need to fill every space on your wall with artwork, pictures, or decor, as you do not want to keep your wall space manageable.

Place New Rugs Throughout the Home

Placing new rugs throughout your home has a huge impact on house staging. A new and modern rug adds interest, helps absorb noise, defines the space, and can make your home feel warm and inviting. However, it is essential to use the rugs properly when home staging. 

Be sure the rug is not a hazard for tripping and do not place the rug on a carpet, as it can look like you are trying to cover up a stain. Consider placing a woven area rug, a patterned runner, or an abstract pattern rug throughout various rooms in your home.

Staging the Bedroom 

It is essential to create a focal point when staging the bedroom. Use only essential pieces of furniture, besides the bed, to stage your bedroom. Some furniture you should include when staging a bedroom are side tables, a dresser, lamps, or even a chair. 

Avoid adding a chair if the room appears overly crowded. 

The point of staging a bedroom is to help potential buyers see that an entire bedroom set can fit into the room. 

Consider adding a new comforter set, a throw blanket, or a quilt to the bed. You can also add an accent table or a storage bench at the foot of the bed.

Bedroom and Bathroom Essentials 

There are many additional items you can add to the bedroom and bathroom to complete the staging look. 

In the bathroom, consider adding a bath mat, new towels, a soap and lotion set, new shower curtain, a bath stool, or a soap dish. In the bedroom, you cad add a new sheet set to your bed, accent pillows, wicker bins, or a throw rug for the foot of the bed. 

While these bedroom and bathroom essentials can make your room look more aesthetically pleasing, be cautious not to fill up the room with too many items, so it does not become overcrowded. 

Staging Outdoors 

It is important not to forget to stage outdoors! There are various items you can add to your outdoor space to make it more inviting. For example,  you can add new cushions to your furniture, or you can add new chairs altogether. 

Consider adding new throw pillows to your outdoor furniture and set the table. You can add an accent table with a citronella candle or a plant stand with vibrant flowers. If you have a pool, add some beach towels to the lounge chairs. 

Include Accent Furnishings

There are so many accent furnishings you can include in a home staging. You can add an abstract wall art set to your living room or a new task lamp to your office. If your light fixtures are outdated, replace them with new light fixtures, such as a three bulb pendant light. 

If you have extra space you would like to fill, add a console table. A console table is the perfect place to add a houseplant or other accent. Consider adding a round mirror on the wall or wall sconces. Adding these simple accent furnishings can help a potential buyer feel more inclined to buy your home and see a future there.

How Much Does It Cost to Stage a Home?

When home staging yourself, you must factor in the cost of your new furniture and decor, cleaning supplies, home repair supplies, paint, floral arrangements, and storage units if you plan on decluttering. 

To help cut the cost of staging homes, you can focus your staging efforts on a few particular rooms, such as high impact areas like the master bedroom, living room, and kitchen. When using a professional home stager, you can expect to pay between $2,000 and $2,400 per month until the home is sold. 

Staging your home yourself costs what you allow it to cost you. You will not need to pay monthly fees to keep the furniture in the home.

Benefits of Home Staging

Home staging can add a lot of selling appeal to a home. Staging your home increases the likelihood of selling your property quickly, and you will likely receive generous offers as a result of the staging. If the market is particularly competitive in your area, home staging gives you an advantage. 

When potential buyers are looking through pictures of homes for sale, yours will stand out because of the staging. Many homes for sale include pictures that show a lot of clutter and nothing stands out. Home staging can help your home be memorable and stand out from the rest. 

Home staging offers many benefits for the seller:

• Helps buyers emotionally connect to the home
• Increases the perceived value of the home
• Creates quality online images to attract potential buyers
• Buyers can better visualize the home 
• Can sell your home faster
• DIY home staging is less expensive than a professional

What Not to Do When Staging Your Home

Since home staging is so important, there are some things you should know to never do. The most important rule is to never leave your home empty. 

An empty home can take longer to sell because the buyers have a difficult time picturing themselves in the home. Some other “dont’s” when home staging include:

• Leaving personal photos on walls
• Do not go overboard on holiday decor
• Do not leave clutter laying around
• Do not go overboard on the smells, such as candles
• Avoid knick knacks
• Do not squeeze too much furniture into a room

Final Thoughts

Home staging is not as complicated as it may seem. It is completely achievable to stage your home yourself and enjoy the benefits of staging. 

If you are in the process of selling your home, Agoyu can help with the moving process. 

Agoyu can help you find professionals to help with packing, moving, and even vehicle shipping. Contact us today with your moving information to get started.