Prepping your home for sale? Be sure the exterior best showcases your homes first impression. Here are some tips for helping home stagers, interior decorators and homeowners do just that!
Dont forget about the exterior, especially the front! First walk to the curb and look at your home from the road. This may be the buyers or buyer agent’s first live impressions of your house. Take the time to review your front yard, front door and landing/porch and follow the advice below to see if your house is really ready for the market!
Even if the yard is small, it should still feature green grass, small shrubbery and flowers. Tidy up the walk, remove any weeds and cover any ‘bald’ spots with sod. Michelle Molinari (@curbappealqueen) always adds flowering white flowers to yards in Louisiana, because they “always look great on photos.” Molinari also recommends a layer of mulch to finish out garden spaces and suggests coordinating the mulch color with the roof color. The match will make the entire front appear more complementary to the eye.
In lieu of green grass in the US southwest, xeriscaping is used, which is a landscape of rocks and desert friendly plants which require minimal water and is common in the desert.
Don’t forget the front door! Some home stagers always recommend the same color front door, but I prefer a color to complement exterior house colors. For instance, a Tudor style house with cream walls and grey trim would be great with Hydrangea Blue on the door, while a grey wall Colonial with white trim would look stunning with a black door. Even hot punches of color like turquoise make a sophisticated statement. Most of the paint manufacturers have suggested exterior combinations (walls, trim and doors) to help sellers determine which color works well with the exterior colors and style of their house.
In addition to the front door, potted plants, a tables and chairs and a great outdoor rug are great additions for to make a front porch inviting. For the smaller landing, Karen Eubank of Eubank Staging in Dallas, Texas suggests a pot of rosemary by the front door. What a great way to have potential buyers enter your home after taking a nice whiff of rosemary at the door, signaling their welcome.
Last but not least – don’t neglect the house numbers or lighting . House numbers are best seen with dark numbers on a light background and are very important when selling! Ensure there is enough light to read them comfortable from the road. And if the front of the house is hard to see from the road, place another set of numbers closer to the road so buyers don’t miss the house!
Hopefully all of these tips will help your home make a great first impression!
Written by:
Roslyn Ashford
Professional Designer & Stager, www.rarooms.com
