Staged to Sell

I love hosting open houses. Especially well staged open houses that really give a potential buyer a feel for how a particularly tricky spot can be laid out... like this little desk right in the entryway. 

I visited some open houses a few weekends ago with some real estate clients and came across this little ranch. It was a flip and because no one was living there after the work was completed they had it staged. The photos of a vacant home are typically not interesting and not interesting leads to less showings. Staged homes generally sell for more than unstaged homes.

I want to show off this particular home because I think the stager (unfortunately I have no idea who they were) did a great job finding tasteful furnishings that accurately showed off the size of the house. You'll probably notice that every room has a neutral paint color... which could look very blah to potential buyers if it wasn't paired with great pops of color. When repainting to sell your home you can't go wrong with a neutral wall color... buyers will have a much easier time envisioning their own belongings in the space if they aren't imagining how much work it'll take to paint over a bold or bright color.

I find staging to be especially helpful when you have small bedrooms. A typical home buyer has no idea what size bed would fit into a small space but it's must easier to envision your things in that house if you see that a full sized bed is able to fit with two end tables, for example. Simply staging the bedrooms could protect a buyer from just walking away believing the rooms / house to be too small for them.

The person who staged this home did a great job making the bathrooms feel spa-like with white towels, zero clutter and calming accessories. If you are selling your house, or intending to, take the lead from this home and have zero clutter out (ie: buyers don't need to see any of your toiletries)... it's amazing how much more restful it makes the home feel.

Every home buyer wants a workable kitchen and if staged take the lead from this kitchen and use plants, food that wont spoil and white or neutral dishes.

What are some great home staging tips you've seen?