How To Stage Your Bathroom When You're Selling Your House
Before selling your property, one of the most time consuming tasks you'll need to complete is staging the interior of your home. In essence, staging means making everything appear brand new, yet styled and lived in, so that potential buyers can picture themselves in the space. As Severyn Development points out, it's the best way to make a great first impression.
While the bathroom is typically a small area, staging it well is imperative. The bathroom can be one of the most important places potential homebuyers will inspect. They want this room to feel like an oasis where they could get ready in the morning and relax in the evening. Therefore, it's important to focus on making it appear in pristine condition.
To stage this room well, you'll need to follow a few tips. Besides making sure to keep the toilet seat down when showing off your home or taking pictures, we've got five more staging tricks you'll want to follow in order to make your bathroom more appealing to buyers.
Clean thoroughly
The first thing you should do when staging your bathroom is clean it thoroughly. Per Colorado Living, this is one of the easiest ways to make a buyer really impressed with your home. According to Bar Keepers Friend, the bathroom specifically is one of the most important rooms to clean, along with the kitchen, because those are the areas that harbor the most germs. And, of course, no one likes looking at a mildewy mess. If you're wary about your cleaning capabilities, you could consider hiring a professional cleaner.
If you're going to clean your bathroom yourself, here are some tips. Always make sure the toilet, bathtub, shower, and vanity are extra clean. When scrubbing down the shower, make sure there are no streaks left on the glass doors. Additionally, don't forget to clean the window if you have one, as this will let in more natural light. Finally, make sure the floors appear well-maintained.
Remove personal items
After you've completely cleaned the small space, it's time to depersonalize it. Home Go says that removing personal décor pieces like picture frames or collections is key. The goal should be to make it appear like no one has previously used the bathroom. Another way to look at it is to try to make your room look like a hotel.
Along with personal décor items, you should also remove or put away toiletries, per Professional Staging. This includes toothbrushes and toothbrush holders, perfume, makeup, bottles in the shower, and anything else. You could place these inside a cabinet, if desired. Additionally, make sure to remove any hanging robes and the dirty clothes hamper. Even soap dispensers may take away from the aesthetic. Unless they're neutral in color, you may need to hide these as well. All of these elements could make your bathroom appear cluttered or dirty.
Remember that less is more
Once you've cleaned and decluttered, it's finally time for the fun part — staging with decorative elements. Even though this may be exciting for those who love interior design, you shouldn't think about staging the same way you think about decorating. This is because, as Professional Staging points out, these two terms are not interchangeable. Staging means making the space appeal to the widest audience. For this reason, stagers typically use minimal pieces and neutral tones. Decorating, however, is meant to appeal to an audience of one — you. That makes it much more personalized.
When staging a home, remember that less is always more. The goal should be to create a spa-like, relaxing atmosphere. Too many decorations could make it feel cluttered instead. Stage My Own Home says to stay away from too many art pieces or knick knacks. Additionally, themed décor, fake plants or flowers, toilet rugs or seat covers, old towels, and old bars of soap can all make your style look outdated or dirty, which will turn buyers away. Make sure to remove all these elements from your bathroom.
Pay attention to the small details
All that said, we're not saying you can't add any decorations to your bathroom. In fact, there are some you should definitely consider adding. Stage My Own Home says that fluffy towels and a neutral shower curtain can brighten up an area. Additionally, a rug near the shower or the tub could make the room feel cozier. Q-tips and cotton balls in glass jars are clean, simple elements that appeal to everyone.
You should also check out the condition of your walls and trim. If the paint looks aged or faded, you could add a fresh coat. This simple change could make a massive difference in the overall look of your bathroom's design. Homedit recommends painting smaller bathrooms white to make them look larger. White is a nice clean color that creates a fresh look without drawing much attention. You could also use other neutral tones to emphasize the clean lines in a modern-styled room.
Add greenery
One more nice way to decorate your bathroom is with plants. Live plants are the best option, as artificial plants get dusty and may look a little too fake. Furthermore, be sure you don't go overboard and overwhelm the space with too many. Just choose a few plants to enhance the appearance of your bathroom.
As the folks at The Plants Project say, the right greenery will make your space feel like a serene sanctuary. Plants will add a natural element to your room and make it feel more inviting. Additionally, since the rest of the room will most likely be neutral, they will add fresh pops of green to an otherwise blank canvas. You could hang them from the ceiling, drape them down over shelving, place them in cute pots on the vanity, or arrange them near the window. An empty corner could be the perfect place for a tall floor plant as well.