Stage Your Closets Before Putting Your House On The Market by Marty Basher
T HE MONEY I S I N T HE D ET AIL
Too often, homeowners haphazardously shove belongings into closets when staging their homes to get them out of sight for a showing. Unfortunately, this can prove detrimental to a good offer.
Bedroom Closets Can I fit all my stuff into this space? That is the million-dollar question buyers ask when examining a bedroom closet. If yours is filled to the brim and floors obscured by junk, potential buyers will fail envisioning themselves using this space.
Why? Messy, disorganized, and overfilled closets give prospective buyers several negative impressions:
How can you tighten up the look of your bedroom closet? w Display only clothes for the current season. w Organize your closet in some functional way, such as using baskets for small accessories or sorting items by color and style. w Replace mismatched hangers with ones of the SAME style and color (and ensure all hangers face the same way). w Add lighting for functionality and the illusion of space. A well-placed mirror helps with this effect. w Clear off the floor until it is bare. Add shoe racks or shelves if necessary!
w The house has not been properly maintained. (If the closets are a mess, what else is wrong?) w There is not enough closet space in the house relative to the number of people who live there. w The available space is impractical. Disastrous closets give the opposite of a move-in ready appearance, which is a major drawback for many buyers. Thankfully, improving closet space is simple and not as timeconsuming as homeowners might think. General Staging Tips for Closets The following are ways to spruce up your closet spaces: w Start by removing everything from all closets, pantries, and bathroom cabinets. w Reduce the contents by at least 50%. Either dispose of unneeded items entirely or store them offsite for showings. Closets must look airy and spacious, so this is the time to discard anything old and ratty. w Before returning the remaining items, clean the closet thoroughly. (Buyers WILL notice dirt caked in corners.) w If the closet remains dingy or tired after intensive scrubbing—common with food-related spaces like pantries—paint the inside a simple white. The space will appear brighter, cleaner and as if it has doubled in size!
Linen Closets Minimalism is the key for linen closets. w Pack away what you do not need until you move, and organize extra soaps, shampoos and other products into white baskets. w If possible, toss towels and sheets that have seen better days and coordinate what is left by colors. w If you struggle with fitted sheets, the neatest way to store them is by putting them, as well as other linens of a matching set, inside one of the pillowcases; voila a tidy package. w Since sheets grow musty over time, a little lavender sachet will freshen up the air.
