02/11/2018
HOW MUCH DOES HOME STAGING COST AND WHAT YOU WILL GAIN BY
Staging Your Home This Spring
Guest Writer – Alexa Collins
If you’re selling your house this Spring, these 5 interior design tips for staging will help create warm, lived-in rooms. Your goal is to help visitors imagine a new lifestyle; simply by walking from room to room. Set up your home as if you were about to entertain, or as if reading in the other room, preparing lunch or having a siesta. It gives potential buyers ideas on how they could use your home, and what they can look forward to.
Since Spring is about new beginnings; use floral prints, bright colors and gorgeous flowers throughout.
From the bathroom to the bedroom, from adding natural light to matching different styles, use these tools for your home to look its best without a major overhaul.
Here are 5 fabulous Spring inspired home staging tips to brighten and freshen the entire house. Buyers will love the hints of Springtime and the fun, cohesive look.
1. Add Seasonal Fruits & Veggies to Your Kitchen for Pops of Color.
Interior design and staging expert Karen Parziale told us that putting glass jars on the kitchen counters is a great way to stage your kitchen. Fill one of these jars with radishes for a pop of magenta, one with apricots, and one with limes or purple asparagus to mix it up.
If you have a kitchen table or island, add a white or glass bowl full of lemons for a hint of yellow. If you want more suggestions, a quick google search will tell you “what fruits and veggies are in season this Spring,” and you can choose the produce that best accents your space.
If you have an all white kitchen, feel free to go with bold fruits or vegetables. If your kitchen already has color in the cabinets or counter tops, go for more subdued hues as not to clash with any existing color palette.
Image: Unsplash
2. Sprinkle Different Fresh Cut Flowers or Bowls of Fruit Throughout the House
Have you ever put a vase of fresh-cut flowers in your bedroom, living room, or kitchen and felt new life breathed into the space? Blooming flowers instantly add a lively and positive natural vibe to a room, so you should definitely place flowers throughout your house when you stage it. Since so many varieties bloom in the Spring, you have easy access to different shades and types of blooms.
Arrangements of one flower type have the most impact because they create a focal point of one concentrated color and don’t distract from other patterns that might exist already in your space. Vases should be neutral; try clear, chrome, or white, or natural wood.
Add a bunch of peonies in one room for elegance, lilies for fragrance, or irises for a bright indigo accent. You can also try yellow tulips for some cheer, or a round vase of tea roses. Sunflowers of daffodils in the kitchen are also a fan favorite! But don’t forget the fruit!
Notice how all the books on the book cases below have their spines facing the wall… its less distracting for the buyer. What stands out instead is pops of green apples, green plants and glass mixed among warm wood tones.
Decorate your home as if you just stepped out for a minute. Leaving a drink on a table or counter top will give the potential buyer a snap shot of your life; after all when buyers look to buying a home, lifestyle is what they are investing in.
Image: Public Domain Pictures
3. Use Lemons to Make a Natural Deodorizer
Your house has to smell amazing when potential buyers visit, and soft, natural scents are the best way to achieve that. Lemons are a natural deodorizer and adding them to your kitchen styling is colorful as well as clearing the air of any cooking smells.
Use lemons, a sprig of rosemary, and a dash of vanilla to make your house smell fresh and delicious. Just put all of the ingredients in water and simmer on the stove until the aroma fills your space! Some people bake cookies, others cook a roast; use smell as tool in the kitchen to attract visitors.
Image: Vogue
4. Get Throw Pillows in Spring Colors
You have pops of color in the kitchen using seasonal fruits and veggies, and fresh-cut flowers sprinkled throughout; bathroom, bedrooms, hallway. Now let’s add some Spring to the living room!
Take a look around your living room/ family room space. Do you have a clean design lacking interesting patterns? If yes, this is a great opportunity to add simple, bright floral patterned pillows.
Make sure that the pillows match for a subtle and fun accent that’s not too distracting from the rest of the room.
If your rooms have existing patterns, add solid colored cushions. Two pillows in the same color is a most chic look. Another great staging tool; books.
Image: Real Simple
5. Lay Out Spring-Themed Books On the Coffee Table
Laying out Spring cooking or gardening books on the coffee table gives the buyer a few hints on how they might spend time in their new home. Plus, they look great!
If you have an incredible kitchen, pick out one or two Spring cooking books to remind buyers of the great meals they can make if they buy your house. Books placed on a side table, or nightstand also work well. Add flowers and you have interest, color, and height in the one package.
