Design Tips:
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| And Get the Price You Want! By Olga Adler The home-sales market may be difficult, but it's never too late to make a bold move to increase your chances of selling – and getting the price you want. Designers speak of “staging” a home for sale. They employ tricks of the trade to make a house more appealing. The idea is to present a home as spacious and functional, to reveal all of its charm and amenities. This is the practical side. But the most important aspect of staging is touchy-feely. Most people walking into someone else’s house find it hard to envision themselves in that space. They worry, Will my sofa fit against this wall? Is this dining room large enough for my dining set? The challenge is to present your house so it invites prospective buyers to imagine it as their own. Homeowners can spend a small fortune preparing a house for sale. New kitchens, new bathrooms or modified structures could set you back a bundle. Is major surgery truly necessary? Rarely, in this market. At the same time, staging offers myriad small yet powerful things that you can do yourself, and for a minimal investment, which can have a significant impact on your chances of success. This staging program is called The Four Steps – Subtract, Fix, Clean and Add. Subtract The first step is to remove excess items from view to present your home as well-kept, spacious and inviting. Clutter is Enemy Number 1. It’s an eyesore that turns off buyers. It hinders their efforts to see themselves in your space. Worse, it gives them the impression that your house is smaller than it really is. Clutter creeps up on all of us. I’m talking about stacked-up books and CDs, knick- knacks on shelves or counters, or items stored in corners. Simply put, clutter is anything that fills up space yet does not need to be there for a functional or aesthetic reason. Subtracting is the most obvious of my Four Steps, and yet for most people it’s the hardest. A client who was selling his 30-year-old home in Greenwich insisted that he could de-clutter with a few rides to the recycling center. After 30 years? It barely made a dent. And did he really need that collection of mid-1990s newspapers? I persuaded him to rent a dumpster. To his surprise, he filled up four giant loads. Several lamps and furniture were donated to charity. Goodwill’s gain was his as well – the house sold two days after the open house, and he got his asking price. Subtracting is all about depersonalizing. How can a buyer feel at home if you’ve got an entire wall of pictures of your relatives staring at him? Is your fridge festooned with holiday pictures, or magnet “humor”? Your home should come across as beautiful, but neutral. Each room should hold only as many pieces of furniture as absolutely necessary to show off the space. Make sure stairways and halls have only essential pieces. Kids’ rooms are tricky. Get a nice wooden trunk or armoire to store toys and accessories. Don’t be afraid to put things in storage; it’s definitely worth it. Oh, and, remove all evidence of pets – food dishes, toys and especially cat-litter boxes. To buyers, the most important rooms are the master bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathrooms. Your prospects are looking for space, just as you would. And please do not hide clutter in the closets – I guarantee you they’ll look there too. Hint: Closets should be neat, clean, well organized and no more than half full. Give your buyers every opportunity to imagine their stuff fitting nicely into the closets! Seek out and subtract clutter… wherever you find it! Fix After you’ve streamlined, a few things may jump out at you that need fixing. Basically, you’ll want to correct any minor flaws that could detract from an otherwise favorable impression. Go after obvious plumbing issues – you’ll have to do that anyway. The same goes for water damage from old spills or leaks. Water damage not only attracts ants, but also building inspectors! Make sure light fixtures are in good shape and working order – your house will look so much better when it’s properly lit. You might consider painting some rooms. A fresh coat can brighten a room, not to mention cover up unsightly scuffs and cracks. If a room has an unusual color, consider something more neutral. YOU might like neon green, but then again you’re not the one buying the house this time around! Some homeowners invest in new kitchens to strengthen their selling position. But there are smaller-scale fixes to help your kitchen make a positive impression. It’s all in the details. Hint: Fix broken tiles, clean and/or re-grout between tiles, and replace knobs and other hardware if missing or outdated. One trip to the hardware store costs next to nothing, yet it can give your kitchen a needed – and visible – update! That reminds me of a homeowner in Ridgefield who was convinced last year that her kitchen could not be brought up to real-estate standards. The grout in her white-tiled counter tops had turned ugly gray, and caulking around the sink was broken and flaky. However, a new kitchen did not fit her timeframe or budget. It turned out that a good handyman and a $30 box of grout was all she needed. In short order, the counter tops sparkled white, good as new, and the kitchen presented as fresh and contemporary. Clean Nothing shapes a buyer’s sense of a house more than cleanliness. A sparkling clean home suggests that it has been cared for lovingly. Dirt, dust and grime say exactly the opposite. The details slip into a buyer’s head. My father-in-law, who lives in Weston, bought his current house in 1966 after quite a bit of house hunting. He recalls viewing a beautiful stone house that was structurally sound, but it had a pile of dirty diapers in the foyer (this was before Pampers). He loved the house but couldn’t get over that first image. So he bought a different stone house. And, to this day, 40 years later, every time he drives by the house he rejected he can’t help thinking of those poopy diapers. Some people say that a kitchen sells the home, and often it’s true. Devote extra time and attention to this room. If there are hardwood floors, give them a new coat of wax. The counter tops should be pristine. Cabinets should be spotless, inside and out, and the contents well organized. Same for your pantry. People will look. Of course, there should never be dirty dishes in the sink, or anywhere else, for that matter. Another deal maker – or breaker – is the master bathroom. Take out all of your toiletries and personal items. Half-squeezed toothpaste is not “charming.” Put out fresh towels. Clean or repair tile grout, as in the kitchen. Set out a vase of fresh-cut flowers. Scent is important. In addition to flowers, you can use natural sprays or an aromatherapy candle. (I do not advise burning candles all over the house, however. This can be overkill, and candles can present a fire hazard if left unattended.) Hint: Throughout the house, make all floor areas clean and shiny, and have carpets vacuumed and cleaned. Make sure that window treatments are perfectly clean. If they are in rough shape, replace some of the most visible ones. Also, if your carpets or rugs are very old, consider strategic replacements. Add OK, your home is now ready for the final step, adding some touches to welcome visitors and help them make a positive buying decision. This step comes last, precisely because you’ve already made the house clean and relatively free of clutter and flaws. So, these new flourishes will really stand out! Go through the house and prepare each room much as you might get ready for company. Set the dinner table for four, with your best napkins, cutlery and crystal. Puff up pillows. Turn back beds. Show how the rooms can be used. Next, add little splashes of interesting color in the form of flowers and small plants, and colorful throw-pillows. This is the creative part of staging. I am often asked what items sellers should buy in staging a home. Hint: I favor items that you can take with you to your new house – bedding, for example. Maybe you were long overdue for a new duvet and bed set anyway. Why not buy it now? Treat yourself, and at the same time invest in a positive impression that might boost your sale price. Other examples include table linens, new towels, and free-standing floor and table lamps. Anything that’s not a fixture in your home is a candidate to take with you. Final touches: Set the ambient and electric lighting “just so” in every room; lamps add texture and warmth. Leave potpourri throughout the house so it smells lovely. So… if you’re putting your house on the market this season, remember the Four Steps – Subtract, Fix, Clean and Add. It may not be an acronym, but it’s exactly what you’ll need to do to sell your house quickly, and at your price. Olga Adler is an interior designer with a design studio in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Her company Olga Adler Interiors is dedicated to lifestyle driven design. You can email your questions or comments to: olga@olgaadlerinteriors.com. |
