Two primary goals of home staging are to help a house sell quicker and for more money over an unstaged home. Keep reading to explore the basic principles behind home staging. Whether you want to stage your home yourself or hire a professional, the valuable information below can help you understand the basics of home staging.

(1) Great Curb Appeal

Poor curb appeal equals a negative first impression for a potential home buyer. Your home must look pristine on the outside as well as the inside. So, clean up your landscaping, mow the lawn, and repair broken or damaged windows, screens, shutters, steps, and other exterior items. Give your front door a fresh coat of paint and a new welcome mat to ramp up the curb appeal.

(2) Clean Environment

Keep your house squeaky clean when it's for sale. Dirt in any form or fashion doesn't appeal to a future homeowner when it's inside your home. Neither do insects, stained carpets, dirty windows, mouse droppings, cobwebs, or spiders. The first basic of staging your home's interior spaces is a sparkling clean environment.

(3) Neutral Wall Colors

Neutral wall colors provide a pleasant backdrop for your home's furniture and accessories. If it's been a while since your walls have been painted, staging your home offers an ideal time to cover them with a fresh coat of paint. Choose a calm, neutral hue, such as khaki beige, misty gray, creamy ivory, or smokey taupe.

(4) Minimalist Mindset

Think minimalism when staging your home. Put away everything that fosters a cluttered appearance, including toys, books, small electronics, decorative items, cookware, medicines, personal hygiene articles, and more. Next, examine your patio, deck, or porch and stash any miscellaneous items you find.

(5) Generic-Friendly Spaces

Make your home as generic as possible for staging purposes. For example, pack up your family photos, sports memorabilia, political articles, military-related items, weapons, and other personal paraphernalia. A generic-friendly space allows a home buyer to have a clearer vision of your home becoming their home when personal items have been removed.

(6) Furniture Layout

An uncrowded, well-designed furniture layout creates the appearance of a more spacious, organized, functional home. Remove any furniture pieces that are crowding the walkways, blocking the windows, or overpowering a room. Leave a 3-foot wide path for major walkways throughout your home and a minimum 2-foot clearance around beds.

(7) Clutter-Free Walls

Remove everything on your walls in each room except for a few large neutral-themed paintings. Fill in the nail holes with spackling compound and touch up the blemishes with paint that matches your existing wall color.

(8) Sunny Spaces

It's one of your home staging missions to make your interior spaces feel light, bright, and spacious -- not dark, dingy, and small. You can do this by letting natural light flood your home. Remove dark drapes, raise the blinds, and pull your curtains wide open.

(9) Clean, Neat Beds

Part of staging your home is neatly making all the beds every day. A simple white comforter, crisp white bed skirt, and fluffy bed pillows covered with white shams are all you need for a clean, pulled-together look. Also, remove all stuffed animals, dolls, or tacky toss pillows from the beds.

(10) Well-Maintained Appearance

Staging your home includes a well-maintained appearance. Fix squeaky door and cabinet hinges, tighten wobbly doorknobs, and nail down loose porch or deck boards. Replace any light bulbs that aren't working and keep your home free of unpleasant odors by emptying your indoor trash cans often. Always keep your home organized, clean, and clutter-free.

After reading the information in this article, you are familiar with the basics of home staging. You can do the work yourself or hire a professional stager to do it for you. Whichever option you choose, remember that a well-staged home is a key component to typically selling your home quicker and for a higher selling price.