Here are 14 staging tips that help home sellers make their smaller home appear larger than they appear. Realtor.com offers some savvy tips that can go a long way toward making sure you see big returns on the petite place you now call home.
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Throw a reverse housewarming party
The less clutter, the bigger your home will look and feel to potential buyers. To get rid of your unwanted items, throw a party before your first open house. Instead of having your friends bring a gift, have them pick one of your items and take it home with them.
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Go down to the bare minimum
Sift through your glass cupboards and built-ins, and clean off your countertops and then box up everything you don’t need on a daily basis and anything that’s smaller than a football. Leaving just the bare minimum will create the feeling of more space. A smaller space also tends to favor a more minimalist design, so having all of your collectible figurines on display on the shelves, side and console tables will bring the room in rather than opening it.
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Take your doors off their hinges
Remove all of your interior doors, besides those that lead to bedrooms, baths, and closets. The farther the eye can see, the better. deal breakers for buyersThere are other potential .
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Get rid of the heavy drapes
If your windows are hiding behind cumbersome drapes and other coverings, now’s the time to take them down. Leave your windows bare or hang sheer linen curtains to make your house instantly feel brighter and more cheerful. You’ll also extend the view to the outdoors, which will automatically make your space feel larger.
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Use only one color
In a small home, painting every single room the same color can prevent your space from feeling choppy and give it more of a continuous feel. The same idea goes for your furniture and accessories. Try to reduce contrasting colors wherever possible. Contrasting hues create definition, and the definition will make it that much more obvious that your space is small. Instead, opt for similar tones. If you have a room with taupe walls, walnut floors, a brown sofa, and milk-chocolate pillows—all various names for medium brown—the edges of each item will be less defined and, in turn, be perceived as taking up less space.
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Store your prints
If you an affinity for wild and colorful designs, it’s time to rein it in to avoid making buyers feel claustrophobic. Keep prints to a minimum and offset them with solids drawn from the same palette.
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Take down your artwork
Resist the temptation to cover your walls with artwork or other hangings. Blank space gives a room a chance to breathe and also will stave off any twinges of claustrophobia in potential buyers.
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Let there be lots of light
Add the highest possible wattage bulbs to all the lights in your home. Daylight-toned bulbs, in particular, provide a natural-looking light that can help make a small space seem larger.
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Cut out the rugs
The more you break up the flow of your flooring, the smaller your space will feel. To prevent that from happening, limit rugs to only one or two main areas such as under your dining table. Just make sure the rugs aren’t too tiny, because small rugs can actually dwarf a space.
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Max out your use of mirrors
Mirrors can brighten a dark room and make a small space look much bigger by reflecting natural light. Generally, if you place a mirror next to or directly across from a window, it’ll trick visitors into thinking there’s more depth to your house than there actually is.
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Watch out for corners
Don’t put your sofa, bookshelf or nightstand in the corner. Leaving the corners of a room open extends the buyer’s view into the space. The more open space you can see, the larger the rooms will feel.
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Display glass and metal furnishings
You might have to send your dark wood furnishings to a storage space until your home sells. When it comes to furniture, materials such as glass and metal that reflect light and feel airy will give more sense of space than dark, heavy wood pieces
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Streamline your linens
A red bedspread with orange pillows and faux fur throws is just too much for the eye to take in within a small space. Keep colors and textures on your bed uniform—and lighter weight is better.
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Go tall
Wherever you can, you want to raise the bar of your shower curtains and window treatments. Hang them as high as you can to give the illusion of higher ceilings and greater space.
Do you have any other tips that you’ve used? Let me know on Instagram
