9 Tips for Home Staging on a Budget
Depending on your needs, the investment for home staging can vary. Even if you have a tight budget, you can still take advantage of many of the best tricks that will help your home have a positive effect on home buyers.The success of home staging is rooted in speaking to a buyer’s psychology, so some of our favorite home staging tips cost little to nothing to do.
The success of home staging is rooted in speaking to a buyer’s psychology, so some of our favorite home staging tips cost little to nothing to do.
Here are 9 effective tips for staging a home on a budget:
9 Budget-Friendly Home Staging Tips
Declutter, Declutter, Declutter
The most important and cost-effective home staging tip is to declutter the entire house before it goes on the market. Even if your home is well-organized already, we recommend paring it down even more. The fewer items in the home, the better.
This includes thinning out the bookshelves and closets as much as possible. Homeowners will look inside the latter, so thin out what is in them and store away the rest at another family member’s home or storage unit. You don’t want buyers thinking your home lacks storage because the closets are stuffed full of clothes and other items.
Use Neutral Colors + Slipcovers
The second most important step is to neutralize your home’s color palette. If you have any colors on your walls, paint them a nice neutral shade such as gray or beige. To save money, you can take on the project yourself over the weekend. Check with the experts at your local paint or hardware store to find out where else you can save money on the project.
If you have colorful flooring that is in good shape but there is no room in the budget to replace it, invest in some inexpensive but nice-looking, neutral area rugs to offset the color.
The same goes for furniture. If you have lots of boldly colored furniture or very loud patterns, pick up some inexpensive white slipcovers to tone them down. These are also great for giving outdated furniture a more classic look buyers will love. Just make sure you iron them first!
Introduce Some Colorful Accents
Once you have neutralized your home’s palette, it’s important to reintroduce some strategic pops of color. Keep them sparing but well-placed, such as some appropriate artwork on the walls, pillows, and other decorative pieces.
Pillows will instantly make a space feel cozier and more luxurious. You can pick up some pretty accent pillows for your sofa, side chairs, and bed at places like Home Goods. If you want to save even more money, you can cover the ones you already have or pick up some cheap plain ones and then cover them with fabric from the clearance rack at places like JoAnn’s Fabrics.
For decorative items, you can pick up sculptures and other items at thrift stores, garage sales, and flea markets. Then, buy some high gloss spray paint for a few bucks and give them an instant modern makeover.
Accent with Flowers and Plants
Bringing touches of nature into your home will instantly make it more inviting to home buyers. One of our favorite home staging tips is to add fresh (or fake) plants to empty corners and on surfaces, such as the kitchen counter or coffee table.
If your entryway is bare, add a tall plant to the corner by the door or two flanking the doorway. We also recommend adding colorful, plotted plants to your front entryway to improve your curb appeal and make it more welcoming.
Create Focal Points
To improve the look of any room, make sure there is a focal point in each space. If there is a fireplace, for example, nothing should be blocking it and the furniture should be arranged around it to draw a buyer’s eye to it. The same goes to a big window with a beautiful view.
The arrangement of furniture is also important to making a space feel more inviting and fluid. Simply moving things around doesn’t cost a dime and can have a huge impact on how large or small it feels. Try some different arrangements to promote a better flow, such as angling the furniture or removing pieces that are making it feel cramped.
Fill a Spare Bedroom with an Air Mattress
If you have an empty spare bedroom or one you’ve been using as a playroom or storage room, you can transform it into a guest bedroom with a very simple hack: purchase an inflatable air mattress and hoist it up on some empty boxes. Then, cover it with a bed skirt, luxurious comforter, and a group of accent pillows. Flank it with some simple end tables (you can spray paint some TV trays to save even more money) and finish it off with a tall plant in the corner or a vase of flowers on the bedside table. Voila – a perfectly staged guest suite!
Make Your Master Suite More Luxurious
If you don’t have a headboard, a great alternative is to hang some pretty sheers or light-colored drapes behind the bed. This will make the space feel more luxurious, which is definitely what you want homeowners to feel when they walk into a master suite.
Pair this with a beautiful comforter, plenty of pillows, and a tray with either some coffee cups and a bag of coffee or some wine glasses. All of these things are inexpensive but will make buyers feel like they’ve stepped into a comfortable retreat.
Arrange Your Clothes by Color
After you’ve decluttered your closets and organized them, another quick tip that won’t cost you a dime is to arrange your clothes by color. This may sound a bit frivolous, but it will actually make the closet appear even more neat and pleasing to the eye.
Add White Towels and a White Robe in the Bathroom
Small touches can have some of the biggest impact in home staging. In the bathroom, it’s all about the white linens. Pick up some new, inexpensive white towels from a place like Walmart or Target to hang on display and to drape over the tub. You can even tie some pretty ribbon around the ones that are hanging to add an extra touch of luxury.
We also love to hang a simple white robe on the door with a nice wooden hanger. People associate these with luxurious hotels, so it will subconsciously call the idea to their minds that they are someplace where they can relax and get pampered.
All of these home staging tips are budget-friendly but can help you get a faster sale and more money for your home. For more easy home staging tips, check out our free Home Staging Webinar.