Have you ever known that a respected guest was coming over, and immediately started noticing all the things in your home that needed straightening up? Taking this a step further, when you put your home on the market, imagine how you’ll feel when contemplating the prospect of potential buyers walking in and out of your house during open houses and showings. If you are not planning to move your belongings out of your home before listing it, decluttering is key to showing your home in it’s best light. Below, you’ll find some of the most important tidying-up tasks to consider before listing your home.
The Kitchen
When it comes to your kitchen, work on clearing counter space, cleaning and replacing tile grout if necessary, and giving away unnecessary items that make the space look smaller and less appealing. Having trouble deciding what is “unnecessary”? Try this blogger’s trick: set a timer for 30 minutes and go through your kitchen deciding what you can part with. This helps amplify that “gut feeling” that usually knows if you really need something or not and will deter you from creating a long-winded “what-if” story around why you need that knick-knack that you haven’t used in three years. Put everything you don’t use in a give away box or post it for sale online. You may be surprised by how many things you were able to weed out in this short amount of time. Don’t be afraid to do a second 30 minute sweep if needed.
When it comes to food storage, try using mason jars or attractive containers to hold bulk items like grains, legumes, beans or flours. If you find food items that you have not used in a while, and don’t foresee yourself using, consider donating or throwing them out.
Bathrooms
When it comes to showing your house, you want your bathroom to look as clean and spacious as possible. Try to remove all items from the counter, and arrange towels, paper rolls, and shower items neatly. If you have large items that you don’t use regularly, consider migrating them to a storage closet.
Perhaps use one or more of the following easy tips to clear up you your bathroom counter space:
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Gather toiletries on an attractive tray. This helps keep counter space clear by creating a boundary and can contribute a new pattern or color to the room.
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Store loose items in canisters or mason jars. Use jars to gather items of like-kind and either tuck them away in a cabinet or display them nicely on a shelf. Mason jars are inexpensive, and can be decorated to match your bathroom colors. Looking for unique, artistic storage items? Check out this site.
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Make use of drawer trays. Often used for silverware, these nifty trays can be useful for storing various items that seem to float around the bathroom. Once you give them a home, you’ve reduced your bathroom clutter.
Living Rooms and Bedrooms
Has the corner of your bedroom become an ad hoc storage space? Do you find that your coffee table is so cluttered you cannot see the surface?
Follow these 4 easy steps to create a room that you, and potential buyers, love walking into.
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Take everything out of the room (except furniture). While this may seem like a lot of work it will give you a clean slate to work with.
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Create a vision for the room. Ask yourself, “what do I want the functionality and aesthetics of this room to be?”. You can move furniture around, or use a 3D virtual home-staging software to visualize how your items will fit in the space.
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Sort everything the the room into a “fits the vision” pile, a storage pile, and a donate pile.
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Rebuild the room with your vision pile, find a new home for the rest.
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Looking for more tips? Check out this post!