When it comes times to sell your house, appearance is everything. How your home looks at the point of sale is paramount to gaining the buyer’s attention and hopefully, in turn, capturing their hearts enough so they give you the price you’re asking for? That’s where staging comes into the play. Staging is the art of styling a house specifically for the sole purpose of being sold. It usually involves hiring an interior decorator and renting a bunch of furniture in order to make your home look appealing to potential buyers. In every home, there is a heart, a feel, a look, a style that is distinctly unique. When staging your home, it’s your job to find out what this is and to accentuate it, all the whilst making it appealing to the broad spectrum of buyers. In this post, we will give you some tips and ideas for staging older style apartments.
The Industrial Loft Style
The industrial loft style looks amazing and its quite easy to achieve by using minimalist furniture with maximum functionality and exposing walls and floors to create a rustic, open, and most importantly usable space. Lofts space usually contain pieces of furniture with sharp clean edges positioned parallel to the wall. Exposed beams and reclaimed timber can be used to amplify and add to the rusticity.
Of course, this style works best with high ceilings. So if it’s available. Go for it. Have a look at google images for some ideas and inspiration. Take the things you like and leave the things you don’t. That when it comes time to renting furniture and making some small renovations you have a rough idea of what to do. Rough ideas are good as they allow you some degree of improvisation that allows room for happy accidents of design magic. On the hand, it also leaves room for disorganisation and budget problems when things don’t go to plan. And if you don’t feel up for the task at all seek the help of a professional. They will do everything for you.
Avoid Cliché
When finishing older style apartments, it can be hard to find furniture that will suit the existing wall colours and carpet. A good idea is to keep it minimalist and only use bright colours sparingly. Minimalist furniture in neutral shades will blend in well in any environment. It can then be dressed with accessories such as cushions, throws rugs, and lamps
Go for Green
I’m a big believer in indoor plants, not just for their beautiful aesthetics. Having plants in your house will clean the air while permeating the beautiful smells of nature. They will add a light and vibrant feel to your home that will gain the attention of potential buyers.
Avoid Clutter
When it comes to furnishing your older style apartment it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and hype and start filling it with cool retro furniture and trinkets. This may seem ok if you were the person living in it. Staging a home for sale is a totally different ball game. The idea is to make it look like someone lives there, but that person is ambiguous in order for the buyer to imagine themselves living there.
So keep it minimal and yet functional, stylish yet homely. Always measure your space so you know the size of the furniture to rent. There nothing worse than getting a couch in and finding out it’s too big for the space. So draw up a floor plan and get some measurements down. This will help save you time and money in the long run. Using a knock up floor plan as a rough guide will also help you with the layout of the furniture and that leads me to furniture groupings.
It’s important to have your furniture in groups in each room. All furniture groups when possible should be placed away from all walls. Furniture against wall goes against the natural flow of the room in question. So cluster the furniture to the centre of the room and you will notice that it really opens up space and is inviting for visitors or better yet potential buyers.
Overall, use your common sense and with some prior planning and you can achieve the look that will sell your home. It’s better to over prepared than not prepared at all and don’t be afraid to do some experimenting along the way. If that styling a home for sale isn’t quite your cup of tea seek the help of professionals. They will have all the tricks and tips necessary to finally spike the ‘SOLD’ sign into your lawn. But if you do appreciate the action and excitement of interior design go for it. It’s a challenging endeavour and it’s a great feeling of accomplishment when you’re done.
