Does your home bring you “Joy”?
New Year. New You. New Home.
Is your New Year’s resolution still intact? Some are in full swing and some are likely waning, but everywhere we look we are still continuously swamped with advertisements and sales to promote weight loss, healthy eating, decreased stress, and my personal favorite: ORGANIZATION. If you haven’t yet heard of this year's newest Netflix sensation, Marie Kondo is inspiring people around the world with a show based on her best-selling guide book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”.
In her series, she lays out specific suggestions to clear the clutter and free yourself of the stress that cleaning out a home can be. She suggests touching every item in a space and ultimately determining if it “brings you joy” when deciding whether to keep it or not. As silly as it may seem, I began to think how that thought process could apply to more than just organization, but to the home as a whole and ultimately, how we could apply this concept to Home Staging!
Walk room to room in your home and ask yourself “How do I feel about this space?” Does the furniture or color of the walls, the picture frame on the wall, or the lamp standing in the corner bring you joy? Or do you walk in to a room and it feels dark or cramped or sterile or old or too yellow or… (fill in the blank)? If YOU don’t feel joy in each room of your home, do you really think your buyers will when they walk through it?
Are you feeling the "JOY"?
Often, when I talk to people about Home Staging, people ask me if it’s really worth it for homes that aren’t “luxury” homes. And my answer is always to smile and respond “of course!”. Why does only one type of home deserve to shine to its buyers? Sure, it may not have all the pricier bells and whistles compared to those “luxury homes” you're speaking of, but every home can and should look like a home that buyers want to live in!
My job as a Home Stager is to go room to room with sellers and help them create spaces that their target demographic of buyers will love. Simple changes such as updating a paint color or changing a furniture arrangement to create a focal point in a room or adding new throw pillows to a drab couch can drastically change the vibe of a room and bring back the “JOY” it’s lacking. Buyers will also sense this in a space and it immediately creates that “at home” feeling they are looking for when they enter the home. That feeling of joy and contentment is ultimately what pushes buyers to make an offer and helps you to sell your biggest commodity, your home!
Which picture do you respond to more?
By simply adding large white pillows, a white sheet, and a plant (along with some expertise in making the bed) the second "after" picture now exudes the feeling of a calming master bedroom that you want to curl up in after a long day!
Whether you're considering selling your home this year or just looking to experience more "JOY" in the spaces you live in each day, reflect on how each room in your home makes you feel when you're in it. Start with one small, but positive change and you're well on your way to building a warm and inviting space that you never want to leave!
-Christen Gorman, Owner
Make a Statement with YOUR home this year! - CG Statement Designs