Staging your home during the holidays can be a challenge; it’s never fun to have your home on the market during the Holiday – it adds more stress to what can be an already stressful time of year. Many home sellers will take their home off the market during the Holiday Season and restart after the new year; which provides an opportunity for you to sell your home while there is less competition.
Unless you’re a Scrooge, we all like the glitter lights and colorful accents during the Holiday’s, it makes any home look more cheerful and inviting.
But, there are particular ways to decorate for the season that can make you happy and get your potential buyer excited about your home too.
Here’s a Crash Course – Essential Guide to Staging Your Home During the Holidays with ways to decorate your home for the Holiday without turning off your potential buyer.
1.) Less is More always holds true when staging your home to sell, but never more true than during the Holiday’s when we usually break out the full glitz and glam. Enhance features of your home with simple elegant touches. Such as, a Crackling Fire in the Fireplace with a simple vase of white flowers with Evergreens on the mantle adds the Holiday scent to the air and makes your home look and feel warm and cozy. A tall tree can highlight your volume ceilings.
2.) Celebrate with Color by complementing your current color palette – Make sure your Holiday collection matches your current decor. If your home is painted an ocean blue, skip the clash of red and green. Choose instead Branches, Pine cones, white accents with crystal, and silver. If your home is earth-tones, accent with rich tones including fresh greenery with cranberries and gold.
3.) Create a Cozy Vibe – A few subtle touches like a bowl of pinecones, an evergreen wreath, fire in the fireplace and a pot of cider simmering on the stove can say “come hither” to a potential buyer by creating a warm and festive feeling in your home.
4.) Light on Lights – While your home is on the market, Keep the inflatable snowman in the attic. One person’s “merry” is another persons “tacky”. Use simple white string lighting to play up your home’s architecture or draw attention to the beautiful landscape with mature trees.
5.) Keep it Simple – While your home is on the market, you’ll want to keep the knick-knacks, nativity scenes, stockings with all the kids and grandkids names, holiday cards packed away. Don’t feel obliged to hang every last ornament on the tree or display every decoration you’ve accumulated over the years, save them for next season in your new home. Limit yourself to a few well-chosen, elegant hints of Holiday Flair.
6.) Depersonalize the decorations – Think of decorating your home as packaging a product for sale, not personalizing one. Your personal life should not be prominently featured throughout the home. Remove the named stockings hanging on the mantle and overtly religious symbols. Find an out of sight place to collect holiday cards as they arrive, save photos of the grandkids first Christmas for next year in your new home.
Staging your home during the holidays and selling a home during the holidays can be a challenging experience, but it’s not impossible. If done well, decorating for the holidays and keeping your home on the market during the season can actually work to your advantage while there is less competition on the market.
Want more insider tips and tricks on staging your home to sell? Get a Free copy of our Essential Guide to Staging Your Home During the Holidays