5 Tips for Staging Your Living Room

Aside from a home’s exterior, home buyers’ first impressions of your home will be made in the living room. According to the National Association of Realtors, 46% of home buyers say well-staged living rooms are very important to their decision-making processes. With these five tips, your living room will be so appealing that potential buyers won’t be able to resist!

1. Declutter Your Living Room

A few knickknacks and decorations give your living room life, but don’t go overboard. Clear off that coffee table, pick up the kids’ toys and let the room speak for itself. With too much clutter, the room will feel smaller and buyers will have a hard time imagining what they’d do with the space.

2. Use the Right Lighting

You don’t need to fill the room with lamps, but open drapes and turn on an overhead light. If you have dimmers, a cozy blend of warm lights and sun makes your living room seem open yet cozy. The right amount and kind of light makes colors pop and cultivates a relaxing atmosphere.

Better Homes and Gardens recommends using multiple sources to layer lighting, such as:

• Sun from windows
• Overhead lights
• Candles
• Mood and accent lighting
• Floor lights
• Table lamps

Make it light enough to accentuate your living room’s details, but not bright enough to see every speck of dust.

3. Use Furniture To Create a Focal Point

If your living room has a fireplace, entertainment center or beautiful large windows, arrange furniture so it draws buyers’ attention to those details. Not only will it help them envision their future in a comforting space, it creates a natural place to sit down and talk with them. When you sell your home, you want buyers to feel at home throughout the entire process.

4. Decorate With Plants

Houseplants are a dynamic yet often overlooked feature of home staging. You don’t want your living room to be a jungle, but a few leafy plants or flower vases add natural color you just won’t get with artwork and furniture. In a plant-filled room, buyers will breathe fresh air and leave with the impression that life thrives in your beautiful home.

5. Decorate With Mirrors

Like plants, mirrors are one of a staged living room’s best friends. They catch and disperse light without the need for more light sources while also creating an illusion of more space. At the same time, they work on a subconscious level — buyers that see themselves in a mirror can literally, not just figuratively, see themselves living in your home.

Bring It All Together

If staging your living room and entire house seems intimidating, don’t let stress spoil what should be an exciting time. At Five Star Stagings of Minneapolis, Minnesota, our team of interior decorators arrives armed with the know-how and resources needed to stage your home for a quick sale. And don’t worry if your house is a little plain — our warehouse of home staging furniture and decorations has that covered.