The kitchen is probably the most important part of any home. If you are trying to sell your house, but your kitchen is cluttered, messy and smelly, potential buyers will probably turn away and go look somewhere else.
On the other hand, if your kitchen looks great and has a pleasant but subtle aroma, you should have no trouble selling your home. Home staging can come to the rescue so you can quickly find interested buyers.
Here is how to stage a kitchen when selling a house:
1. Start by cleaning your kitchen
When you stage a kitchen, make sure you clean it from top to bottom. Even if you are used to keeping your kitchen clean and tidy, you should give it a thorough clean.
Don’t forget to scrub the oven and to clean the drawers, the cupboards, the fridge, and the windows. Potential buyers will be turned off if they notice anything dirty in the kitchen while they visit your house.
2. Remove any personal item from the room
Now that your kitchen is clean, make sure you remove any personal item from the walls, the countertops, the window sills, and the fridge. Potential buyers want to be able to imagine that this kitchen is theirs, so they don’t want to see your family photos, your unopened mail, and your fridge magnets.
Store your personal items in a box and keep them out of the kitchen.
3. Remove clutter from your countertops
You should also make sure to remove any clutter from your countertops. Since we use our small appliances, our knives, and our spice racks every single day, we might not realize they take up a lot of space on our countertops. It doesn’t mean you should remove everything that’s on your countertops. You can keep a few items, as long as they look appealing.
Speaking of countertops, do they look a little bare? You will be surprised at how much kitchen countertops impact your home’s aesthetic, especially when it comes to staging. If you have the budget, it may be worthwhile to invest in new countertops in the kitchen. Granite countertops are known for increasing the beauty and attractiveness of kitchens, making them more appealing when you sell a house.
4. Organize your pantry and your cupboards
You don’t have to remove everything there is in your pantry, your cupboards, your drawers and your fridge, but you should make sure everything is well organized. If someone visits your house and opens a cupboard, you don’t want them to find some cluttered mess inside.
This is a good time to get rid of anything you don’t want to keep anymore, and of expired food items.
5. Get rid of large pieces of furniture
Maybe you need a large table and 5 chairs in your kitchen, but they probably make the room look small and crowded.
Remove large or extra pieces of furniture from the room, especially if they look outdated. You should also remove kitchen mats and area rugs so potential buyers can see just how clean the floor is.
6. Consider renting modern furniture
If your furniture looks outdated, you should consider renting furniture to make your staged kitchen look more modern and inviting. If your dining table seems too large for your decluttered kitchen, rent a smaller one that will make the space appear larger.
Renting furniture is affordable, and it could really help you sell your house faster. Of course, nothing stops you from staging your entire home with rental furniture.
7. Try your best to eliminate odours
If you are still living in your house and using your kitchen while you’re trying to sell it, be careful not to cook anything that will leave lingering odours. Take out the trash often, and do everything you can to get rid of unpleasant smells.
Before someone comes visit your home, you could toss a lemon down your garbage disposal, bake some cookies, or simply boil some orange peels and cloves in a pot of water to make your entire kitchen smell great.
8. Redecorate the room with neutral accessories
You can place a few kitchen appliances and accessories on your countertops, but you could also decorate the room with plants, nice tea towels, a colourful cookbook, or a bowl of fresh fruits.
If you have removed family photos from the walls, you could replace them with small decorative mirrors, which will make the space appear larger.
9. Replace outdated light fixtures and hardware
Outdated or damaged light fixtures should be replaced with brand new ones. You could also replace old cupboard knobs to give them a whole new look.
The money you spend on buying new fixtures and hardware will be a good investment, as it can make your kitchen a lot more attractive to potential buyers.
10. Consider painting the walls
If you feel up to the task, you could add a fresh coat of paint to the walls of your kitchen. If the walls are a dark or unusual colour, painting them with a neutral colour could help you sell your home faster.
Staging your kitchen is all about making it look more attractive to people who are searching for a new home with a beautiful and welcoming kitchen.
