Five Essential Tasks To Ready A House For Sale

DESIGN | by KAT SPELLMAN

First impressions: A freshened front door, tidy stoop and neatened yard attract potential buyers. Start by sweeping, painting and tidying. Polish the door knocker and knob. Lay a new mat. Pick simple accessories such as large pots with foliage-based plants that require less upkeep than flowering ones.

Clean closets: After purging your belongings, clear those closets and drawers. Rent a storage locker, borrow the corner of a friend’s basement ― do whatever it takes to make your home appear to have an abundance of storage space. Living at home while it’s on the market? Whittle your wardrobe to what you’d take on a week-long business trip with a weekend of leisure. Rotate through your clothes and keep only what you need for the week at home. Organize what you have by color and display with space between hangers and piles to convey an abundance of room.

Pull furnishings away from walls: The rigidness of furniture hugging the walls instantly dates decor. Peruse magazines and note how furniture’s arranged. Set that bed at an angle. Pull chairs away from walls and cluster in a conversational grouping. Consider the soldierly grouping of a dining room set and leave one chair slightly eschew.  These little moves update a home in an effortless way.

Sparkling windows: Forgo the window cleaner with paper towel or the newsprint with vinegar and opt for a grease-cutting liquid dishwashing soap with a microfiber cloth. Even doggy drool on French doors is eradicated with a simple swipe: No lint or haze remains. Sparkling windows convey you care about your home.

New toilet seats: Quite frankly, nobody wants to sit where you have, so splurge on a new throne for your powder room. For under $20 your bathroom can look fresh and new, as sparkly and sanitized as a showroom.