Home Staging Tips:
Stage the kitchen to wow buyers

The kitchen is a key area of the home for many reasons. Kitchens have a lot to do with resale value, so the buyers will want to be impressed with this area of the home. People also spend a lot of time in their kitchens, so a nicely staged kitchen will help them see themselves in the home.

All of these things will help you increase the likelihood of a sale, and that's the whole point of home staging in the first place.

With that in mind, here are some ways to stage your home's kitchen in order to wow buyers.

Staging the Kitchen

• Spend some extra time de-cluttering. Kitchens are notorious for being full of clutter. So when you stage this area of your home, be ruthless about removing unnecessary items. This includes countertop appliances, utensils, the coffee pot, etc.
• Clean like the sale of your home depended on it ... because is does. Pay particular attention to the sink, counters, stove, etc. "Clean and bright" should be your motto for kitchen staging.
• Turn the lights on and open the curtains to showcase the sparkle. Shed some light on the subject. If you have dark areas of your kitchen, you might even consider adding supplemental lighting, such as recessed lighting around the edges. Remember your kitchen staging motto — clean and bright.
• Consider making upgrades. If you're in a buyer's market, it might be wise to go beyond cleaning and actually upgrade some of your kitchen features. Cabinets and counters is the rule of thumb here. If your cabinets and counters are outdated or ugly, an upgrade can make a huge difference in resale.
• If, based on your circumstances, it doesn't make sense to pour extra money into cabinetry, you might try staining the cabinets. This can make a big improvement at a fraction of the cost. In addition to staining, you could also paint the cabinets.
• If your cabinets are in decent shape, you can modernize them simply by updating the knobs and handles, or adding them if you don't have any. This is a low-cost way to improve a kitchen, and that's what home staging is all about.
• The same goes for your kitchen faucets, lights and other fixtures. You can make the entire space more modern just by updating these items.
• Give the walls a fresh coat of paint, following the paint tips mentioned previously. If the kitchen is connected to the family / living room, use the same color paint -- or one shade lighter or darker. This will make the eye flow from one room to the next, making the entire place seem more spacious.
• Do you have an eat-in kitchen? If so, accentuate it by setting a small table. This will showcase the fact that the space serves double duty. Don't leave it up to the buyers to envision the eat-in kitchen — show it to them!

Remember, people spend a lot of time in their kitchens, and most people realize that they are a resale value item of importance. If you spend some extra time or money anywhere while staging your home for sale, the kitchen is probably the place to do it.

Dusty Dziza