Staging My Calgary Kitchen
We all know that kitchens and
bathroom sell houses; in the same breath what can you do in
the kitchen. I mean you can't move the appliance around.
The kitchen is the heart of family activity, the kitchen is not just used to prepare and eat meals, its use for phone calls, planning dally life and family conversation. All this activity can create clutter. Buyers want to see a clean, well organized updated space.
Think of the kitchen as the focal point of the whole house, it’s the most widely viewed used room in your house and it’s the most expensive room to update. Buyers would rather pay more for a house with an updated kitchen so it’s not an out of pocket expensive. Kitchen remodels get you the highest return on investments than any other room.
When preparing the kitchen you need to scout out your competition. You want to look at the floors, appliances, lighting, countertops and the feeling you get in the competitions kitchen. You need to know what you’re up against!
Kitchens tend to displays a lot of personal items; take all your magnets and photos off the fridge. These items distract the buyer, instead of them envisioning living in the space they are learning about your life. Clear your counter tops, put away your coffee pot, toaster and all other appliance. This will make the space show bigger with lots of counter space.
One of the cheapest upgrade you can do in the kitchen is updating the paint. If you have wall paper, stenciling, or outdated color painting is a great way to refresh the space. A light neutral paint is the most successful when staging.
Refining cabinets is a budget friendly way to give new life to your date kitchen. Replace your faucet with something that in trend as well as the hardware, big box stores have lots of options to suit any budget.
Addressing the counter top, if it has stains, burns or is just dated there are lots of options to update depending on budget. Granite is the president but not so budget friendly to achieve the same look, you can large tiles with a narrow grout lines.
Formica is a great cost effective choice to update your counter tops. Formica comes in a huge selection on textures and colors. Choose a neutral color and style that will be in trend for a few years.
Current floor is at the top of the list of what buyer’s want, updating flooring is another costly item in your staging budget. Spending the money to update your floors before listing will prevent buyers from chipping away at your asking price.
Hardwood flooring can be resurfaced, if it’s still in good condition. Resurfacing is a cheaper alternative than replacing the flooring. If you have vinyl that is dated or worn replace it. Today vinyl comes in lots of options and does a marvelous job to refresh the space.
All you hard work will pay off when offer start rolling in!
Elysse Bulloch 