First impressions are everything in real estate, and it’s why many individuals who are putting their homes on the market are investing in professional staging to make their properties look like they belong on Pinterest or a design show on YouTube. However, with staging costs starting at $1,500, people are now looking for cheaper alternatives to make their homes more attractive to buyers. To sell homes fast, one common strategy that’s recommended by experts is creating a blank canvas. This involves emptying all rooms of furniture and items, and making simple upgrades to freshen up living spaces.
According to the National Association of Realtors, half of all agents use this technique instead of staging since fixing visible flaws can result in successful, “as-is” sales. To design move-in ready spaces, focus on high-impact revamps to create visual warmth and a feeling of openness. If you’re planning to sell your home, here are some high ROI interior updates that are sure to make buyers swoon.
Go Neutral
Those deep aubergine walls may have worked to give your property a moody and dramatic vibe, but if you want to make your home more appealing to a wide range of buyers, you’ll need to paint over those walls and use warm, universally appealing neutral colors. Paint colors like Sherwin-Williams Accessible Beige, Creamy SW 7012 and Natural Linen, or Benjamin Moore Pale Oak and Revere Pewter HC-172 will make your interiors look extra cozy, yet clean and sophisticated at the same time. Lighter colors can also make rooms seem more spacious, and the warm hues can make spaces feel more inviting.
According to interior designer Andrea Dussault, there’s a reason why designers often gravitate towards soft, creamy neutrals when giving rooms a makeover. “These shades keep spaces feeling bright but also comfortable and livable,” she explains. To maximize your return on investment, hire professional painters to ensure a flawless, market-ready finish. Getting experts to do the job also results in completed projects in a short amount of time, which means that they won’t disrupt your agent’s or realtor’s schedule for showings.
You can keep the walls bare after the paint dries, but if you want buyers to form a strong emotional connection to certain rooms, think about adding timeless and mass appealing artworks in key areas. For instance, you can hang a large-scale abstract print in the living room, then use A4 frames to display magazine size prints or botanical art in the bedroom.
Upgrade Flooring and Lighting
Replacing old, scuffed, damaged, or grungy-looking flooring is a must since floors are a major focal point that influences a buyer’s first impression. If your floors look as though they’ve seen better days, try refinishing hardwood floors, or cover damaged flooring with mid-tone luxury vinyl planks. Avoid using cool gray planks since they make empty rooms feel cold and uninviting.
Next, focus on upgrading lighting in the living room, kitchen, and bedrooms. Using only fluorescent bulbs in rooms can make empty spaces feel stark and sterile, so plan on creating a layered lighting approach to add warmth to areas that command attention. Replace ceiling fans and lone bulbs with modern flush mounts, which are lighting fixtures that attach directly to the ceiling with little to no gap. These ceiling fixtures provide a soft glow to rooms rather than a harsh beam of light. Don’t forget to place warm-toned bulbs in floor and table lamps to create coziness in dark corners.
Enhance Empty Rooms to Give Them a Clear Purpose
Creating move in-ready empty spaces doesn’t mean leaving rooms entirely bare since empty rooms can feel aimless, and it doesn’t help buyers to emotionally connect with the property. To give buyers an idea of how to use the space, think about enhancing key rooms to give them a clear purpose. For instance, you can use area rugs in the living room to create zones, and one zone can be used for entertaining, while another zone can be dedicated for reading or remote work. You can also use rugs in the dining area to frame where a dining table should go or where a small breakfast nook can be placed.
As a final touch, add softness in specific rooms. Place plush floor pillows and blankets on top of thick rugs in the living room and bedroom to break up the sterile atmosphere. You can also add a few potted plants in the corners to give a feeling of freshness and life to living spaces.
Professional staging isn’t your only option if you want to transform your property into a sought-after home. Consider these tips to create move in-ready spaces, and see how thoughtful touches here and there can attract buyers for a fast and successful sale.
