Home Staging Design
Many people believe that mastering the art of home staging design is more complicated than it is in practice. Interior and exterior design is completely different than home staging because the end product of staging is enhancement for sale.
When someone undertakes the goal of interior or exterior design it is to create a home that exhibits the owner personality. The difference with the task of home staging is to make the home more neutral which will have a much wider appeal to prospective buyers, they must see themselves living there.
Home staging is a project which has many tasks, each one of those tasks should create an improvement that makes the home more appealing to the prospective buyer.
Home staging could require several weeks to finish, each one of those changes, if well planned can be easy and satisfying to achieve. There are basic guidelines that should be followed:
1. The major enhancements to a home may include appliances and cabinets, if the cash is not available, refurbishing and cleaning can increase the prospective buyers interest. The first step to staging is to take down the cabinets and repair the walls. Then each room should be prepared to be repainted before any cabinets are replaced.
Cabinets from each area of the house should be cleaned and enhanced with for example Murphy's Oil Soap. Of course any cabinets in the house may have surface grim or a greasy film from vapors produce during cooking, these surfaces should be thoroughly cleaned before repainting or staining.
Make sure the products used are safe for your cabinets. If you are going to apply a stain, varnish or an accent color make sure you sand first so that product will adhere to the cabinet.
2. The most important step is to create an effect for the prospective buyer that has the feeling that this home is a clean, comfortable and enjoyable place to live. Of course there is not a potential buyer out there that wants to purchase a home that smells or feels old.
People that are shopping for a place to live whether it is a family home, or a place for themselves want the property to feel new and fresh. The important issue here is to remove or replace all evidence, including countertops that depicts that lived in look.
There are 3 different options with varying budget considerations for repairing or replacing countertops. The cheapest method and a new procedure for many contractors that has several options is resurfacing of your countertops.
A second option and a little more expensive that the first option is to have the countertops laminated or replaced with Formica.
The third option and of course the best and most expensive is to have the old countertops replaced with either granite, a quartz blend or concrete all of which incur substantial costs. Referring to a contractor or a do-it-yourself store maybe the best way to decide which option will fit your budget.
3. Another area that can hurt the sale of your home is appliances, so you may want to buy new appliances for your home. Use these appliances as a showcase to create that new feeling in your home. The important part of this particular method is to ensure the prospective buyer is aware that the appliances are not included in the price of the home.
There are some sellers that will buy top of the line appliances to showcase the home, add that cost to the price of the home and when the house sells they will use the extra profit to purchase new appliances for their next home.
4. Another problem area is the bathrooms - do the bathrooms feel fresh and new or old and used? If they feel old and used you may want to look at options which will increase the perception of those rooms, replace or fix tiles, carpet, lighting and fixtures. A final thought here is many times a bathroom can be enhanced just by adding a vanity to the space.