How to use storage and home staging to sell your house quicker

“Clutter and too much furniture is the number one reason that houses can take longer to sell,” says home staging and styling expert, Debbie Curnow. “Excess furniture make rooms feel smaller and cupboards that are stuffed full make the potential buyer feel that there is not much storage.”

Debbie Curnow from Home Staging and Styling is a regular client of Mobistorage. Debbie uses Mobistorage self storage units to help declutter her client’s homes and store furniture and valuables that the client wants to move to their new home but make the house feel too cluttered to a potential buyer.

Debbie has been in the home staging and styling business for more than ten years and she has shared some decluttering and home staging tips with Mobistorage that we thought our customers would find helpful.

Clear out the junk and put it into storage

When you put your house up for sale you are making the decision to move eventually, so you should start the packing process early and use it to declutter. Be ruthless with your possessions. Go through your house room by room and use three boxes – a take with you box, a donate box and a bin box. By handling all of your possessions, you will quickly learn which to keep and which to let go. Aim to pare back your furniture by over half.

Less is more when you are selling. Consider selling good quality pieces of furniture you no longer need on sites like Ebay or Gumtree. The extra cash will also come in handy for your new place. If you have a lot of furniture that you want to keep but it makes your house feel crowded, then consider using a self storage unit to store the bigger pieces of furniture. This will enable you to make more space around the furniture you do keep to help stage the room to appeal to a potential buyer.

Declutter cupboards: Serious buyers do look inside cupboards

Cull those cupboards – if they are stuffed full it will appear that there is little storage. Aim to reduce the contents by at least half. All serious buyers will look in cupboards to get a feel for how their own possessions will fit into the home.

It is worth taking the time to pack away and put into storage personal possessions that are excess to what is needed to present your home for sale. Using a mobile self storage option like Mobistorage where the storage containers are brought to you can make that process simple or you can use a home staging service like us to pack away your items for you and we will also arrange storage for you.

Cutting through kitchen clutter

Staging the kitchen when selling your home is important for it to look inviting to the prospective buyer and for them to feel at home. Kitchen and bathrooms are usually the most important rooms in the house to buyers. Clutter free and clear kitchen counter tops will help sell your home. Make sure you declutter the fridge door of magnets and drawings, bills and anything else leave it clean.

Go through your cupboards and drawers, if you haven’t used something in your kitchen for the last 6 months then you probably won’t use it. Pack away and put into storage half of what is remaining that you want to keep. Remember that you want your cupboards and drawers not look over full to the prospective buyer.

Dining Rooms: Make them feel inviting

Pack away and store any excess clutter that makes a dining room feel smaller than it is and just have a few scattered possessions around. Consider putting some of the dining chairs and bigger pieces of furniture into short term storage to make the room feel bigger and open. You want to be able to accommodate lots of couples walking through the room and so that they don’t have to queuing to get into and see the room. As an extra touch, setting the dining room table for home opens makes the room feel inviting.

Declutter and stage your laundry for home opens

Laundries are an area not to neglect when opening your house to viewings. Laundry baskets, ironing boards and cleaning products need to be stored away from view as these don’t enhance your décor. Stage the laundry by adding some luxe hand soap and small plant if needed. Place a couple of small towels folded up neatly on the counter.

Just remember to leave lots of space so if the laundry is small make the décor minimal to make the room appear larger. If you have large storage cupboards in your laundry, reduce the clutter by half and pack the remainder away and put into a self storage unit to make the laundry feel spacious.

Kids rooms and toys can be over run with clutter

Selling your home is the perfect time to find a new home for those toys that the kids have outgrown or just don’t use anymore. Pack up half of what you decide to keep and put that into storage. Really pare back what you have in the kid’s rooms as having less on display will look better and the bonus is that it will be easy to do a quick clean up.

Visual clutter: Keep colour simple

Clutter isn’t only about having too much stuff it’s also about mixing too many colours and patterns in the same room. Limit your choice of colours in each room and throughout the house. Keep fabrics, colours and patterns simple.

To help provide more guidance about how home staging can make your home look more appealing to buyers, Debbie has provided some before and after examples of her home staging work, so that you can see how home staging can make a big difference to how a home looks when you are selling. The time you take to declutter and stage your home whether you do it yourself or use an expert like Debbie will be rewarded when your home sells much quicker.

Mobistorage regularly helps customers with storage units to store their furniture and possessions when selling their homes. We recommend that if you don’t have time or you think you need some help to present your home at its best for potential buyers, use an expert in homestaging like Debbie Curnow from Home Staging and Styling to help you maximise the potential price you get when you sell your home.

To get in contact with Debbie Curnow, visit her website at www.homestagingandstyling.com.au or call her on 0419 091 082.