When you’re selling your home, one of the most important jobs you have is to make your home more attractive to prospective buyers. According to MoneyWise, some of the biggest turnoffs for buyers are a messy, dirty, or smelly home. Thankfully, this is an area that you have complete control over, and with some helpful tips you can clean and stage your home to show off it’s beauty. All your spaces will be inspected during a showing, but there are a couple key rooms that are especially important to focus on to impress the buyers.

Kitchen: Clean and Free of Clutter

The kitchen in every home is a source of love and congregation, where food is prepared for the family and loved ones tend to gather. First, you want to thoroughly clean and organize the entire kitchen, including drawers, cabinets, and pantry. Don’t forget the appliances – clean all the refrigerator shelves, wipe out the microwave, and deep clean your oven. Next, you will need to stage your kitchen. Staging is decorating with the intention to increase attractiveness to the strangers surveying your home. The less you have on your counters the better, so put away all the small appliances and containers. Keep only a pretty bowl full of lemons or limes to add a pop of color. The kitchen can be a difficult area to keep clean while selling your home because you are still using it several times a day. In the coming weeks, take the time to completely clean up after every meal, even when you are in a hurry.

Living Room: Staged to Perfection

Your living room is likely the focal point of your home, as it is often the largest space and the one where most time is spent. According to House Beautiful, the living room will help you sell your home more than any other room in the house. As with all the other spaces in your home, you will need to deep clean thoroughly and keep it tidy as the home sits on the market. Most important for this particular room is flawless staging. Living rooms tend to be a home for beloved knick-knacks, family photos, and cozy collections of favorite blanket and pillows. All this personalization needs to go. If staging feels impossible to you, consider hiring a professional home stager to help out. A beautifully staged home will sell faster and at a higher cost than a home left in its original state.

Master Bedroom: Peaceful Retreat

Lastly, the master bedroom needs your attention. This is the place in your home that signals rest, a peaceful retreat from the busyness of life. In addition to a deep clean, you need to declutter and organize the space well. Take advantage of storage space underneath your bed, out of sight from prospective buyers. Utilize functional furniture like decorative trunks and storage ottomans to store your belongings and clear off surfaces. A decluttered space is the first step to creating a peaceful retreat. Next, paint your walls a calming neutral color like soft gray or pale blue, and replace heavy curtains with light sheer panels to allow natural light to shine through. With a few simple touches, your bedroom will be showroom-ready.

Of course, not everyone has time in their busy schedules to devote to cleaning on a regular basis. If you discover you’re having a difficult time making it all come together, look into hiring a housekeeping service, one that can help you keep your kitchen spotless, your bedrooms tidy, and your house ready for any potential last-minute showings.

By focusing on these three main rooms – your kitchen, living room, and master bedroom – you will have an easier time getting your home cleaned and staged. It is a stressful time putting your house on the market, but remember that it’s only temporary. In no time, your beautiful home will sell to the perfect buyer, and you will be able to move on to your next adventure.

Kris Louis is mom to two rambunctious boys. Her oldest is 10 and her youngest is 7. A former advertising copywriter, she recently created parentingwithkris.com, where she puts her skills to work writing about the trials and tribulations of parenting. Kris, her husband, and two boys live in Durham, NC.

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