Curb appeal feeds into the common mistake of house staging a home to the point of extravagance. While decorating and adding a few extra touches can enhance the façade and interior of your home, when there is too much fuss, the essence of your home is often lost. In fact, what may have made your property attractive in the first place may be overwhelmed by too many extra flourishes. The result is those looking at the property will not get a true sense of the home’s potential or space.
Placing too much art on the wall, furnishing the space with ornate, heavy pieces, and painting the home with bright, or even loud, colours can be very distracting to visitors. When it comes to home staging in Melbourne, professionals say the one thing that can detract from a home is too much decoration because of the personal taste of the prospective buyers. When house staging, homeowners walk a fine line between making the home appealing and completely distracting the prospective buyer.
Let’s take a look at a few key ways you can best showcase your home to give a great first impression without overdoing it.
Remove The Decorative Clutter
While it might seem obvious, one thing that can detract from the space is clutter that masks as decoration. Your visitors have to see the space’s potential, and a home with too much going on can prevent this from happening. Magazines that are stacked on coffee tables, books that are haphazardly placed on shelves, and place settings that give the appearance that a meal is about to be served are a few examples of the way decoration can also be unnecessary clutter.
Homeowners do not have to do away with decoration but can find understated ways to convey the home’s comfort. Instead of stacks of magazines, consider placing a few on the coffee table, no more than four. Books can be neatly placed in shelving, and place settings can be toned down for a simpler look. In any sense, removing decorative pieces that can contribute to the appearance of clutter in the home is one way to make the space more attractive.
Keep Colours Neutral
Another major issue when staging the home is using colours that are bright, busy, and in some cases, distracting. Wall colour, especially, should be kept to neutral tones, and in the case that the home is shaded heavily, neutral tones that are lighter can make the room appear larger. Dark furnishings should be avoided, but if you have them, you can pair them with lighter cushions to offset the colour and vice versa. Whether it is wall colouring, cabinet colour, or furnishings, neutral colours are the way to go simply because they are almost like a blank palette in that you can accent the walls, furnishings, and cabinets with decoration or accessories to your taste.
Depersonalise The Space
While it might be tempting to showcase your family and friends, placing personal pictures, diplomas, and certificates, while sentimental to you, can be very distracting to visitors. The prospective buyers have to see themselves and their family in the space, so placing personal items around the home has very little effect on a buyer who might have other ideas. Instead of family photos, consider placing simple art or tapestries on walls to dress up the living space.
Avoiding Upstaging Your Home’s Potential
Selling a home in a market where the buyer is in control of the sale until the purchase is even more reason to present the best image of your home to the public. While it might be tempting to decorate the house to your personal style, many people will view the space, so it must appeal to a variety of tastes. By removing decorative clutter, keeping colours neutral, and depersonalising the space, the home becomes a place where prospective buyers can imagine their own ideas for styling the space.
