A Warm Holiday Home vs. Cold Box Syndrome
Staging is always beneficial for selling homes. It can transform “empty box” rooms into a dynamic space that spotlights the potential and luxury of any home. The proper staging shows the use of space, differentiates one room from the next, and helps buyers write their future lives in the house with staging as the canvas. In the summer, sun-drenched homes can sell without staging but sell more when staged. In the winter, however, unstaged homes suffer from “cold box syndrome.”
Buyers in the winter are looking for a warm family home. And empty rooms in gray winter light just don’t do the trick. Warm, well-lit holiday staging makes a house feel like that welcoming family home that buyers are looking for.
Staging Tips for Selling Homes During the Holidays
Indoor and Outdoor Family Style Seating: Start with the furniture arrangement design. Around the holidays, everyone is thinking about the warm family conversations. So if you’re wondering where to put the couches and patio furniture, circle them up. You still want to create the sense of space, but seating facing each other will make buyers see the potential for family gatherings with seating circles both indoors and outdoors.
Pick a Coordinated Holiday Color Palette: Holiday decorating can get chaotic; it helps to pick a color scheme for both furnishings and decor. Metallics are both glamorous and neutral, so choose a combination involving, for example, red and gold or blue and silver to make the whole decorated home feel unified and beautiful.
Festive Pillows and Throw Blankets: In addition to your furnishings, make the home feel more festive with arranged throw pillows and blankets. This is a great way to set the stage for your splashes of accent color and your holiday decor. Not to mention making your home look more welcoming and cozy.
Lightly Deck the Halls with Garlands and Ribbons: Now deck the halls! Use artificial evergreen garlands (no shedding) and wide holiday fabric ribbons to wrap around banisters, chair backs, and pin in scallops around doorways and ceiling lines. Adding in garlands and festive ribbon can go a long way to make a home feel decorated for the holiday without overwhelming the space. It also leaves room for buyers to write in their own family’s style of holiday decorations.
Use and Enhance the Architecture: Make use of architecture when selling homes! Your goal is not just to make a warm space but to spotlight your home’s best features to help it sell for top dollar to eager buyers. Use columns, half-walls, doorways, vaulted ceilings, and the floorplan itself. Subtle decorations of garlands, wreaths, and lighting can highlight your home’s best features and show off how beautiful it can look when a new buyer moves in to make it their own.
Incorporate a Small Tree Stacked with Presents: To tree or not to tree? If you choose to add a Christmas tree to your holiday staging, choose a smaller tree that leaves the room feeling spacious. Place it in the center to cast the fewest shadows and decorate it with timeless tinsel garlands and bauble ornaments. The key is to make the tree look festive (and match your color scheme) while also staying impersonal so buyers can imagine their own heirloom family ornaments hanging from the branches.
Under the tree, wrap empty boxes with shiny paper and ribbons that match your color scheme. Presents make a fantastic neutral yet festive way to decorate all over the house, and especially under the tree. Nestle smaller wrapped boxes in the branches for detail.
Bring in Extra Glow: Make the home glow with warm yellow-tinted lighting. If the overhead bulbs and gray winter light aren’t doing the trick, make a few changes. Swap out cool-white bulbs for fresh warm-white bulbs in every fixture, and don’t be shy about using lamps and even electric-candle lanterns to make every room feel warmer with glowing warm-spectrum light.
Selling Homes in the Holiday Season
Are you preparing to sell your home over the holidays? This can be an excellent time to find motivated buyers and inspire dreams of family homemaking for those who tour your house. If you’re on the verge of a new transition, reach out to schedule a discovery call with us. Our team of experts can help you reach your goals of finding the perfect home for the holidays.
