If you're in a hurry to sell your St. Louis home, you might be wondering what you can do to help speed up a sale. While every home is different, one option that many buyers consider is staging. Whether you’ve already moved into a new home and don’t want the home you’re selling to look empty, or you simply want to highlight the best things about your current place, staging can be a great option to make your home even more appealing to buyers. Here are some things to consider if you think staging might be right for you:

Plan Ahead

You’ll want to establish a clear plan when it comes to staging your home. For most sellers, this begins with a budget. How much are you willing to spend on staging your home? This will help you determine if you’re going to outsource the staging or take a more DIY approach. Staging shouldn’t be a major financial risk that sellers take on, so it’s important to establish a plan that’s right for you and your budget. If you do decide to take on the staging yourself, seeking out inspiration and making a plan of what you’ll need to do can help the project move smoothly.

Neutral with Character

Some sellers think that painting all the walls white is the best way to appeal to buyers. While a stark white in every room isn’t necessary, keeping a more neutral color palette can help your home appeal to more buyers. While keeping it neutral is a decent general rule of thumb, it shouldn’t be at the expense of character. You want to highlight all that your home has to offer. While you might tone down the green walls of your son’s bedroom to a more mellow shade, an accent wall in the living room doesn’t necessarily need to go if it works with the rest of the room.

Blank Canvas with Warmth

So often, sellers focus on making their home a black canvas for potential buyers. It’s true that we want to make it easy for potential buyers to envision themselves living in the home, but when taken too far, that blank-canvas approach can make a house feel cold. A hallway lined with family photos? Probably a no-go. But removing all artwork and photos? That can make things feel a bit empty. Consider keeping a few less personal details to keep the space feeling warm without leaving things that are highly specific to your family.

Stylish and Livable

Staging can be a fun opportunity to experiment with different styles. While choosing to give your home a bit more flare in your staging is one thing, you don’t want to go over the top. Potential buyers should feel that this house could be their home. You don’t want it to feel like a hotel. You don’t want it to feel staged. Finding that balance between clean & stylish and comfortable & livable is key to successful staging.

Have you considered staging your home before? Have you ever tried doing it yourself? If you’ve worked with an expert, did you have the opportunity to tell them what you were looking for? I’d love to hear your thoughts!