Listing Tips: Decorating Your Home For The Real Estate Market
If you want to sell you home with maximum impact and highest value, you should consider all the possibilities and what it takes to accomplish this goal. Every day living is quite different than getting your home "MARKET READY" for the Real Estate Market. You need to determine what to spend money on for sprucing up your home. And, what not to spend money on when considering your home for sale. Here are a few of my favoite tips you will not see in most "Home Staging" protfolio's, that I am happy to share:
Overall Look:
Simplicity: Look for clean lines, texture and warm solid colors on walls and furniture. Use patterns on accessories only. Get rid of clutter and personal photographs where possible. Buy new towels and rugs for baths and kitchen. Purchase a new front door mat.
Interior and Exterior Door Hardware:
Check your door hardware throughout the house. Is it dated? Replace old door hardware with "Oil rubbed bronze" or "brushed nickel" hardware. Home Depot has some nice styles from “KwickSet” that are reasonable. It is amazing what it does to the look of the interior! Cost: $500.00 - $1000.00
Electrical Outlets:
Are your switches and electrical outlets old and dirty? Replace them with the Decora style plates. If you hire an electrician, the cost will be approx. $500.00 - $700.00 for an 1700 sf. house (please get estimates).
Drapery:
Take down all old drapery that is out of style. You can purchase ready-made drapes from Target,
Linnen’s and Things or even WallMart for very little. If you don’t want to go that route, take down
all old drapery and rods, wipe down or paint trim if necessary, patch drapery rod holes. Bare trim looks much better than old, dirty drapery.
Paint Colors and Trim:
Rule of thumb: White or "off white" trim and white ceilings “open up” a room and will make it look bigger and taller. If you neutralize the ceiling, it will “appear to disappear” and become less noticeable.
The taller the ceiling height, the bolder the color can be used on walls. A typical 9 foot ceiling can take bold/dark colors if it has white trim or crown moulding. If you are considering using a bold or dark color, make sure you have enough natural light in the room. If your room has little to no windows, do not create that “dungeon” look with a darker color. Also, consider what is on the floor and floor trim. The flooring will affect the wall colors dramatically.
Natural Wood Trims: Be careful using color with natural trims. Avoid blues, intense yellows and some hues of red on walls. Ivories, grey-greens work well with natural wood trims.
  Flooring:
Clean them up very well. If you don’t want to spend the money to replace flooring, purchase a solid colored rug that will cover the flaws. Sisals are nice for this use as well. And make sure you use a non-slip underlay between the rug and the flooring for safety and security.
Older flooring: Wood, cement or even carpet: Use a throw rug to break up any flaws.
For more staging/decorating tips, please feel free to give me a call! This is my specialty!
Thank you ~
Kate Crist, CRS
970-222-2532 DIRECT
|
