| How to Stage Your Living Room Areas

This is the room you entertain, relax and show-off in. It’s a room that tells buyers about your lifestyle.  Many buyers automatically assume your standard of living will become their standard of living if they buy your house.

Clear the Clutter
To create a calm well-ordered room, start with a good clear out.  Pack away everything that is unessential to the function of a living room such as:

• Magazines
• Children’s toys
• Collections
• Trophies
• Souvenirs
• Family photos
• Anything that is simple clutter

Use Neutral Colour Paint on the Walls

• Heavily patterned wallpaper and bold colours tend to make rooms feel smaller than they really are.
• Redecorate in a clean neutral tone.  This will immediately improve your properties saleability.

Flooring
To get maximum buyer love, everything needs to look and smell fresh.  If you smoke or own pets, your carpet will carry odours that buyers find off-putting.  Have your carpets professionally cleaned.

If your carpet has worn patches, replace it.

Before you spend money on new carpet, lift your carpet and take a look.  You may get lucky and find decent floorboards that you can sand and stain.

Living Room Furniture

• We highly recommend a professional stylist.  If your budget doest stretch that far.  You can use your existing furniture – Take note:
• Your choice of furniture will influence buyers’ impressions of you and your property.
• The right furniture tells buyers that your property is loved and therefore desirable.
• Make sure it is not old and tatty
• Ensure your furniture is to scale for the room.  Big furniture is comfortable but makes a room feel smaller than it should.
• If your living room feels cramped, try removing some excess furniture.

Curtains
Curtains can let down the presentation of a room in a couple of ways:

• Heavy, dark curtains dominate a room making it feel smaller and darker.
• Curtains that don’t compliment the colour scheme of a room ruin the feeling of harmony buyers are looking for.

Create a focal point
Buyers prefer living rooms that aren’t dominated by the television set.

Rearrange your sofas so they face each other (across a coffee table if you have one). This gives the impression that conversation is the main activity in your living room.

What’s the “main attraction” of the room?  It needs to be attractive to make a “positive impact” on buyers.  For example:

• An open fireplace
• A view onto gardens
• Fresh flowers in an elegant vase
• An engaging piece of artwork
• A well-placed mirror

Add some finishing touches
Use some accessories to give the room a little personality.  Examples:

• Candles
• A vase filled with fresh flowers
• A beautiful lampshade
• Luxurious cushions and throws
• Mood lighting. 

With lifestyle rooms you’re trying to show buyers something aspirational.  You’re setting a stage for them to project their own image of a “better life” onto.

If buyers think you live a good life in your house, they’ll think a good life awaits them there too!