When you’re selling, you want to highlight your home’s features and make it easy for a buyer to envision the space as theirs. Kansas City home staging expert, Sally Moore, shares her top 10 secrets to stage a home on a budget. 

Home staging sells homes quickly

Less than 10-percent of home buyers can walk into a house and visualize their furnishings in the property. That’s why home staging makes such a big difference. It helps buyers see the possibilities of a space.

The Sally Moore Real Estate Team offers FREE home staging to all Kansas City area home sellers. There’s no doubt it sells homes faster and for more money, even in a seller’s market!

As Accredited Staging Professionals, Sally Moore and her partner Dee Harding, are certified stagers. They have the experience and training to transform your space. According to Stagedhomes.com, 88-percent of staged homes sold at or above list price!

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Whether you’re selling your home, or updating the look of your home and looking for design help, these tricks of the trade will help you transform your space with items you already have in your home.

All of these tricks are easy to perform in your own home, and they’re all FREE. You don’t have to spend a dime to transform your space. The items already in your home are perfect for changing the way an area looks.

1. Depersonalize your space

Sellers want buyers to focus on the features rather than the decor. So, depersonalize the space before you begin staging or redesigning it.

Your decor has sentimental value. After all, it’s probably hung on your walls and filled your counters for years. Now, it’s time to look at your items in a different light.

You want your buyers to envision the home as theirs, not yours. So take down personal items and collectibles.

First, decide what you’re keeping and what can go. Put your items in three boxes. Keep the first pile, throw away the second one, and donate the last box.

2. Shop your own home

Then, lay everything you’re keeping on a table and shop your items. Be a picky buyer, since the home buyers who tour your home will be!

When you see your items in a pile rather than displayed in a room, you’ll see new ways to repurpose.

Anything you don’t use to stage your home, pack away in a box for moving.

3. Positioning matters most

Then, once you have the items for staging, focus on where to position them. Positioning is more important than the decor!

Move the items around, so you’re highlighting the home’s features!

4. Be creative

When we’re staging homes, we often move things around several times. We may like it in one place when we first start in a room, but later on, we place it somewhere else. That’s ok. Let your creative juices flow and be open to putting items in new places and spaces.

You want items that flow together and vary in size. Some decor can be tall, while others are small.

Use items differently. For example, here’s an easy way to make European looking shams with pillowcases you already have in your house or a cheap new bedding set.

5. Highlight the home’s features

With home staging, you want to highlight a home’s features, so the buyer’s eye is drawn to them during a showing. You’ll use decor to do this, but ultimately your goal is to show off the home, rather than your items!

For example, in the kitchen, you may want the granite countertop or backsplash to stand out. So, keep your counter space clear and only use a few accessories that draw the eye to these features.

In a living room, you want the fireplace to stand out if you have one. It’s a fan favorite with buyers.

For example, if you have an island with bar seating you want to highlight this feature. Home buyers like to see all the places they can gather to eat or for entertaining. If you have island seating, make sure you have bar stools and consider adding table settings to showcase how much you can fit on the spacious island.

If you have a glass cabinet or tall ceilings, make these features stand out.

6. Use color to make a home’s features stand out

Color makes a home’s features pop especially in dark spaces. If you have dark cabinets, add color to the shelves or bookcases.

If you have a glass cabinet in the kitchen, use colored glasses to accent it. That way the buyer notices this feature of the home. Plus, it helps the buyer envision their decor in your home.

In this example, the dark pillows on the couch don’t allow the light to reflect off of them. The large windows create a lot of natural light in this room, but the dark couch absorbs all that brightness.

With a quick pillow change, the room transforms. The light reflects off the white and gold pillows!

The pillows came from the bedroom. Another example of transforming your home by re-using your items but in different locations around the house.

Even something as simple as greenery, adds color and freshens up a room. It doesn’t even have to be real!

7. Follow the rule of 3s

The rule of 3’s is a staple in home staging. You want to group items. From chairs to accessories, things look better together. You can also add more details and make it the rule of 5’s. Just keep the number odd as that’s more natural.

In this photo, you have three items of different height and color. Yet, they all flow together and accessorize the beautiful backsplash.

On a couch, add three pillows instead of two!

8. Use table settings for a “homey” feel

Should you set the table when you’re showing your home? It’s a question we often get and the answer depends on practicality and the look and feel of your home. First, if you’re living there, you may not have time to set the table before every showing. If you have time, make it a habit of setting the table after every meal so it’s always ready for that last minute home tour.

Table settings showcase all the places to entertain and eat in a home. Plus, they create a homey space. Just don’t overdo it. You don’t want to add more clutter to your home. Remember, that’s why we decluttered before staging.

9. Mix and match different textures

Shiny objects are great attention grabbers. They glisten and catch a buyer’s eye helping them focus on the home’s features around that item.

Decor with texture also helps. Mix and match. For example, use organic placemats with ceramic plates. The different textures create warmth in a room.

10. Less is more

Back to the first point, depersonalize and declutter. Make your room pop with less because less is more! Remove bulky furniture to make a small room look larger.

If you have a small space, add a mirror. It instantly makes a room look bigger.

We have all sorts of tricks for every room and type of house. Whether we’re staging Grandma’s house, a vacant property, or a well-lived-in property, these before and after photos from Kansas City area homes will show you how to transform any space.

Once the home is staged, walk through it and make sure every room is as functional as simple as possible, so the house shines!

These home staging tricks will help sell a home faster, and for more money! Just remember, your home rather than the items in it should be the star of the show!

What room are you ready to transform?