Simplify Your Home

As we live in a home, we tend to collect and decorate with things that are meaningful to us. We are proudly displaying photos that delight us, and items that we treasure. Without even realizing, our home can take on a cluttered appearance.

Simplifying your home is one of the most important things you can do in preparation for selling. An uncluttered, gently decorated home allows the buyer to visualize how the house would look with their furniture, their pictures, and their personality shining through. As emotionally difficult as it may be, put away family photos, curios and trophies – all those things that give your home a “busy” look.

You may need to rent a storage unit until your home sells, because as you begin to simplify your home. You will be removing furniture and boxes of items that you may want to keep, but you want them to be completely out of sight of any potential buyers. A rental unit is an ideal place to store these things until you are ready to move. In fact, having these things already boxed will simplify your own moving process when the time comes. As you begin to streamline your home, you may find this is the perfect time to have a yard sale. If you haven’t used an item in the last year, chances are it is a good candidate for your yard sale!

Go through each room and begin the streamlining process. Clean off kitchen counters, removing any toasters and blenders. This may involve putting seldom used items in boxes for storage, freeing up space in your cabinets for your essentials. Organize your cabinets to give the appearance of order and spaciousness. 

As you tackle your closets, you may notice they have a “crammed full” look. Remove all those items that are not presently essential. Box up extra bedding and towels, out-of-season clothing, shoes you don’t usually wear, and all those little shoeboxes full of miscellaneous items. Your closets should look invitingly clean and roomy.

Many of us acquire too much furniture, and not wanting to part with anything, our rooms take on a crowded appearance. Remove unessential chairs, tables, lamps, hassocks – anything that makes the room look too busy. Get rid of stacks of magazines, newspapers, and keep hobbies and projects out of sight.

As you simplify your home, you may find you really like the clean, uncluttered look, and you can be assured any potential buyers will, too.