Everybody we know makes resolutions when the New Year rolls around. They vow to lose weight. They promise to exercise more and to give up bad habits of all stripes. It turns out that this ‘do better’ behaviour also comes into play when new homes are in the offing. Those whose work is property styling for sale purposes tell us that when buyers are home shopping, there is more than a little discussion about how the new house will be used differently.

Children promise that they will keep their new bedrooms cleaner and tidier. Husbands swear to keep their tools in the garage in perfect order. Laundry rooms are destined to have no clothes left in the dryer to be folded later, and the kitchen, which is still the heart of the home, will be cleaner, less cluttered, and perfectly organised at all times.

People want to improve themselves and that urge to strive for a better way of life is one of the reasons we trade up to better housing in the first place. A new home in a better neighbourhood is part of our collective need to excel. That new home is visible proof that we are successful, and so is the way in which we keep the new place. It’s no surprise that when we shop for houses, we are looking for another way to affirm that we are the best humans we can be.

Keeping this in mind is one way that those who work in property styling for sale manage to help homeowners sell their homes for more money. It’s about the vision.
House stylists spend their time creating homescapes where buyers can imagine their families living in a ‘home beautiful’ kind of magazine. Everything is in its place. We all know where the television belongs, and who cares if there is open shelving in the kitchen? Everything is precisely placed in the perfect position – there is no clutter to hide.

The other half of the home buying equation, the part that creates a bond between families and the structures they will call home, is the hope that there will be more space. If you’ve thoroughly decluttered your home, you will already have created the feeling of largeness. Particularly in the kitchen, paring down the number of small appliances on the counter and the sundry dishes and souvenir glasses we all gather over time will serve to make the kitchen seem more spacious. Sometimes that alone is enough to make the buyer see that anybody can live the ‘uncluttered life’ happily ever after.

Okay. In real life it doesn’t always work perfectly. After the move-in date, most families do relax back into some of their old way of doing things. The mismatched coffee cups wander back. Before and during the home-search and actual purchase of the right house, though, the idealistic vision is working overtime. Naturally we want to help where we can.

As you begin the process of preparing your home for sale, think about the new family’s need to unclutter their lives. If you were going to move into a perfect home, what would it look like? There are amazingly effective tools to help even the clutter-challenged among us keep it all at bay. Such organisational tools can be found for the pantry, the pot and pan cabinet, and all other shelves, cupboards, and storage areas. They are not outrageously expensive and can usually be installed with just a screw-driver and a tape measure. When these tools could make the difference of thousands of dollars – and they can – why would you not consider them?

If you are having trouble finding your home’s vision, leave this work to your property styling for sale professional. An experienced home stager can advise you how to create a ‘do better’ house that will strike a chord with today’s buyer and garner you more money in the end