You don’t need your realtor’s license to know that “staging” your house is a great way to showcase what your home looks like at its best. As noted previously, the thing about first impressions is that you only get one. An often-overlooked room for staging is the living room, and this article will briefly discuss 4 tips to help you maximize the impact of your home’s living room on potential home buyers.
1. Redistribute Your Furniture
If you’re a parent, you understand what an eyesore clutter can be; a toy car here, clothing lying haphazardly anywhere but the laundry basket, and books spread across the floor. You don’t need to be a parent to understand how aesthetically unpleasing clutter is, but it helps.
To minimize the clutter in your living room, which you are trying to present in the best possible light, ask yourself “what does this piece of furniture bring to the living room as a whole?” If it does not bring something significant to the living room, remove it – the first step to removing clutter has just been taken.
Once you have decluttered your living room, move the furniture around so that it is set up to allow the maximum number of people to sit and talk; that is what the living room is for after all. In order to do this, many professionals suggest moving furniture away from the walls (which has the added benefit of increasing circulation. If your living room is large enough, it might be a good idea to create multiple seating areas with matching rugs to signal that they are distinct areas within the living room.
2. If There is a Focal Point to Your Living Room, Capitalize on That
The most common focal point in a living room is the mantel, it is where the eyes naturally rest when entering the room. Once again, you want to declutter the focal point of the room by asking “what does this add to the room?” Replace your photos and knick-knacks with interesting art, a fun sculpture, or a shiny vase. If the focal point of your living room is the view of the backyard, make sure to declutter the area to provide a better view.
3. Don’t Use Loud Colors
There is a good chance that your color scheme will appeal to some buyers, but the point of staging your living room is to appeal to all buyers. As such, consider utilizing white slip covers instead of loud patterned furniture when staging your home. Further, you want to consider using furniture that photographs well: light, neutral, rugs photograph better than loud colored rugs and appeal to more people’s tastes.
4. Accessorize, Accessorize, Accessorize
The devil is in the details and staging your living room is no different. If you want your living room to appear as an excellent location to relax and read a nice book, consider throwing a cashmere over a chair to subtly send the viewer a message that this is a relaxing area for the household to unwind.
It is well known that familiar scents evoke familiar emotions, and you certainly want a prospective homebuyer to feel at home. Decorate your living room with fresh flowers to provide the room with a light scent.
While this is by no means an exhaustive list of tips, it will certainly help you stage your living room more effectively. At the Chernov Team we know that whoever comes to the table most prepared leaves with the most, and the Chernov Team always leaves with the most.