Home styling tips to sell your home

Last updated on March 19th, 2020 at 09:16 pm

There are so many reason to style a home for others whether simply styling a home to rent out or staging it for estate photos to sell it. My parents are huge into buying homes to rent out to fund their retirement as many their age do. What ever reasons you have to style a home for others, here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Home styling is very different from decorating your own home to live in. In our own homes we can let each piece of furniture and each knickknack display our own personality and showcase our favorite memories. But when styling a home for others or for photos it’s a much different experience. Whether it’s for a rental property or taking photos to sell your home, you need to take into account, simplicity.

With rental homes, less is more and my parents can vouch for this. In their first few rentals they probably furnished and decorated far more than was necessary. Keep it simple with the necessities only. The people moving in will make it their very own with the little touches. It’s not about a trend that’s hot at the moment but what will stand the test of time for rentals.

Let’s focus more on staging your home to make your photos scream buy me. What we may think is amazing in our home, others may not so think from an outsider’s point of view. They don’t care about your personal collections or your kids’ latest masterpieces.

My biggest advice, if you are taking photos of your home to sell it is to hide your personal stuff. I say this in the nicest way but every day clutter on display doesn’t make for great photos, it’s distracting. I love styling photos of my own home for my blog or for my instagram and I always make sure it’s clear of the clutter for the most part so people focus on what I want them to and the same concept goes here.

 

You can tell that the above photo was styled perfectly using many of these tips below:

– Make sure shelves have fewer items stacked on them and organized.

– Coffee tables and side tables are tidy or clear of personal items.

– Arrange cushions on the sofa nicely and take everything else out or hide it out of sight.

– Hide toys and art work. If you have your child’s art work from school all over the wall maybe replace it with a nice little cheap print for photos or leave it blank.

For other rooms in the house:

– Make all the beds neatly and nothing on the nightstands unless it’s a little flower arrangement.

 

– Bathrooms should be free of any brushes, makeup, and counters completely cleared off and clean.

– Clear your office desk off completely except your computer and lamp and maybe one little notebook and pen. You may work great in an organized mess but people will focus on the mess and not the room’s use.

– Make your entryway say, “Welcome” whether it’s a big porch or just a walk way. Use flowers or even a new welcome mat would do. This looks great in photos.

You would be surprised how much more the house will scream buy me if it’s staged. There is nothing wrong with styling your home to let it’s best aspects speak out for you. If you see a photo of a living room with kids toys stacked in the corner, blankets thrown on the sofa, and bookshelves bursting with books, magazines, and randomness you are more apt to focus on those actual things then the big room, or what the space provides. Remember less is more so it allows the viewer to imagine what they would do with the space and make your personal items blend in the background. Think of clutter like noise you need it to be quiet so others can imagine and dream about the space. This goes for rentals and home staging to sell.

When photographing each room make sure it’s a clear day so you have the maximum amount of natural light coming in your windows to brighten each room. It will make your photos better than taken on a gloomy day.

 

I was always told yellow is inviting and when showing homes it’s best to always have a bouquet of yellow flowers to make them feel welcome and want to stay. It also pops in photos from a selling purpose. There is nothing more inviting and lovely then fresh flowers on the table both in a photo and in person. You can see just a little bowl of yellow lemons is inviting to this table above but it’s not distracting.

I can’t tell you how many homes we saw online when we were looking for this one we live in now that we dismissed because the photos just showed cluttered rooms and horrible styling and it makes it hard to see past all that noise to what the house is offering. It always makes rooms look smaller with clutter around. Photos are really hard to show the true concept of each room so you have to do your very best styling to help viewers decide which to go see in person. You want to get them in the door. With society so in touch with technology, let’s face it, most people see a home from an online estate agent first before they go see it in person.

So many people are buying and selling homes and these are just a few tips to help you get the end result you want. It doesn’t cost much to stage a home and it doesn’t take long, it just takes focus, a little organization and remember to keep it simple!

*photo credits: image one & *collaboration post