Make Any Room Look Bigger (Part 1 of 2)
Your new listing has a very small living room, bathrooms, or kitchen. What do you do? Just because you’re given small spaces to work with in preparing a home for market doesn’t mean that you’re stuck with them. You can easily make any room look larger or more attractive, according to designers and home stagers who have developed strategies to show off the best features of every room in a house.
The key, say the experts, is to get rid of clutter, clean everything down to the switch plates, and create a neutral space that buyers can picture themselves living in. “Buyers only know what they see -- not what could be,” says Barb Schwarz, ABR®, president of Stagedhomes.com, a home-staging consultancy based in Concord, Calif., and founder and president of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals. “I tell people to put things away, bring the outside in -- like touches of greenery and nature -- and emphasize the best of what’s there. Rooms will look bigger, and the buyer can mentally move in.”
Other home design and staging experts provide a room-by-room rundown on how to make every space look bigger so that you can sell your listings faster. Here are their best tips:
The Living RoomLinda Russell, a home stager and salesperson with RE/MAX Village Square, REALTORS®, in Montclair, N.J., recommends that practitioners stand inside the front door to see where their eyes go first in the living room. “Take the furthest corner and put something there to draw the eye,” says Russell. “A lot of times, that means moving a couch, so that’s not the first thing you see. Sometimes a lamp or piece of art is what you want people to see first, so that you’re immediately taking in the size of the room.”
Ed Marshall, a home stager with Marshall Design Group in Los Angeles, suggests that you make sure window coverings are sheer, or are pulled back, to bring more light in. Brighter rooms look bigger and more inviting. Scale the furniture to fit the size of the room, and don’t block walking pathways, he adds. Having oversized sofas or too much furniture will make the living room look smaller.Lori Matzke, president of Center Stage Home in Arlington, Minn., says if you’ve got a fireplace or a view, direct the buyer’s eye to that as the focal point of the room.
Stacy S. Pulse, a home stager and salesperson with Prudential Carter-Duffey, REALTORS®, in Kansas City, Mo., suggests having no more than three items on a coffee table, and removing most personal photos from the area will not only de-personalize it but also help to clear up the clutter—which overwhelms a small room.
The Dining RoomTables should be positioned for maximum effect in the dining room, Russell says. “They don’t need to have a lot of leaves in them with six or eight chairs,” she says. In fact, taking all the leaves out and making the dining table as small as possible will make the room look bigger. Another good trick: “If there’s a heavy rug on the floor, take it out to create the illusion of more floor space.”“If there’s a China cabinet, keep a few pieces in it, but don’t fill it up with items,” Pulse recommends. Overcrowding with too many items will overpower the room.
Don’t bother setting the table, advises Matzke. “It just draws attention to the table, and not to the room,” she says. “Over-accessorizing things makes it feel like a plastic model home. You want to simplify.”