by When selling a home, presentation is everything. Much of what a potential buyer will take home with them after a showing will be based on their impressions and feelings when they first walk in the door. As a result, it’s very important that these impressions are kept in mind when staging a home prior to showing. One of the most often overlooked aspects of staging is light. Light can completely change the way a potential buyer views a room.
Indoor Lighting
If it’s dark or dimly lit, no amount of ingenious interior design is going to make them notice the beauty and quality of the home. I asked the top RE/MAX real estate team selling Vernon real estate for suggestions on what they recommend for lighting your home for sale. Here are a few tips they use regularly to sell homes faster and for more money than any other real estate team in their market.
First of all, open all curtains and blinds. Some homeowners decide that the view out the window isn’t very nice, so they try and block it with their curtains. This isn’t that helpful in the long run, though, and it can significantly affect the room’s ability to build value in the home as a whole. Natural light is always desirable when highlighting the beauty of the room.
The presence of natural light is so helpful that homeowners may want to take steps to maximize it in their house. One way of doing so is trimming any trees, bushes or shrubs that have grown to block sunlight from reaching your windows. This also has the advantage of opening up the exterior of a home, preventing the impression that the property is hiding in thick foliage.
Clean Windows
Another way to increase the amount of natural light in your home is to clean your windows inside and out. You will be shocked at how much brighter a room looks after dust, dirt, and hand prints are removed from the window glass. Even glass that doesn’t look dirty can have deposits preventing light from getting through.
It’s a good idea to begin the process with a hard scrub using hot water and vinegar, and then finish with a streak-free glass cleaner. Windows that are high off the ground can be reached by a professional window washer, a sturdy stepladder, or a pressure washer. No matter which option you choose, it’s important to be safe.
All Lights On
Once you have maximized your natural light, turn on all of the lights in the house. While this might feel a little bit strange to you, potential buyers who enter a space for the first time will be impressed by how bright and welcoming it is. If you have a certain room or space that seems to look displeasing with the interior lights on, try switching out warm light bulbs for cool light and vise-verse. It should say on the light bulb packaging which is which, and changing from one to the other can make a world of difference.
Outdoor Lighting
The exterior of a house’s visual appeal can suffer severely at night. Showcased trees, sculptures, or landscaping often blends in with the rest of the darkness to create a bland, indiscernible swath of nothingness. This foreboding scene can make venturing out into the yard at night an uncomfortable prospect.
By adding outdoor lights, you are not only increasing the distinctiveness of your property, you are also adding safety, and encouraging mingling outdoors at all hours. Spending some quality time in your yard, after all, sure beats sitting in front of the TV every night.
Planning Ahead
To start the process of adding exterior lighting of your home, begin by choosing several areas to focus on. Is there a walkway or garden path that can be illuminated? Perhaps there is a tree or sculpture that could do with some accenting? Maybe you have an area that swallows up light and feels dangerous to walk through at night? These considerations determine the scope and direction of your project.
Transforming With a Transformer
The first thing most outdoor lighting projects need is a transformer to adjust the high-level current from the house into a low-voltage current that can be used for lighting. Your transformer should have the wattage capability to support your current project, as well as any expansions that may take place in the near future.
Make sure to choose a quality product that can exceed your current needs without putting a strain on your power bill. Also, take all safety precautions necessary when installing, and consult a professional should you get confused or nervous during the process.
Low Wattage Lighting
A simple lighting project would be to install pathway lamps that only use LED lights. These are relatively inexpensive, and require less effort to put in than higher-capacity fixtures would.
Another, similar lighting technique would be to purchase string lights on a flexible wire that could be wrapped around a tree, shrub, or sculpture. These lights tend to mimic the appearance of starlight or shiny dew shimmering around the chosen object, creating quite an impression from a distance and a nice, soft light up close.
Uplighting
Another lighting idea would be to angle small fill lights upwards from the base of trees. This type of light can be quite dramatic, transforming any outdoor area at night into an impressive scene.
Some people also choose to employ this type of lighting on the exterior walls of their house, creating a “scalloped” effect along the walls and giving an ambient effect to the outer geometry while also providing safety lighting for foot travel.
