When it comes to house staging, balance is important to keep buyers interested. These home staging m

virtual staging

82% of people looking to purchase a home said home staging made it easier for them to envision living there than when they viewed empty homes.

If people can't see themselves living in a house, it's going to take a long time to sell. Or, it might not sell at all! So striking the right balance when staging is key to showcasing a home that looks appealing to many different people.

Continue reading to learn seven house staging mistakes to avoid, so you don't waste your time and money and can sell houses quicker than ever before!

1. Filling the Space Too Much

Successful home staging highlights how much room there is within the home without making the space feel cramped or smaller than it actually is.

If you add too many pieces when staging, it can make the house feel claustrophobic when in reality, it could be pretty large. It would help if you chose pieces that complement the space and avoided picking furniture that's too large.

When you consider which pieces to include in the house, take measurements and assess how much space would be left for moving around. 

If there won't be much walking space or free space left, it's a good idea to pair down and either choose smaller items or eliminate a few pieces. The key here is keeping it simple and using decor and accent pieces to tie the room together.

It's also important to pull furniture away from walls whenever possible. Doing this makes the space appear larger and more luxurious than when things are pressed against the walls. 

In many cases, you'll be able to use your client's furniture and rearrange it to fit the space better rather than bringing in new items.

2. Neglecting the Exterior

One of the biggest home staging mistakes you can make is ignoring the outside of the home. For many people, the outdoor area is what draws them to a house.

If there's a large yard with no furniture, it can seem overwhelming. And many people have a difficult time imagining how they could use the space if the house were theirs.

Take time to set up an outdoor lounge area so people can imagine themselves entertaining and enjoying their yard when the weather is nice. Something as simple as a patio set and a grill can take the yard to the next level.

If there's already patio furniture present, cleaning it to make it look new is wise. You can also add plants, pillows, string lights, and a carpet to make the area feel more inviting and unique. 

3. Not Considering Color Choices

Colors can make or break a room. If the color scheme is off, it can come off as too dark, too bright, or even tacky. 

It's important to remember that not everyone has the same favorite colors or appreciates color within their home at all. So if you're adding in decor elements, try to keep things as neutral as possible.

However, you also want the home to feel inviting and warm, so adding a pop of color here and there can prevent a house from feeling too sterile. It's always an excellent choice to add in warm colors in areas like the bedroom and living room while focusing on cool colors in bathrooms and kitchens.

Keeping in mind which colors will photograph well is important too. For example, overly bright colors like orange and yellow can appear weird on camera, while dark colors can lead to poor photos.

4. Not Considering Virtual Staging

When it comes to staging, especially how to stage an older home, things can get expensive. 

If you have to fill an empty house or completely transform a poorly decorated home, things can add up quickly, and these costs detract from your profit on the project.

Many people forget to consider virtual staging as an option. Instead of physically staging the home, you can make changes virtually so that when people view the home online, it looks well put together and inviting.

Many people look for homes online, and if they like what they see, they'll tour it in person. So if you can get a person's attention before they even get to the home, once they're there, you can highlight the favorable areas as you walk them through it.

Virtual staging allows people to envision how the space could look, while the in-person viewing helps them see a blank canvas they get to work with. So it gives people the best of both worlds and enables you to avoid paying too much money or spending too much time on one thing.

5. Not Using Natural Lighting

Another one of the common home staging mistakes is not using natural lighting for photographs and viewings.

Natural lighting is much better for photographs than using lights because it makes the photos brighter and more natural-looking. The better the pictures of the home are, the more people will be drawn in, and the better your staging will look as a whole.

When it comes time for people to visit in person to see the house, opening up curtains and letting sunlight in rather than having every light in the home on can help make a space look bigger. 

Natural light is important to people, so highlighting how much of it a house has is another selling point. Just be sure to clean the windows if your plan is to have all curtains or blinds open. 

Dirty windowsills and cloudy windows can defeat the purpose of having natural light in the first place.

6. Forgetting to Depersonalize

As mentioned before, the entire point of staging is to make it easier for people to imagine themselves living somewhere. Would you be able to picture yourself living in a house if it was filled with pictures of another family? Probably not.

That's why it's crucial to remove any personal effects. For example, family photographs, custom signage, pet food and water bowls, etc., should be removed if possible. 

Having these items gone is one more way to create a neutral space that people can envision decorating with all of their personal items. Taking care of this is one of the most critical steps to take when staging a home.

Ideally, it should be one of the first things you do so you can figure out what you might need to fill space and blank walls. Having these items removed also makes adding things easier if you choose to do virtual staging.

"Hanging" a different photo on the wall takes nothing more than a few clicks.

7. Not Prioritizing Decluttering

At first glance, a home might seem relatively clutter-free and clean. But if you take a second look, you'll find many items that could be removed to better showcase the space.

For example, having coffee makers, mixers, toasters, etc., out on kitchen counters is a pretty common occurrence. If they're clean, it might seem like it's not a problem for them to be out and could actually help make the space look lived in and homey.

But these things take up a lot of counter space and can make the kitchen space feel smaller. Plus, they can be distracting to the eye and prevent people from noticing more important aspects of the kitchen, like new appliances or beautiful countertops.

If the home truly is free of clutter because the people living in it are minimalists, there's still something you need to do: not add the clutter yourself when staging.

Something as simple as a vase of flowers on a desk can overwhelm a room. Adding too many pillows to a couch or having things out on a bathroom counter can become issues too. A general rule to follow is if it doesn't add value to a room, it shouldn't be there.

Improve Your House Staging by Avoiding These Pitfalls

House staging is a delicate process, and striking the right balance can be challenging at times.

The best way to ensure your staging enhances a home rather than detracts from it is by avoiding the seven mistakes mentioned here! If you can stage a home without these pitfalls, you'll undoubtedly create a lovely and inviting space for people to see.

If you want to learn more about how you can set yourself up for success when selling real estate, check out this article to see how 3D virtual tours are the wave of the future, and you're missing out if you aren't taking advantage of them!