Home staging is vastly different from interior decorating. While interior decorating is about what is currently trending, home staging is to create a home that looks move-in ready. As such, there are many fine lines to walk to ensure your home is properly staged. Below are a few of the common mistakes made during home staging!
Not Enough Character and Too Empty
Most people believe the best approach to home staging is to go neutral on everything. That’s great advice; however, you don’t want to go so neutral that any character or charm is lost. This can happen when people empty their homes and add minimal furniture and decorations in neutral or pale colors.
Rather than doing either extreme of minimalism versus maximalism, we suggest adding some strategically placed colorful (or unique) features to merge with the neutral tones. As we discussed in our blog on how to sell your home in the winter, cozy without clutter is a great way to show charm and potential.
Not Enough Light, Or A Lack of Variety
Overhead lighting is common throughout homes, and each light should be on for any tour. However, incorporating extra lighting features is a great way to add a little extra flair. These could be sconces, table lamps, or floor lamps. When used with a warmer lightbulb, they can add coziness to any room!
Old Paint
There will be damage and grime on many walls. While cleaning walls is great, most professionals recommend doing a fresh coat of paint in a cohesive color. If your home has a unique feature (such as an accent wall with a mural or a colorful wallpaper), we recommend leaving it rather than painting over it.
Not Cleaning
After the painting, the pillow fluffing, the art hanging, the rearranging, there is one main thing that often goes forgotten: cleaning! Don’t forget to tidy up, take out the trash, and light a candle or boil a simmer pot to have a fresh-smelling home.
Now that you know the common mistakes, you can know how to avoid them. For additional help, your real estate agent can help with suggestions and tips or recommend a staging company! It’s important you have a trusted real estate agent who you can go to with everything from finances to throw blanket opinions. That’s where we come in!
At Long and Foster Real Estate, Liz Wilson has years of experience serving Lake Anna and the surrounding areas, such as: Spotsylvania, Fredericksburg, Louisa, Mineral, Bumpass, Orange, and Charlottesville. Her years of experience allow for in-depth knowledge of the area and expertise in both selling your home and finding you your perfect new home.
When you’re ready to sell your home, and begin looking to purchase a new one, call Liz at 540-226-6475 to learn more about working together!