DIY Home Staging Tips

In a perfect world, you would hire a designer to come in and stage every detail of your home, making your home sell within days of hitting the market. The reality, however, is that home staging isn’t in everyone’s budget. But while you may not be able to hire someone to stage your home, you can easily take tips from the pros to do it on your own. Let’s take a look at some DIY home staging tips.

Cut the clutter

First things first — declutter. You need to sift through your home, tossing items you no longer use, packing items you won’t need to use before you move, and depersonalizing your home. Remove all of the magnets and children’s artwork from your refrigerator, take down wedding portraits, school photos, and other bric-a-brac occupying the spaces of your home. This is the time for you to get organized, not only for your upcoming move but to create a blank canvas for prospective buyers touring your home.

Deep cleanOnce you’ve eradicated the clutter and cleared your closets, it’s time to device a home cleaning plan. With all of the additional detritus cleared, you’ll be able to deep clean spaces in your home that haven’t been touched in some time. Scrub years of wax buildup from hardwood floors, wipe down your kitchen cabinets — inside and out — and wash all of your windows. Once you’ve done a deep clean, work on a maintenance plan to get you through showings.

Dress the walls

Maybe you never got around to buying all of the artwork you’d planned, or perhaps you’ve cleared all of your personal portraits and items from the walls and require replacements. Whatever the case, you want to make sure to decorate bare walls to make your home feel stylish and comfortable. 

A simple option is to purchase oversized mirrors to hang or prop against walls. Not only will you have broken up some of the “white space,” but you’ll also make rooms appear larger and brighter. In fact, adding mirrors to your home is a great way to amplify the natural light in and around places, giving warmth to the space.

If mirrors aren’t your thing, or you aren’t willing to make the investment, consider adding some DIY art for home staging. Now, this isn’t an option for the faint of heart or those without a single creative bone in their body, but even the least talented of people can create abstract art. 

Framed canvases are available pretty inexpensively, and you need only grab a few paints and brushes to get started. Consider using colors that match your decor, or live on the edge and use the canvas to provide a bright pop of color for a neutral room. And if all else fails, you can always Jackson Pollock your way with the painting, dashing blots of color haphazardly to create one-of-a-kind pieces.

Most of all, have fun with staging your home yourself. As you comb magazine and the internet for design inspiration, create a notebook with ideas for your new place. And if you’ve been dreaming of converting to a minimalist lifestyle, consider this time the trial period. Good luck!