DIY home staging. A must for sellers with a limited budget. Whilst home staging sells, not every seller has the finances to invest in a professional property stylist. However, there is still hope. Plenty can be achieved when staging a home on a budget. If you want to maximise the sale price of your home, then doing it yourself is time well spent.

Here are 5 essential furnishings worth your investment. They cost less than professional home staging, and can be put to use in your new home.

DIY Home Staging Starts with a Plush Rug

DIY Home Staging: Plush Rug

Throughout hundreds of in-home consultations, sadly I’ve seen many living rooms deprived of a rug.

A rug in a living room has several aesthetic benefits. Firstly, it instantly softens the appearance of the room. If your living room has hard flooring such as timber, tiles, or polished concrete, a rug will immediately create a much more inviting space. Rugs don’t need to be restricted to living rooms. This also applies to other areas in the home. Rugs can work really well in dining rooms. If your dining room looks cold or hard, a large rug under the dining setting is a great solution.

Secondly, rugs create visual divides. For example, an open plan property with a dining area adjacent to the living room. A rug in one, or both, differentiates the two spaces. It can create the perception of two generously sized rooms.

Finally, rugs are a great way of adding texture or colour to an otherwise dull space. If you feel that your room is lacking some oomph, opt for a textured wool rug with a pattern or a shag pile rug for a serious plush injection.

The purchase of a new rug is the most expensive of my 5 essential furnishings for DIY home staging. However, it’s a worthy investment.

You don’t necessarily have to pay top dollar. Check out your local rug stores for any sales. They always seem to be on sale, right? Don’t overlook the budget friendly range at IKEA either. They have a great selection of sizes and styles to work with most homes.

Statement Artwork

DIY Home Staging: Statement Artwork

After depersonalising your property, there may be bare walls where the family portraits used to be. Statement artwork is a great way to inject colour, personality and interest into your home.

Home staging creates an emotional connection between the buyer and the home. Artwork is a great way to achieve this, as long as you choose carefully. Select pieces that are broadly appealing and in line with the style of your home. This will create interest to an otherwise ordinary space. Beautiful artwork is more likely to draw buyers into a room. Once inside, they’ll spend more time appreciating the space than an otherwise blank white walled room.

Artwork pricing can vary hugely. My favourite for well-priced artwork in a flash is Freedom. Freedom have a great range of varied sized pieces in both canvas and glass framed. Their pricing meets the budget of a DIY home stager.

Check out more of our tips on how to style with statement artwork.

Linen and Towels

Time to replace that worn looking quilt cover and faded bath towels. Bedrooms and bathrooms are personal spaces. You want to depersonalise these as much as possible for potential buyers. Faded towels tell a story of a stranger’s home. No one wants to move into a “stranger’s” bedroom. They want to move into their bedroom. There should be no association of the current owners of the home on display in these areas.Light filled bedroom with fresh linen and grey throw

This is an easy fix. Create a super fresh and neutral space. Achieve this with a fresh quilt cover on the bed and fluffy towels in the bathrooms. Provide a luxury hotel vibe, rather than a lived-in house.

I like to neutralise the bed with white linen. Colour is added through artwork and scatter cushions. Carry this throughout all the bedrooms in the home for cohesive styling. This is step 1 when styling a bedroom for sale.

Where possible try not to skimp on quality when it comes to linen. Don’t forget you’ll be taking these with you to the next home. You may as well treat yourself. Get something that feels as good as it looks. Quality that meets a DIY home staging budget, can be found at Adairs. They have a great range of both linen and towels.

Scatter Cushions

Scatter cushions across a grey couch

Cushions. The quick and affordable makeover for any space. They can also be a great disguise. Attracting attention away from what may be a dated or worn sofa beneath.

Select cushions that work with existing colours in the room. Maintain a harmonious palette. Before heading to the store, take a photo of the room. Make sure any artwork is captured in the photos. Once in store, you can refer to the photos to help select colours that tie with the existing palette. If you’re feeling completely helpless, ask for assistance. A sales assistant can help you with your selections.

Use scatter cushions on your sofas and beds. Cluster the cushions in two or threes depending on the size of the cushions and furniture. Play with colour and mixing textures or patterns for interest. Cushions with feather infills are our favourite. They produce a more luxurious finish after a “pillow chop”. Pillow chops would have to be the easiest skill to learn for a DIY home stager.

Plants

When we talk about creating fresh spaces, nothing is fresher than a living thing. Plants are number one for creating a fresh space. Greenery adds life and is a great styling tool for many areas in the home.Greenery in the corner of a staged home

Foliage in a vase on your dining table, coffee table and/or your kitchen bench instantly adds colour and interest. Fresh flowers also provide a beautiful and inviting fragrance in your home which buyers will appreciate. However, the upkeep of fresh flowers over a sale campaign is challenging. You may want to replace them with foliage after the listing photos are complete.

Selecting foliage that is long lasting will stretch those dollars further. Native gum leaf varieties, proteas and banksias last for weeks rather than days.

If the budget allows, a floor plant is a great addition to any home (unless you already have too many like myself). Whether it’s a feature plant at the entry or filler for an empty, dull corner of the home, indoor plants add a homely feel.

Visit your local nursery or hardware store for indoor plants and pots at reasonable prices.

More to Come on DIY Home Staging

This article is the only the start on DIY home staging. I’ve been working on this topic for a while and there’s simply too much to squeeze into a single article. I’ve started splitting it into more consumable pieces. Look out for more in the months ahead.