Detailing To Enhance Your Home
Detailing dramatically helps homeowners in the process of selling their house. When detailing a home, the most fundamental challenge is removing the clutter. Most homes are overloaded with accumulated items: too many clothes in the closet, too many knickknacks on the shelves, too much furniture jammed into the rooms. Just clearing the clutter will make the house seem more spacious & allow buyers to visualize themselves living there.
1. Empty the closets of the non-seasonal clothes. Most homes have closets stuffed with clothes, making them look small & insufficient. A half-full closet looks much bigger than a full one & sends the message that the home has ample storage space.
2. Clear the shelves & countertops. 90% of the bric-a-brac accumulated in a house can be discarded. The shelves & countertops should be clean & neat, not stuffed with momentos from 10 years of vacations. Box up the knickknacks, books, & old magazines. Leave plenty of empty space so prospective buyers can imagine their own items filling the shelves & countertops.
3. Clear out the kitchen & bathroom cabinets. Remove old food & staples. Donate surplus to charity & remove unnecessary items, leaving cabinets uncluttered. Clean up all the specialty cleaning supplies under the sink cabinets. Old paint cans, dirty rags, etc. Leave cabinets neat & clean. Remove extra plates, pots, cups, etc.
4. Clear out the garage & storage area. Some garages have no room for cars because they're overflowing with boxes, bicycles, gardening equipment, & other bulky objects. No one buys a house for the garage, but it's helpful to demonstrate that the garage can hold the number of cars it was designed to hold by actually parking those cars in it. Storage items should go off-site. Think of the garage like a car trunk-left neat & tidy.
5. Get rid of non-essential furniture. Most people have too much furniture, which shrinks the appearance of the room. Remove all the extra end tables, folding chairs, bridge tables, throw pillows, & other space takers. Get rid of old backyard patio furniture that may be rusting & dangerous.
6. De-personalize the entire home. Photos & other personal items displayed on shelves & walls should be removed.
7. Clean the entire house & property. The house should to be immaculately clean & odor free from top to bottom. Make the home sparkle. Inside: clean & deoderize carpets, clean windows, scrub bathrooms & kitchen, wipe down countertops & railings, clean light switches & outlets, clean the oven & refrigerator. Outside: pull weeds, cut back plants & shrubs, mow the grass regularly, pick up sticks & leaves, remove old rusty swingsets, dead plants, fertilizer bags, & unused pots. Pay special attention to the front entrance. First impressions are critically important.
8. Keep it up. Once the home is properly detailed, it's important to keep it that way.
