If you are living in your home as you try to sell it, it may seem impossible to keep the house up to selling standards without infringing on your family’s daily comfort or routine. It can, however, be done! Here, we’ll detail just a handful of tips for cleaning and sprucing up that will make your house both spring and sale ready!
1. De-clutter.
This tip is one you may already be considering since you’re planning to move out of your home. De-cluttering your house can be as simple as reorganizing your books and DVD collection, or as massive as the entire family sorting through and getting rid of clothes. If you decide to pack the excess items that are deemed clutter, store them neatly in the attic or in an offsite storage unit while you try to sell your home.
2. Make the beds
Here’s one for the whole family to keep up! Making your bed neatly lends your room a nice, finished appearance. If there is no other straightening you achieve in your bedroom on any one day, doing that alone will still make a big difference in how the bedrooms in your home look.
3. Put away family photographs and personal items.
This tip may seem contradictory. After all, don’t you want any potential buyers to be able to imagine a family living in the house? Yes, but having photos or very personal items out can affect how a buyer views the house. You want them to imagine themselves in your home, so it’s more important to make your home look warm, inviting, and lived-in, while not attaching the image of a specific family to it.
4. Paint high-traffic or worn areas like door frames and window sills.
You may not have the time or the budget to repaint whole rooms before listing your home, but invest in a can of paint (usually white) for areas that experience the most wear and tear. Door frames see a lot of damage just from daily use, and so do window sills and frames and baseboards. Touch up each with a little bit of white paint and see what a difference it makes!
5. Clean the fridge, oven, microwave, and appliances.
This tip is especially important if you have stainless steel appliances. It won’t be possible for you to completely avoid using your appliances while you are still living in your home, but you can clean the appliances inside and out. Enlist your family’s help in keeping the appliances spic-and-span by doing a quick spot-clean after every use.
6. Wash the windows and blinds.
Dirty windows and dusty blinds can really bring a room down, so wash both with a cleaner before you list your home. Don’t forget to dust the window sills! When a daytime showing is scheduled, open the blinds before you leave. The natural lighting through the open windows will make your home look larger and more inviting, and it photographs beautifully!
7. Weed and maintain the flower beds and yard.
If you weren’t blessed with a green thumb, keeping your flower beds neat and weed-free will still make a positive impression rather than letting weeds sprout freely. Keep your lawn trimmed. Spray and mulch where needed. If you have no foliage planted and would like to add some for appearance, place some potted plants in the flower bed. They can then be transferred to your new home once you sell.
8. Never underestimate the impact of well-placed fresh flowers.
Leading off of the last point, placing fresh flowers on an entry way or focal point can elevate a rooms appearance as well as release a fresh scent throughout the house. Go for flowers that are low allergy but visually make a statement, like hyacinths or peonies, or buy something long-lasting, like fresh eucalyptus branches.
9. Polish the kitchen and bathroom cabinets.
If you’re short on time, you don’t need to stress about re-finishing, re-painting, or replacing your kitchen and bathrooms cabinets. Rather, give the cabinets a good polishing with a wood polish, either homemade or store bought. Polishing will restore some luster to older wood, refreshing your cabinets appearance and hiding imperfections.
10. Clean the baseboards.
This is a tip that seems small but makes a huge difference in the overall perception of your home’s cleanliness. Dirt and dust tend to accumulate around the baseboards, the joint where the walls meet the flooring, making the rooms appear dingy or less kept. You only need to a rag and a mixture of dish soap diluted in warm water to clean this mess up; with any luck, you shouldn’t need to do it more than once before you sell your home!
We hope these tips have helped you plan your spring cleaning and sale sprucing!
