Selling Your Home? Six Tips for Creating a Relaxing Environment

When selling your home, what can you do to set it apart from every other house on the market? Simple—help the buyer envision themselves actually living there. In short, create a relaxing environment. We’ve got six great tips to help you do it well.

Any real estate agent worth his salt knows when the time comes to showcase a house, it’s best to make the place look inviting. A comfortable, relaxing living space can improve your overall mood and sense of well-being. When selling your home, present the space in such a way that any potential buyer can picture themselves living there.

Of course, if you can transform your home into a bastion of charm and relaxation, you might decide against selling your home altogether. Nevertheless, we’ve come up with some tips for creating a relaxing environment where you live.

Make Selling Your Home a More Relaxing Experience for Potential Buyers

1. Bring the Outside Inside

Plants clean the air and improve focus, and they have been known to nurture generally positive vibes. You can use them to create a focal point in a room. Some folks have even gone so far as to incorporate living walls into their homes that double as works of art. Working this kind of foliage into the aesthetic can take some upkeep.

For those who either don’t have a green thumb or who would just prefer not to manage this sort of undertaking, go low maintenance with aloe, snake plants, and spider plants.

When selling your home, make your space smell as fresh as possible while presenting a calm aura. Throwing a plant or two around the house definitely helps.

2. Eliminate Clutter

Simply tidying up might not be enough to put your house’s “best foot forward.” Eliminate as much clutter as you can. A clutter-free space allows the room to “breathe”. Even organized clutter works against a feeling of calm. Remember that less is more when selling your home.

Obviously, finding an out-of-the-way spot to store the kids’ toys will help. So will finding a box in which to dump all those knick-knacks you’ve accumulated over the years. Since you’re moving, now is a good time to purge that extra stuff you don’t use.

3. Let in the Sunshine

The sun’s natural rays harbor a sense of peace and balance. Sunlight reduces anxiety and blood pressure, and it stimulates the body’s natural production of serotonin. Not only is natural lighting more aesthetically pleasing than artificial light, but it also saves on the electric bill.

To get the most out of your home’s capacity to take in natural light, swap out solid doors for doors with glass panes. Replace heavy drapery with sheer window shades. Hang a mirror, and use metal and glass accessories to help reflect light. If the outside foliage around your windows has grown enough to block out light, go ahead and trim them back.

4. Colors Set Moods

As weird as it sounds, colors can work as mood enhancers. For instance, brighter yellows and oranges will feel more energetic and fun, while cooler greens and blues can have a relaxing effect. Dark colors can feel more serious, and stark white can feel overwhelmingly harsh on the eyes.

The point here is that if you ever plan to sell your home, you might avoid painting the interior walls deep shades of red and black. As fun as that sounds to some of us, chances are pretty good that a potential buyer could walk away feeling stifled, or with an ill-defined sense of ominous foreboding. Try to avoid that by opting for softer colors.

5. Use Natural Materials for Accents

You’ve probably noticed a trend at this point: natural elements are “in”. When decorating around the house, use earthy materials like wood, clay, and stone. Let the next person who moves in junk the place up with plastic knick-knacks and clutter. While selling your home, keep everything simple, understated, and clean-looking with subtle, natural accents.

6. Consider How You Present Your Personal Photos

It may seem counterintuitive, but studies differ on whether or not personal photos help when selling a home. In some cases, Realtors argue that when homebuyers see photos of your family all over the home, they often have a difficult time placing themselves there. Others argue that personal photos help prospective buyers feel more at home.

Our opinion is that it really depends. You definitely want to make sure any family photos or photo walls are done tastefully and with an eye to matching the home’s decor. If you simply threw a bunch of mismatched photos on a wall—consider taking them down. If, however, you designed a very nice photo display, it may simply give the buyer ideas of their own on what to do in that space.

Obviously, you’ll have your own personal preferences. But if you plan to put your house on the market anytime soon, brightening up the place, eliminating clutter, and aiming for a cleaner and more natural aesthetic goes a long way towards attracting a buyer.

If you have any tips to share for selling your home, feel free to add them to the comments section below!