Prior to listing my own Sunnyside condo for sale this past spring, my fiancé and I knew that we wanted to sell fast and at the highest price possible since we were planning to purchase a home and move up the property ladder. Based on my experience staging a range of properties in Calgary, I knew that a few updates in our bathrooms would help to accomplish that goal.

 
In addition to How to Stage a Bathroom to Sell, here are three ways we addressed the dated features in our bathroom to maximize the appeal to potential buyers who were looking for a “move-in-ready” condo:

• Tiles: Replace the existing ornate tiles that highlight the room’s age with glass mosaic tiles to give a more modern feel. In cases where the dated tiles are only used as a decorative tile border among a larger wall of plain tile, simply replace the border for a quick update.
• Grout: Make it look pristine by either replacing it with fresh white grout or stain it white.
• Caulking: If the caulking around your sink or shower is showing any signs of mold or discolouration from time, remove it and re-caulk.
• Countertop: Some buyers will have difficulty looking past your orange or chipped countertop. Replace it with an option that fits your budget or consider a DIY update with a product like Rust-Oleum Countertop Transformations.

If you will be selling a Calgary property with dated features and have questions about how staging can help, I invite you to contact me to schedule your schedule your free, no pressure, personalized Home Staging Assessment today.

 
Still curious about the benefits of home staging? Read more about my work and reach out when you’re ready. Ask how the Set Your Stage team can help your Calgary home or condo become SOLD!

Especially for DIYers, replacing living room carpet with a wide plank laminate flooring can be a fairly quick and easy living room update that will offer an excellent return on your investment. You can also pay to have it installed for you. It’s just that you’ll have to keep those extra costs in mind when you’re deciding how much you should invest.
 

When I sold my Sunnyside condo in the spring, this is one of the updates we had done prior to staging the condo to sell. It was a great weekend project and created an instant impact as soon as the potential buyers walked in the door.
 

This living room update added to the fresh, clean and updated feel that we knew would appeal to potential buyers looking for condos in our area. The proof is in the pudding as they say. The condo quickly sold and we were free to move on to our next home.
 

What to do with the old carpet that you’re removing? Well, if it’s still in good condition, try listing it on Kijiji or sharing it with someone on Freecycle. We had a couple come and take ours who were very happy to use it in their own basement renovation. Always think of re-use if possible.
 

Want more of our home staging tips? Stay in touch. Follow Set Your Stage on Twitter.

When potential buyers view your listing, they want to be able to easily move through the space and quickly understand the function of each room. It helps them to imagine what it would be like to live there.
 

To interrupt that flow with a question as to what the room is supposed to be only works against you as the seller.
 

Keep it simple by staging your rooms back to their original purpose.
 

Here’s an example. In a Garrison Green property we provided a staging consultation for, the sellers were not using the dining room for that purpose. They had no need given their lifestyle and preferred to use the space for a more practical use instead. Made sense.
 

But when it came time to present the property to potential buyers, we recommended that they display bedroom furniture so that buyers could easily see that a space for their kids or guests to rest exists.
 

Despite what the listing details say, buyers usually remember what they see. So if the listing says it’s a four bedroom house but only two bedrooms are staged as bedrooms, it’s quite possible that what they will remember is that there weren’t enough bedrooms for them (even though that’s not true).
 

Keep it simple for potential buyers. Present rooms as their original purpose. Your efforts to sell will be more simple in return.
 

Want more of our home staging tips? Stay in touch. Follow Set Your Stage on Twitter.