If you have an incredible outdoor space, a Spring gardening book might be more appropriate. Have fun with it, and make sure to pick books with a chic, clean cover design.
Before you incorporate all of these fun Spring interior design ideas, you’ll need to declutter and clean your entire house. Be sure to create an easy to follow “declutter your house checklist” to get the job done and move onto all of our fun tips. Happy Springtime home staging–and good luck selling your house!
Brighten up your home and bring in buyers with these easy ideas.
Springtime brings sunshine, showers -- and plenty of opportunities for home staging. Make the most of the season with these fresh updates that are sure to attract buyers.
Whip your yard into shape. When you're selling in the spring, you need to get your yard in shape as quickly as possible. Clear winter yard debris, and get frost-resistant plants that won't be affected if a late cold spell hits. Or, invest in silk flowers for a touch of color that you don't have to worry about watering.
Do some spring cleaning. It's natural to want to spruce up your space in the spring, so scrub away! A sparkling home will impress buyers and make your home seem even more appealing.
Box up your winter wardrobe. Bulky winter clothes take up lots of space, so move them out as you de-clutter your closets. You'll impress buyers with all that space.
Spruce up the entryway. If your welcome mat is covered with winter dirt, pick up a new one. A clean, pretty doorway will help set the tone for the entire showing.
Bring spring aromas indoors. Spring is not only a colorful season, but a fragrant one, too. Bring the aroma indoors. Scents have a profound effect on mood, so infusing scent into your decor with diffusers, candles, fresh cut plants/flowers, or incense can change the overall feeling of a space.
Bring out the bright colors. Tuck away the heavy, winter flannel comforter and pull out crisp linens with coverlets for color. Bring in the spring with floral-designed spreads or colorful solids. Don't forget accent pillows for added style and comfort.
Related To
Home staging—where you decorate your house in an effort to entice buyers to bite—may seem counterintuitive: Why spend money on a place if you're moving out? Simple answer: because it can get you more money for your home sale. And evidence shows it's usually well worth the effort. On average, staged homes sell 88% faster and for 20% more than nonstaged ones, which is nothing to sneeze at. But just how much does home staging really cost? Here's the scoop, so you can decide if it's worth the investment for you.
How much does home staging cost?
File this one under "obvious"—but the pricier the home, the more it costs to stage. As a general rule of thumb, most stagers charge $300 for an initial design consultation, and $500 per month
Most professional home stagers also require a three-month minimum contract, "even if you sell the home in 24 hours."
What can cost extra?
Most stagers work with the knickknacks and art that the homeowner already owns. But sometimes they "need to purchase new accessories, fresh towels, flowers, and/or fruit, as these small touches make a big difference!" Your Home Matters invest in Staging and Redesign. Those new purchases will add to the overall cost of the project.
The layout of your home could also add a ka-ching to a home stagin expert's price tag. A job that requires heavy lifting in a multistory house usually means hiring additional help to move furniture.
And if you're listing a completely vacant home because you've already moved out, you're looking at the additional expense of renting every stick of furniture and all decor items.
Conversely, if you inherited a ton of antiques, you may need to put excess belongings into storage, tacking that monthly rental onto your overall staging costs.
A FRESH COAT OF PAINT
A final expense, an important one that can help ensure staging success, is the price of painting a room. A fresh coat in a 12-by-12 square foot room will cost around $200, or $400 to $700 if left to the pros. Choose neutral colors.
How to save on home staging
You don't have to stage your entire house from basement laundry room to attic storage. "A great way to save money when staging is by only focusing on the main areas of a home," says. These are the rooms you spend the most time in—your kitchen, living room, dining room, and master bedroom. Another wallet-friendly home staging option is to limit yourself to a consultation with a home stager. When Seasside Home Staging views the home with the owner(s), offering suggestions to maximize the potential for each room, "the price is far less, $125 for 90 minutes."
The biggest savings? Selling your home faster, at a better price, and without months of carrying costs—because your house was properly staged. attract spring buyers, change your home's décor. Fill your interior with fresh motifs, bursts of color, and lively patterns. While you can't change the location of your house, you can change its condition. Get your home ready to sell with these spring home staging tips.
Start Spring Staging With a Spring Cleaning. Scrub your home until it sparkles – and don't forget the windows, says Ilaria Barion, founder of Virtual Staging by Ilaria Barion. Then, get out of winter "nesting" mode and declutter, declutter, declutter until your space is light, airy and spacious.
