Home Staging & Design Blog

Pramiti Bhargava Co-Founder, BlueGrape was featured on the daily dose on CBS8. Catch the snippet here.

Moving out of one home and into another is an exciting time. But it can be stressful too, especially if you've taken on a new mortgage before selling your old home. Home staging is essential to selling a house quickly and for maximum profit. And the good news is that staging an empty house is much easier than staging an occupied one. This is because the absence of personal belongings helps you detach from the home and see it as a commodity rather than a piece of your own history, which is a key aspect of effective home staging. The more you can see through the eyes of prospective buyers, the better a staging job you'll do.
There is no one-size-fits-all to home staging. Each home has its own style and special features to play up. The best empty house staging ideas are those that showcase the specific style of your home and put its features in the best light. But there are a few basic steps that will apply to any home. Read on to get a general idea of how to stage an empty house:
Step 1: Clean thoroughly
Cleanliness is a key factor when selling any home. Dirt, dust, and print-smudged walls are off-putting to potential homebuyers. Empty houses cannot hide their dirt and grime, so it's important to clean thoroughly before putting a home on the market. Empty houses make cleaning easier than occupied homes because there's no furniture in the way of walls, floors, baseboards, and other surfaces. The best way to get the deepest clean is to hire a professional cleaning company. If you ask for move-out cleaning services, they'll know to tackle the dirt up high, down low, and inside every nook and cranny. Staging an empty house should always begin with a deep clean from top to bottom.
On a budget? Grab a bucket, a mop, a carpet steamer, and everything else you need to get the place sparkling. Take the project room by room, and give yourself ample time to clean each one thoroughly. Don't forget the tops of light fixtures, cabinets, and crown molding, places where dust settles unseen.

The living room is one of the most important rooms in every home. It often serves a variety of purposes, from quiet time to game night to guest room. When staging your living room, the trick is to create a clean and comfortable atmosphere that inspires open house visitors to envision living their best lives within it. ​

Bathrooms are often overlooked in the home staging process. Most homeowners and real estate agents assume that a clean, uncluttered bathroom is sufficient for prospective buyers. But leaving it at that is a missed opportunity. Although bathrooms are usually the smallest rooms in a house, there are a number of ways to make them attractive and inviting to buyers. ​

Any home on the market benefits from professional staging, but staging is not a one-size-fits-all process. Combining the art of interior design and strategic marketing, home staging requires a little more effort and forethought when luxury properties are involved. ​