The holidays are a wonderful time of year but you face an interesting dilemma if your home is on the market during the holiday season. How do you balance wanting your home to look its best for potential buyers while also enjoying the holiday season with your family?
Thankfully with a little bit of extra effort, you can make your home feel festive while still highlighting its best features for potential buyers. Here’s how you can make your home both holiday-ready and stage-ready.
Declutter & depersonalize
The first rule for home staging remains the same during the holidays. It’s still important to declutter and depersonalize your home before staging it. This means removing personal items like family photos and heirlooms, as well as any clutter that has accumulated over time. You want potential buyers to be able to imagine themselves living in your home, and that’s tough to do if your personal belongings are everywhere.
Deck the halls—within reason
Homes decorated for the holidays often feel more welcoming than those that are not. But you don’t want to go overboard with the decorations. A few well-placed holiday touches, such as a wreath on the front door or a small menorah or Nativity scene on an end table, can add just the right amount of cheer. And when it comes to holiday scents, go easy on the pine-scented candles. Instead, cinnamon-scented candles or evergreen-scented diffusers offer a subtle yet festive alternative. Here are a few holiday decorating tips.
Mind the light
Natural light is always a selling point for homes, so make sure to let in as much light as possible when staging your home during the holidays. Make sure your decorations, including your tree, doesn’t block the windows.
Stick to neutral colors
When it comes to holiday staging, less is definitely more. You don’t want your home to look like a department store display, so instead of going overboard with red and green, stick to neutral colors like white, ivory, and gold.
Get creative with your tree
A traditional Christmas tree might not be the best option if you have a small space. Instead, try something like a wall-mounted tree or a mini tree that can sit on a tabletop or bookshelf.
Add some festive flair with pillows and throws
One of the easiest and most inexpensive ways to add some holiday cheer to your home is with pillows and throws in festive colors and patterns. Just make sure they’re not too distracting or overdone.
Protect gifts
Resist the urge to stack gifts under the tree, especially if you have an open house. You don’t want to risk losing gifts to sticky fingers. Instead, store gifts in a secured area.
With just a few small tweaks, you can be sure to impress potential buyers while still getting into the holiday spirit yourself! When you’re ready to start looking at homes, we invite you to visit us online at SummerHillHomes.com to learn about our new home communities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.