Ready To Show: A Home Staging Checklist

Many of the techniques that professional home stagers employ you can easily do yourself. Below is a checklist to make your home ready to show and ready to sell. Consult with your real estate agent for more tips and tricks.

ENTRANCE

– Make sure your front door is clean and put on a fresh coat of paint if needed.

– Consider buying a new welcome mat and putting up new house numbers that can be seen easily from the street.

CLEANING

– Clean everything in your home from the largest most-obvious areas down to the smallest least-conspicuous nooks and crannies.

– Consider hiring a cleaning service to come in and give your home a good once-over.

CLUTTER

– Get rid of any visible clutter on countertops, bookshelves, tables, sink tops, etc. Box it up and put it in storage or throw out what you don’t need.

– Remove any personal items such as pictures, artwork, or similar knick-knacks.

– Get rid of any furniture or other larger items you don’t use.

STORAGE

– Organize and remove clutter from all closets, cabinets, and easily accessible storage areas. Potential buyers will look in these areas.

– If you don’t have enough room for storage, consider renting a storage unit or asking a friend if you can borrow storage space in their home.

FURNITURE

– Move your furniture away from the walls. A room will look larger if you “float” your furniture away from the walls.

– Reposition your furniture so that each room has a natural traffic flow.

– Don’t be afraid to switch furniture between rooms to achieve new looks.

REPAIRS

– Give the inside of your home a fresh coat of paint or, if it’s been painted recently, touch up places that have scuff marks.

– Make minor repairs such as fixing leaking faucets, creaking cabinet doors, running toilets, etc.

LIGHTING

– Open all of your curtains and blinds to let in the maximum amount of natural light.

– If possible, replace heavy curtains with sheer fabrics—even if it’s only temporary.

– Make sure that each lighting fixture has high-wattage bulbs (up to the maximum that is safely allowed).

LANDSCAPING

– Remove any stray yard debris and make sure your grass is cut at least once a week, if not more.

– Consider hiring a landscaping company to keep your yard maintained on a regular basis or just to spruce up your yard once before you put it on the market.

EXTERIOR

– Wash or power wash your home’s siding as well as your driveway, concrete walkways, patios, decks, etc.

– Clean out your rain gutters and wash your windows and screens from the outside.  ∆