Design Recipes: Cathy’s Home Staging Secrets - Home Staging: Remember All 5 Senses

Home staging involves paying attention to obvious and subtle details to help your home look its absolute best. Photo courtesy of Cathy Hobbs Design Recipes

It’s no secret that home staging is an excellent way to help a home sell faster.

Home staging allows you to show your home at its best, presenting it to potential buyers in the best possible light. This allows buyers to see the full potential of your home, and helps them to fall in love with its charms, and giving you a tremendous edge above the competition. In short, it’s a great idea for anyone who’s trying to sell –or even rent out a home.

One way to ensure that you cover all of your bases when staging your home, is by thinking in terms of how we experience things –with our five senses. While some senses, such as sight, may be readily obvious, others such as taste –can be kind of tricky. Still, it’s worth paying attention to all of the senses, to ensure that your home is looking fab and ready for the market when it’s time to sell.

Here are a few tips to get you started…

1. Sight

Photo courtesy of Cathy Hobbs Design Recipes

Sight is the most obvious –and strongest sense when it comes to home staging. Your home should look light, airy, and open. It should have enough décor to help potential buyers to be able to imagine living there, but nothing that distracts or clutters. Control sight with colors, style, and perspective. Think open and welcoming. Mirrors, a new piece of art, light colored furniture, or modern table lamps are all excellent accessories to increase a home’s visual appeal.

2. Smell

Photo courtesy of Cathy Hobbs Design Recipes

Smell can be controlled by opening windows, and adding fresh flowers or candles, but equally important are implied smells. These can be controlled by atmosphere, accessories, and color. A bowl of fresh fruit will imply “fresh” to the senses, while a dark, dingy room will subconsciously smell dank, and unwelcoming.

3. Touch

Photo courtesy of Cathy Hobbs Design Recipes

Think of touch as ‘visual touch.’ Look for ways to add depth, drama, and contrast to your home, and pay close attention to different textures. A soft, welcoming blanket draped on the side of a chair in a wide, open room, or the feel of a beautifully textured rug or throw pillows, can help to add to the sense of touch.

4. Sound

Photo courtesy of Cathy Hobbs Design Recipes

Sound can be implied through the décor and objects in the room. For example, too much ‘noisy’ art or clashing colors can be distracting, and isn’t usually the best choice for home staging. Set the tone of calm and relaxing with your décor and color choices, and opt for soothing sounds such as quiet classical or jazz music in the background.

5. Taste

Photo courtesy of Cathy Hobbs Design Recipes

Taste can be the most difficult sense to accommodate, but don’t rule it out completely. Look for ways to incorporate taste, even implied taste into your home. Bright juicy colors can almost ’taste‘ fresh and summery, while bright candy stripped bedrooms ’taste’ fun, and sweet!

For more design tips and inspiration, be sure to LIKE Cathy Hobbs, Interior Designer on FACEBOOK, and Follow Design Recipes on TWITTER.

Original Post: Cathy Hobbs Design Recipes