From good old-fashioned decluttering to new décor accentuating your home’s best
features, staging your house for sale can help create an irresistible first impression
for buyers. And it doesn’t have to be costly. Here are 8 DIY home staging tips.
What started as simple advice from real estate agents to spring clean and keep your
home spick and span before open homes has today evolved into a booming stand-alone
industry – home staging. It’s become an important marketing tool to help homes stand
out online and in person, it’s crucial in establishing emotional connections with buyers,
helps showcase your property’s best features (while glossing over any not-so-great
features), and ultimately, could result in a higher sale price and less time on the market.
For many, meticulously staging your home can be a dreaded task or simply something
you don’t have time for. This is where professional home stagers come in. Their job is to
get your home sale-ready by strategically putting your property’s best foot forward one
plush pillow at a time.
Home staging doesn’t always require professionals or extravagant changes, though;
there are plenty of DIY tips and tricks you can utilise to stage your home yourself. You’ll
still create a clean, marketable space in which buyers can visualise themselves living.
Here’s how:

1. Declutter, depersonalise and deep clean
If you’re not going to do anything else, a fresh, clean, and spacious home free from
clutter and personal items should be your top priority. A big part of wooing potential
buyers is tapping into the emotional factor – you want them to visualise their lives in
your home – which is challenging if you’ve got family photos and personal
knickknacks dominating the space. Label a storage box for each room and work your
way through the house, clearing bedside tables, countertops, and walls of personal
items. Once you’ve decluttered and depersonalised, move on to a thorough spring
clean.

2. Clear your list of lingering little jobs
From leaking taps to chipped paint patches, blown bulbs and squeaking doors, now’s
the time to cross off any minor repairs or minor damages on your to-do list. While
these may seem trivial, many buyers are looking for a home they can move into
without making immediate repairs. If you’ve lived with these minor annoyances for a
while, you may not even notice them, so get a friend or family member to give your
home a once-over.

3. Neutralise for universal appeal
Competition is key when selling a home, so to appeal to the largest group of buyers,
a neutral space wins the day. This applies to furniture, walls and décor items like
towels and pillows. If quirky and colourful is the style du jour at yours, consider
storing a few larger pieces, complimenting them with neutral accents, or borrowing
some neutral items from friends and family. If you’ve inherited or created bold feature
walls, consider giving them a lick of paint in your favourite shade of white.

4. Go for form over function
Think about areas of your home that are currently very functional for you but could
create a better first impression if reorganised. For example, are your couches
blocking the flow to your outdoor living space? Could the laundry nook be
repurposed into a home office? Your real estate agent may be able to give you some
tips on this front, but focus on opening up spaces, creating maximum aesthetic
appeal, and optimising what you’ve got.

5. Don’t forget the curb appeal
Although we know we should ‘never judge a book by its cover’, homes are almost
always judged on their exteriors. It’s the first thing potential buyers see and can go a
long way in making or breaking crucial first impressions. So, get out the gardening
gloves, weed the garden beds and cover them in a fresh layer of mulch, mow the
lawns, trim the hedges, and grab some potted colour from the garden centre for any
planters or pots. Don’t forget to clean the external windows, sweep away cobwebs,
and give your letterbox a fresh coat of paint if it needs one.

6. Maximise natural light
Light, bright, airy homes create a welcoming atmosphere, so ensure your current
window fixtures are up to the task. If you’ve got dark, heavy drapes, consider
swapping them out for neutral sheers or removing them entirely for open homes. Pay
attention to your light fixtures, too – this includes checking they’re all in good working
order, switching bulbs to warm white to create an inviting ambience, and adding extra
lighting if needed. Alternatively, you can add reflective surfaces like mirrors to
disperse and light up a space.

7. Add a scent-sational touch
Once all the big things are taken care of, finishing touches that create an atmosphere
and a warm, welcoming energy shouldn’t be overlooked. Whether you go for the ageold favourite aroma of freshly baked cookies, a more subtle essential oil diffuser, or
freshly cut flowers, pleasant smells can evoke positive memories, while dubious
smells (like pet odours or mould) can be a huge turn-off. The most recommended
and favoured scents for selling a home include citrus, vanilla, cinnamon, pine, and
jasmine.

8. Focus on furniture
We’ve all watched The Block and witnessed firsthand how much interior design and
furniture affect the final results. When selling your home, the prize on the line is
achieving the best possible sale price. Often, more can be less when it comes to
furniture – avoid overcrowding and ensure it works to help showcase rather than
hinder the flow of a room. Furniture can also be used to highlight a space’s potential
or draw the eye towards key features like fireplaces or architectural details. Rental
furniture can be a great option if your property is vacant, or the current furniture is
hugely outdated.

If it’s all too much, hire the professionals
If tackling DIY isn’t an option, consider hiring professional home stagers. They will
assess your home and provide personalised advice to enhance your property. Staging
your home is another (important) tool for effectively marketing your home. It’s worth
investing in and often pays for itself by achieving the best possible sale price as quickly
as possible.
If getting the best advice on selling or buying is top of your agenda, and you don’t know
where to start, contact your local First National Real Estate office. Your friendly local
expert will be able to help you with all thing’s property related.

Disclaimer
The following advice is of a general nature only and intended as a broad guide. The advice should not
be regarded as legal, financial, or real estate advice. You should make your own inquiries and obtain
independent professional advice tailored to your specific circumstances before making any legal,
financial, or real estate decisions. Click here for full Terms of Use