Staging to Sell

By Tess Cagle 

If you’re planning to put your home on the market, there are several key ways you can stage your home to give it a facelift and sell it faster—without spending too much money. 

Interior designer Faye Chandler owns a staging and design company in Austin, Texas that furnishes and styles homes before they go on the market. Chandler gave us her top tips for staging your home to sell. 

Chandler said key ways to increase your home’s value include decluttering and depersonalizing your space, painting walls with a neutral color, modernizing your kitchen, updating flooring, and deep-cleaning your bathrooms. 

Here are the top ways to prepare your home before you put it on the market.

Declutter and De-Personalize 

Chandler says that if you're working off the plan that you will sell your home quickly, you should expect to be out of the house in 60 days. Everything you don’t need during that time should be packed away, which also helps declutter your home and make it more appealing to buyers. 

“New buyers want to see there is enough space in the home for them,” Chandler said. “Having stuffed closets and drawers immediately says ‘too small for me’.” 

Some major items that can be cleared out to make your home appear more spacious includes extra furniture, cabinets, closets, and the garage. 

Paint Walls and Trim 

Chandler says she always recommends homeowners planning to sell should repaint all of the walls in either Benjamin Moore White Dove or Sherwin Williams Alabaster. 

“You can paint an entire room with either of these colors using flat for the ceiling, eggshell for the walls and semi-gloss for the trim and we always pick a fresh bold color for the front door,” Chandler said. “If you are one of the unlucky people who have popcorn ceilings have them removed, nothing dates a house more.”

Modernize Your Kitchen 

To stage your kitchen, Chandler says you should re-paint your walls the neutral colors listed above. For cabinets, consider updating them with a tuxedo finish and replace handles with stylish and more modern options. 

Consider updating your backsplash and countertops, especially if you still have Formica or tile counters. Replace them with a solid surface composite or granite. 

Add candescent lighting to the kitchen. At a minimum, replace outdated pendulum lighting with something more modern. 

Update Flooring

“Nothing is worse when selling a home than old carpet,” Chandler said.

Remove carpet and replace it with wood or a quality laminate wood plank flooring. New carpet is best installed in the upstairs areas. 

Some homes already have hardwood flooring, but it’s experienced wear and tear over the years. In that case, invest in refinishing those problem areas. 

Make Bathrooms Shine 

Bathrooms should be spotless when it comes time to open up your home to showings. At a minimum, Chandler says the grout shouldn’t have any dirt, but she recommends re-grouting the tile. 

Additionally, updated lighting and reframing large mirrors goes a long way in making your bathroom stand out.