One of the best things you can do when you’re getting ready to sell your home is to stage it properly. Read on to learn about the benefits of home staging and the top home staging trends you’ll see in 2022.
What Is Home Staging?
Home staging is all about dressing up your home and setting the stage for potential buyers. The goal is to make your home look warm and inviting so potential buyers can easily picture themselves living in it.
Home staging typically involves deep cleaning, rearranging furniture, clearing out clutter, and light redecorating.
Why Does Staging Matter?
Home staging may seem like a lot of work (and it can be), but it also offers lots of benefits to sellers. The following are some of the most noteworthy ones to keep in mind:
Improve the Viewing Experience
Which house would you prefer to tour as a prospective buyer: One that’s dirty, dimly lit, and full of clutter, or one that’s neat, brightly lit, and spacious?
The second home is probably going to be more enjoyable to walk through, and the potential buyers will likely have an easier time picturing themselves living in it.
Increase the Home’s Appeal
Every home has a few elements that the owner doesn’t particularly love.
Perhaps the kitchen is small, or the bedrooms don’t get a lot of natural light. Whatever the perceived issues, proper staging can draw attention away from those features and redirect viewers toward the home’s more positive aspects.
Get Higher Offers
If people can see themselves living in your house and are drawn to it right away, they’re going to be eager to put in an offer.
Proper staging can create some competition when it comes to receiving offers for your home. You may even get a higher offer because you took the time to do some cleaning and rearranging before opening the house to potential buyers. In fact, the National Association of Realtors has found that staging can increase offers by 5-10 percent.
Reduce Time on the Market
Not only will you get higher offers for your home, but you’ll also reduce the amount of time it spends on the market. If you want to get the For Sale sign out of your yard and move on to your next destination as quickly as possible, good staging can go a long way.
2022 Home Staging Trends
As with other types of design and decorating, home staging trends come and go every year. In 2022, you’re likely to see these trends in homes placed on the market:
Vintage Details
Due, in part, to the supply chain interruptions that have plagued the world over the last couple of years, it’s getting harder to get your hands on new home decor items.
Fortunately, vintage, and retro designs are trendy now. This means you can handle many aspects of the home staging process without spending a fortune on new decor.
You can find lots of great decor at local thrift and consignment stores, which allows you to spruce up your home on a budget (and help the planet at the same time). If you’re thrifting in 2022, it’s especially important to be on the lookout for polka dots, hammered metals, and geometric shapes.
New Minimalism
Minimalism — the idea that less is more — is a must when it comes to staging your home. Avoid overdecorating or adding too many new pieces. The goal is to help people picture themselves living in your house, and it’s hard for them to do that if it’s cluttered and full of someone else’s belongings.
Scandinavian Minimalism will be particularly popular in 2022. It incorporates lots of natural elements, including wood, green plants, and stone, as well as white walls to reflect a maximum amount of natural light. Scandinavian Minimalism creates an airy, spacious home that is inviting and appealing to potential buyers.
Zen Spaces
To compliment your home’s minimalistic style, aim to establish a Zen air as much as possible. Some of the most noteworthy elements of Zen design include the following:
- No clutter
- Neutral colors
- Natural fabrics (cotton, linen, wool, etc.)
- Lots of natural light
Large, minimal art pieces can also create a Zen environment in your home. Aim for one large piece of art that acts as the focal point of a room, rather than several small pieces.
Green, Green, Everywhere
Finally, try to make use of the color green as much as you can. Benjamin Moore’s color of the year for 2022 is a soft, warm green known as October Mist, and Behr’s color of the year is a light, mint green called Breezeway.
Green is going to be all the rage next year, so try to work it into your home wherever possible. Perhaps you can find some soft green throw pillows from your local thrift shop or bring in some light green succulents to breathe new life and a relaxing vibe into your home.
Need Help Staging Your Home?
As you can see, home staging plays an important role in helping you sell your house quickly and for a great price.
Are you a little intimidated by the top 2022 home staging trends? Do you need some extra guidance to set your home up properly?
Working with an experienced real estate agent can help a great deal when you’re prepping your home to sell. They’ll guide you through the process and offer suggestions to ensure you stage it well.
If you haven’t already partnered with a real estate agent, use our Agent Search Tool to find one near you today.
