When you’re trying to make your Tampa home look its best, it makes sense to do a little curb appeal spruce-up. However, just how much decorating is right when you’re in the process of selling a house? The key, as with many aspects of staging a home, is to accent the permanent aspects of the home while helping buyers to imagine themselves making it their own. No need to go all-out with decorations; focus instead on small changes that make a big impact.
Lean Into the Color Palette of Your Siding and Shutters
One of the top goals you can set for your decorating efforts is to maintain a harmonious look: what may seem eclectic to one buyer will be distracting or even clashing to another, so simple, elegant, neutral choices are going to give you the best shot at appealing to a wide range of people. So look for throw pillows, welcome mats, and front door signs or wreaths that are in the same style or hue as the rest of your home’s exterior. You can also coordinate to flowers that will be blooming at the time or accents in the yard, but the easiest place to “match” is the house’s exterior.
Less is More For Front Porch Decor
While it can be tempting to really put your home and garden television hat on for your front porch, remember that you want to invite the potential buyers to imagine themselves there. So you don’t want a bare front porch with nothing, but simple furniture, one or two accents on the table, and maybe one sign is often plenty to make a porch feel cozy and pleasant while letting the potential buyer envision which of their own things would work perfectly nicely on that same porch. If your porch tends to be the place where toys, last month’s decorations, and cups end up after hanging out with friends and family, do some decluttering, even if your future buyers are likely to experience the same pile-up of signs that the porch is well-loved occasionally.
Make the Indoors Part of the Exterior with Window Accents
One of the classiest ways to add to your curb appeal is to add winter-time candles or summertime curtains to your various windows that bring a cheery look to them. When people pull up for a showing and see that each of the matched, drawn curtains is beautiful and peppy, the home looks both tidy and also inviting.
Make Walkways Clear and Safe
This may feel more like a tip for landscaping, but be sure that the path to the front door is easy and clear even in the dark. Small solar lanterns are a great design piece for designating the way to the front door. You want your buyers to confidently approach, not picking their way across the lawn itself, so make sure that they have a perfect path from their cars to the house. In the same vein, any additional accents on the way to the door should be thoughtful: a welcoming but not personalized mat, a recently painted front door, and even a simple but functional doorbell can make that first impression flawless.
