Back in August a homeowner reached out to me for tips on making their home more marketable. It had been for sale for the two months prior, and while they had a lot of showings, they hadn’t received any offers.
This contrasted with other similar homes in their neighborhood that had sold, so they were concerned.
They decided they were willing to spend about $10,000 to update so they could get their home sold.
I was curious and decided to take a look.
The first thing I asked was what their realtor had advised. Realtors definitely have a better handle on the comps and the feedback they had been given by other potential buyers. Apparently she had told them to sit tight, that it would sell.
As we all know, real estate is not selling like hotcakes anymore. It was starting to really become a slower market at this time, so it was a good idea to consider what might could be addressed here.
I felt like they were asking top dollar for their area and the home was pretty basic, without any upgrades. Pricing might have really been the problem, but after looking at the photos, I felt I could see some improvements they could make. Most were not costly, but had to do with staging.
I did offer up some remodeling ideas if they really did want to go that way, but I felt they could start with some of these more simple changes to see if it made any difference.
Luckily, they sold after they made the one front curb appeal change I suggested so they didn’t have to do any more! See that curb appeal change here!
Today I’m sharing the rest of my recommendations, as I think they are strong staging tips that anyone could use.
Dining Room
The dining room is the first room off to the right as you enter the home. They had a piano and 8 chairs in here.
I thought this room felt a bit crowded. This neighborhood definitely appeals to young families and all the brown furniture was a little old-ish looking.
I recommended they put the piano in storage along with the two head chairs. This is not a big dining room and the lighter weight, open back chairs create some interest and felt more up to date and airy in this space.
I thought the lighting here was fine to keep. Once the piano was gone, the table could be centered under the chandelier.
The piano crowds this dining room and causes the table to be off-center from the chandelier.
Living Room
There’s a minimal look here, which is better than having a room full of dated furniture. I would likely remove that buffet piece under the window and try to get some focus on the fireplace.
I would remove the wall decor here and just lean something large here on the mantel.
I like the wall color in this room and told them to leave it. It works with the cottage feel and it is a pleasing color in the blue-green family, which most people like anyway.
I do think it would be nice to have a rug in here. It would just feel warmer, softer and more inviting. It would also serve to ground the furniture in the room. That angle makes it difficult with a rug, so getting some berber look carpet and having it bound with the corner angled, would be nice.
The living room color is good here but the fireplace could use an update.
Removing the large console in front of the window and the miscellaneous wall decor will help this living room’s look when selling.
If I were to recommend some remodeling, I would invest in installing a new mantel and fireplace surround. I’d get some white marble look tile for the surround and get a beefier mantel.
Something simple like this mantel with legs would be nice.
A simple fireplace mantel with legs can be just the right touch.
Everyone likes a nice fireplace. It is definitely the focal point of this room. That beige/gold tile with the skinny moulding is not selling the house.
Kitchen
This room presented a problem for me, because I’m not really sure I could see the value in remodeling it partially. It’s such a small kitchen, new cabinets wouldn’t be that big of an investment if you were remodeling. Then you could make some more significant changes too, that would be good for aesthetics and function.
If, however, we’re just wanting to do a minimal update, then I think new white quartz counters to give a fresh look, a single bowl sink and white tile backsplash are how I would update. I’d also add new cabinet pulls.
You could paint the cabinets but that would take some time. Honestly, I don’t hate the cabinets, as it ties into the wood floor in the living room and with the tile floor, I rather like them better than I like a painted white cabinet.
I’d probably recommend cutting down the bar for a counter that was all one height there at the peninsula too.
My mind just goes immediately to what I’d do in a bigger remodel, like a range instead of the cooktop and wall oven combo they have. The time to change that is when you change the counters. So, you can see I’m snowballing here and getting over their budget fast!
Overall, the kitchen updates would be more time consuming and create a bigger mess too, so I’m not sure it would be worth it for them. I decided to share a few thoughts there and just leave it up to them.
I do like the lighting and the window treatments. The table and chairs look nice there too.
Kitchen with wood cabinets and spotty granite counters.
Kitchen with a high bar at the sink.
Primary Bedroom
In the primary bedroom, I’d move the wood sleigh bed out and just get a bedskirt over a cheap metal frame with a simple upholstered headboard. You could get one at Target to be cost effective.
I feel like that big, heavy bed looks dated and is not an appealing look for the type of young, family home buyer that this home might attract.
The dark wood bed in this room dates this home and likely wouldn’t be too appealing to a young home buyer.
Primary Bathroom
This is all very builder grade here, but at least there are no bright colors or expensive materials that ugly. I would remove the large slab mirror and do two framed mirrors over the sinks with some new bath bar lights and call this a day.
A plain and simple white bathroom is okay with a few minor updates to the mirror and vanity lighlts.
Loft Gameroom
This loft space is big and I don’t see a problem leaving the furniture here. I would remove all the things on the walls. They’re sort of randomly placed and I think here, clean walls would be better.
This loft gameroom is large and open. Removing the sporatic wall decor would be a good idea when selling.
The ceiling fans are good in this space, removing the wall decor and patching the holes would be a good idea.
Upstairs Secondary Bedroom
For this bedroom, I’d get a new ceiling fan and then keep one bed only in this room. It’s so crowded, just pick the bed that the child is in at the moment and go with that.
This bedroom looks a bit crowded with the crib and the regular sized bed both in the room.
Summarizing the Recommendations For Selling This Home
1) Curb Appeal - Paint the blue trim on the front of the house.
2) Make furniture changes - Remove piano, console in the LR, sleigh bed frame and one of the beds in the child’s bedroom.
3) Remove all the art - patch and paint holes in the walls.
4) Do the fireplace reno - redo mantel and surround, hire handyman service if needed.
5) New furnishings items - upholstered headboard and rug for living room.
6) Minimal primary bath update - change out mirror and vanity lights, hire a handyman service if needed.
7) Minimal kitchen update if desired - New counters, sink, backsplash, cabinet door hardware.
I’m so glad that their home sold with a minimal update. I feel like that curb appeal situation was critical to do.
More thoughts on staging to sell
One thing I would like to note as I have been perusing real estate myself recently, is that if you have old, dated furniture (and I don’t really mean antiques or high quality older furniture), sometimes it is just better to remove it and not have anything. Obviously, that would mean moving out, but that look of some worn, old furniture can really ruin a listing.
There’s one house I’ve been following on Zillow and it’s been on the market a few months. It’s a home that is likely occupied by someone older than me who was the original owner. I can tell from their very worn out, dark furniture, window treatments, lack of updates, etc. It’s just a very dated home.
Personally, I love getting a home that is in a state like this, but it would have to be a deal, not at the price they have it listed for.
They recently did an update of new granite countertops and posted that on Zillow. When I saw that I just thought, what a waste of money.
This home has all tile floors, several different types, with transitions in open spaces. :-( This home needs a major overhaul everywhere and just doing granite counters and leaving everything else, especially the dated furnishings in there, was like putting lipstick on a pig.
I was conscious of this house and my own thoughts about it when I advised the homeowner of this cottage style home. I have to say though, I had to fight the remodeler in me that wanted to dive in and redo!
This blogpost was thoughtfully written by me, Carla Aston, and not by AI, ghostwriters, or guest posters.
Here are a few more homes, below, that I’ve worked on to get them ready to sell.
“White paint is best for home sales!” That was a text I sent a friend recently who was asking about painting all the trim in their house. They wanted to make a good investment toward resale, that might happen in the next few years. Today, I’m sharing before and after pics of that flip house one of the contractors I work with did last year. It turned out great and sold right after it went on the market for full asking price! And yes, we used white paint……