Selling your home can be an overwhelming experience for many reasons. We want to help make it easier for you, and that’s where our talented team of agents comes in – and the help of  Fabiola! This week’s blog has been written by Fabiola Rodriguez, Owner and Interior Designer at By Fabiola Design. She has put together some handy tips to help prepare your home for the real estate market!

Rethink Your Furniture Arrangement 

Use your furnishings to showcase the size of a room and its ability to create an inviting space. Most of the time this may include removing furniture; however, there are times where specific items need to be added. How do you decide what stays and what goes? Think about the functionality of the space!

In other words, if you have an over-sized living room or bedroom, consider adding a desk to promote it as a multi-functional area with added work space. If you are decluttering your small living room and the size of your basement coffee table is more appropriate, consider moving it upstairs, as this is where first impressions happen. In the kitchen (example shown below), a lounge chaise overlooking the in-ground pool was added as a cozy reading corner next to the breakfast counter. Buyers can’t always picture themselves enjoying a bright and spacious room, so sometimes you need to create a space that will guide their imagination.

Let Your Finishes Shine Through

Homeowners usually enjoy adding personal style to their home with the help of decor. When it becomes time to sell, you want to ensure that your decor does not interfere with the finishes in your home. Maybe that rug you brought back from Morocco completely covers your beautiful hardwood floors. You may risk hiding an appealing selling feature from potential buyers. Although an accessory piece like this may be near and dear to your heart, it might hinder the true selling features in your home. It’s best to let the wooden floors speak for themselves! This is not to say that adding a beautiful area rug is a bad idea, it’s more about selecting the proper complimentary items to showcase the finishes.

Another area to consider are windows with thick fabric curtains. For day-to-day, when you are watching your favourite Netflix show or drowning out the morning sunlight – these are great. However, when preparing your home to sell, an easy change is opting for light, neutral fabrics. This will leave the natural light shining through as well as allowing the windows to showcase themselves.

Rearrange Exposed Clutter

The best way to display exposed storage is to declutter! If you have built-in bookshelves and open shelving full of personal belongings, consider removing some of them. I find it best to remove all family pictures allowing buyers to envision themselves and their family in the home. Other items like books, kitchen dishware, plants, laundry products or decor accessories can be strategically arranged. The trick is to arrange items using symmetry and repetition OR arrange items in groups of three. Play with different heights! For example, a shelf can hold three potted plants in a row. If you have a full bookcase, make sure the books are arranged in order of height, as shown in the picture example below.

You can also pair items with different heights in groups. Select objects that are similar in colour and function, placing taller items towards the back. This will help create a perfectly stylized shelf like the one shown below.

Give yourself the proper time for staging, cleaning and decluttering prior to the professional photo shoot. When looking through your belongings, if you’re unsure if something should stay or go, think of these three questions:

1. Does the item add functionality to the space?
2. Is it visually appealing?
3. Does it add character to the home decor?

Once the photos are done, you still need a functional living space. Remember that you don’t want to hide everything each time a showing is booked. Try to find the balance between storing items you can go without, and leaving daily-use items that can be hidden quickly. This way once the showing request comes in there are only a few things to quickly stage. These simple steps add to the pride of ownership and encourage buyers to move forward to make your home their new investment!

Contact Us

If you’re looking to sell your home and put it on the market, let us know!

Call us at 613-288-2455, or email ray@ottawaproperties.com we are always ready to help!

Interested in By Fabiola Design? Visit her site here or give her a call at 613-804-0098