Home Decorating Tips for Sellers

They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression and this is never truer than when selling your home. Even in the best market, it takes a lot more than just putting a sign and vacuuming the living room to sell your home. Buyers often frame their perceptions about your home within a few seconds of seeing it.

What are the most important home decorating improvements a seller can do in a home makeover to prepare a property for sale?

Space creation 

If you have adjacent smaller rooms such as a kitchen or dining room next to each other, try to connect them with similar colors or décor to give the illusion of greater space. Natural light opens up the interior of any room and makes it look larger. That’s great if you have natural light. If you don’t, though, don’t get discouraged. Add some creative effects using lighting fixtures. You’ll be amazed at how this small addition can make a big difference.

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Choose made-to-measure curtains or drapery and paint your walls a matching color to get a seamless look through the space. Opt for white or paler hues, however, if you do have darker, more soothing hues, you can make the space look bigger with lighter furniture and a pale long carpet or rug that extends beyond the furniture.

Furniture arrangement 

It is important to have the right scale of furniture to ensure it will fit easily into a room, as well as the right balance between furniture pieces with regards to height, width, and weight. The measurements of the room will dictate how far you can pull your furniture away from the walls, but even in a small space, you’ll want to give pieces a little breathing room by allowing a few inches between the backs of furniture pieces and the walls.

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Place furniture away from the walls, with walking space behind them, and in living rooms make sure furniture pieces are facing each other to create a conversation area. Never underestimate the power of a focal point in a room. Sometimes they appear naturally, such as if you have a prominent window or a built-in fireplace mantel, while other times you may need to create them yourself, as with TV stands and televisions.

The Kitchen

For potential buyers, the kitchen is the room that can make or break the sale. An upgraded, attractive kitchen can make your home irresistible. Ideally, your kitchen renovation should earn a 70 percent return on investment when you sell your home.The kitchen is often a deal-breaker when it comes to selling a home. It is important to stage your kitchen so that it looks clean, feels spacious, and has life in it.

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Make sure your kitchen is sparkling clean. Make sure all garbage, recycling, and pet-related items are removed before showing your home and take the time to clean inside and under the containers themselves. Aside from cleaning, painting will give you the biggest bang for your buck. Give your kitchen a new coat of paint in a hue that works with the color of your counters and cabinets — when in doubt, go with crisp white. Even if your kitchen was recently painted, take a close look at the walls and ceiling and touch up any imperfections, even tiny ones.

Lighting

The right lighting fixture or the correct amount of light can transform a home and make it more desirable to a potential buyer. The color temperature of the light in a house can affect a buyer’s perception of a home.

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Replace lightbulbs before taking your listing photos and/or showing your house to potential buyers. Replace darker bulbs with white LED light bulbs to instantly brighten up a room. Don’t forget about exterior lighting as well. A home with plenty of outdoor lighting is more likely to appeal to potential buyers. Floodlights, porch lights, string lights, and outdoor lanterns are all good ways to brighten up a home at night.

The dining room table 

A dining room is an easier room for buyers to envision laying out furnishings but you want to still capture their attention. It should look comfortable and have good lighting.

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If the room is dark and gloomy, bring in the light. Adding a vibrant table cloth can add dimension to the table as can adding soft furnishing such as a rug or carpet underneath.

Styling your bedroom

Create a gender-neutral bedroom, to appeal to more people.

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Make sure your bedroom is decluttered. Your bedroom needs to look clean, crisp, tailored, and free from personal items. You have to depersonalize the room because buyers want to imagine themselves living in there. This can be done with neutral clean linen, a statement headboard, cushions, and overthrows that are visually appealing. You could also display tasteful artwork to give the room a bit of life and charm.

Decorate and stage the outdoor parts of your house 

The outdoor spaces such as patios or balconies should not be forgotten and should be an extension of your interior decorations.

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Decorating your table with a bright tablecloth or having chairs with bespoke cushions can add a tasteful and playful element to your outdoor space.

Since buyers often look at multiple listings at once, it’s critical that you make your property stand out in the crowd – and that’s where decorating comes into play.  At the end of the day, it helps bring traffic to your property. The greater the number of people that view your home, the more likely it is that someone will submit an offer to purchase. Why not decorate it to give you that extra edge?