Typically, one of the smallest rooms in the house a lot of sellers easily overlook their bathroom when it comes to staging. But the appearance of a bathroom can have a huge bearing on the final sale price of a home.A few simple tasks and little investments can have a big impact on how buyers perceive your bathroom and the overall value your home.
Here are our styling tips to make sure your bathroom is presented at its best when putting your home on the market.
Get scrubbing
In our opinion there is nothing worse than seeing soap scum, dirt, hair, grime and especially mould in a bathroom at an open for inspection. If left unchecked buyers will be put off quick smart and even reconsider making an offer altogether.
First things first before you think about styling your bathroom, you’ll need to give it a deep clean. Pay special attention to mirrors, the loo (give it a thorough clean inside and out) and to scrubbing tile grout, the shower, shower screen and bathtub.
If cleaning isn’t your forte or you’re just too busy, you can always hire a professional cleaner before the listing photography and inspections to have your bathroom shining in next to no time.
Now that your blank canvas is spotless, smelling fresh and sparkling clean we can move onto the fun part, upgrades and styling.
Little upgrades
There are many ways to give your bathroom a new lease on life without undergoing an expensive renovation. Little low-cost fixes are the best way to avoid overcapitalising and maximise profits when selling. Completing a few cosmetic fixes will give your bathroom a fresh and upgraded feel buyers desire.
Focus on features buyers will notice immediately in-person and in photography. Simple things like re-grouting tiles, applying tile paint and replacing towel rails, light fittings, shower curtains or screens, cupboard handles and faucets will go a long way to making a bathroom look and feel like new.
Clear surfaces
When it comes to styling a bathroom, less is more. To start you want to clear all your surfaces and storage space of personal clutter and anything that’s distracting or unappealing to the eye. Throw away empty beauty items, remove rubbish bins, the toilet brush and cleaning products.
Clear makeup, toothbrushes, shampoo bottles, hair brushes, blow dryers, deodorant etc. from your counter, shower, drawers and overhead storage completely. This will help make your vanity look more spacious and showcase all the fantastic storage space you have that buyers go gaga for in bathrooms. Your vanity bench should be completely clear except for a couple of carefully selected accessories.
If you have a small bathroom that lacks storage options consider adding in some floating shelving, a towel ladder, wall hooks or storage baskets. For an attractive and functional storage solution invest in a couple of glass canisters for keeping all your cotton buds, soap and hair pins organised.
Enhance with accessories
The goal with selecting accessories for bathroom staging is to evoke a sense of spa-like luxury in potential buyers’ minds. You want anyone that steps through the door to feel at ease and able to envision themselves enjoying this luxurious setting you’ve created every day.
Keep styling to a minimum and simple to let the bathroom itself shine. Select three or four items to enhance the space to make it feel elegant and inviting. Whether that is a house plant (note: orchids and maidenhair ferns thrive in bathrooms), scented candles, an aromatic reed diffuser, a vase of fresh flowers, luxurious hand soap or natural loofahs is up to you and your taste.
Go a step further and play up the 5-star luxury hotel suite feel by hanging a super soft Terri cloth robe and adding new plush white Egyptian cotton towels to towel rails and shelves. If space allows place a feature stool, bench or ottoman beside the bathtub displaying a book, magazine or maybe even a cup and saucer to help buyers visualise themselves relaxing in the lap of luxury there.
At the end of the day buyers will pay a premium for a home they perceive as inviting, comfortable, clean and well-maintained. By focusing on the above four areas when styling your bathroom for sale, you’ll be on track to achieving an excellent result come auction time.
Guest blog exclusively prepared by homely.com.au
Author bio:
Larissa Gardner is a blogger, social media strategist and marketing coordinator at arguably Australia’s best looking, banner-ad free real estate website homely.com.au. With a superb devotion to product innovation, user-centred design and innovative marketing platforms for real estate agents, homely.com.au helps millions of Australians find their next home easier and faster than ever before
