We decided this summer to put our home on the market. Listing your home can be a stressful and emotional decision. We are in no hurry to sell, our plan is to build another home so the prospect of moving is an exciting one. That didn’t make the process of getting our home ready to put on the market any less stressful! This is the fifth home we have built and listed, using my personal experience, and my professional experience as a Real Estate agent (and designer) I put together a list of things you can do to get your home market ready. If you are here to see the 360 tour of my home, you can see that HERE. Keep reading for more photos and tips! *affiliate links used
Curb Appeal – When someone pulls up to your home, what’s greeting them? Your yard should be free of weeds, if you don’t have shrubs and trees planted then try putting a few potted plants near the walkway. Change your plants out with the seasons and make sure you don’t have dead or dying plants leading the way to your entry. If your yard is fully landscaped, make sure your landscaping isn’t overgrown.
Paint your front door- Your front door may need a fresh coat of paint. Make sure you don’t have any chipped or peeling paint on or around your front door. Repair any scratches or damage from pets, you don’t want the first impression to be that your house needs work.
Rugs– Make your entry more inviting by adding a new welcome mat and entry rug.
Free your home of pet odors- If you have pets, you may not be able to trust your own nose. Have someone come and see if they can tell if you have pets. If your agent tells you that people are complaining about odors listen to them! I hear this all the time “my pets don’t smell” if buyers are complaining it’s for a reason.
Get the look
Declutter- I know it may seem obvious, but go through each room and get rid of anything you don’t need. Put away your kids playstation or Xbox, or if you have littles, designate one area in the home for toys.
Staging-Your home doesn’t have to be decorated like a model home to show like one. Make sure your furniture is arranged to play up the best features of the space. I’ve been in a home where someone put a sofa in front of a fireplace because the T.V. was on the opposing wall. That’s a huge no no. The room has to make sense to people. Arrange your furniture in a conversation area around the fireplace, get rid of your T.V. if you have to. If you have a large room your furniture shouldn’t be pushed against the walls. Pull it in away from the walls and anchor it with a large area rug (area rugs are also good for reducing traffic wear around your furniture).
Cleaning- After I decluttered, I did some deep cleaning. Wipe down baseboards, wash windows, clean carpets if necessary. It’s also important to get some touch up paint, if you have a house full of boys like I do then you may have scuffs on your walls that are more than that magic eraser can handle.
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Tip- I don’t have babies but I always keep baby wipes on hand. They work really well on baseboards and finger prints on the walls.
When I am getting ready for a showing, I always wipe down the bathrooms, vacuum, then mop my way out the door leaving as little evidence as possible that there is a family of 7 that lives here.
Updates-Your kitchen is one of the spaces where you will see the biggest return on your investment. So of you have to do any updating that where you should focus on spending a little money. Think about updating lighting, counters and appliances. When my sister was getting her home ready to put on the market, we spent a few hundred dollars and added a modern tile backsplash to her builder grade kitchen. We also picked up some under counter lighting that plugs in to an outlet, to highlight the new backsplash. It was a quick and inexpensive project that made a huge impact.
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Organize closets- Clean out your closets and take anything you don’t need to goodwill, or if you’re short on closet space, box up seasonal clothing or items. You don’t want people to thing there’s not enough storage.
Tip- Use clear plastic totes to organize your holiday decor.
Link to shelves in the slider below.
Got dirty laundry?- As a mom of four I know how hard it is to stay on top of everything including laundry! Sometimes you gotta fake it! I am not above shoving baskets of laundry that’s waiting to be folded in my car when I have a showing and have no time to fold and put away laundry. Anyone else do that? LOL!
Neutral Paint will help your home sell quicker- You may love bold accent walls, but 9 times out of 10, they won’t have the same appeal to your buyers. Think neutral paint for the win. Off the top of my head some of my favorites are Sherwin Williams, Mindful gray, Anew Gray, Repose Gray, Requisite gray, Intellectual gray, and amazing gray.
You can see more of our master suite below.
For direct links to bedding and other items in the room, click on the slider below.
Product links in slider below.
When it comes to color, do as I say not as I do 😉 I wouldn’t recommend black walls if you are trying to sell your home. In this room, the amount of windows and two story ceiling allow for a dark color without making the space feel closed in. 
Kids rooms may are one area that you don’t need to worry about changing the color, odds are whoever buys your home will be repainting anyway.
Tip- Color coding your clothes not only helps you find things quicker, but also makes your closet feel more organized. I’m so proud of my daughter that she did this all on her own!
Brighter is better- You want everything to be as bright as possible, so open all of your blinds and turn on all of your lights for your showings.
My sons room is like a dungeon, it looks and feels so much better when we throw back the shades!
Don’t neglect your outdoor living spaces- If your outdoor spaces are inviting it will feel like your home has more square footage. Create a space that you want to relax and enjoy the outdoors or entertain in. 
Tip-Give new life to an old patio set with a couple of cans of spray paint.
You can see more photos from our listing below.
Basketball court
Basement Family room
Basement family room
Basement family room, floors are stamped concrete
Basement Kitchen
Theater photos are in black and white because the photos came out really orange.
Theater room
Theater room
Powder room
Mudroom and upstairs laundry room
Jack and jill bath
Jack and jill bath
Exterior
That’s pretty much it for my home tour (minus 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms and the basement laundry room, I’ll be honest, they were all still a disaster when we had the house photographed!). Now if I can get in the habit of picking up before bed every night, and making beds as soon as we get up, I’d be much closer to being ready whenever we get a call for a showing! I hope you found some useful information here! I’d love to hear any questions/comments you have, you can leave a comment below, or email me @[email protected]
XO,
Jen
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Gorgeous. All I can do is drool.
Thank you Marty 🙂
What color grey is the exterior of your house? Beautiful!
Thank you.
Hi Patty, we used Benjamin Moore Chelsea Gray on the exterior. Thank you!
Where is your home located and how much are you selling it for?
I don’t know if you’ll respond to this or not but its worth a try. I’m currently a senior in high school looking at colleges and I plan on being a real estate agent/interior designer in the near future. My question to you is how exactly did you start off in your profession? It would mean so much to me if you’d respond 🙂
Your hardwood floors in the great room and kitchen are beautifully cleaned and polished. Will you please share what you use to accomplish this?
Hi Kimberlee, I don’t know how they ended up looking so good in the photos. They are actually causing me nightmares at the moment! They have looked great for the last two yrs, but this summer they started looking cloudy. If we tried to wipe anything up with water and a rag they’d turn white. After some tears and research, I learned we have a buildup of cleaning products on them. I’m currently using a 10-1 mixture of vinegar and water to clean them. It’s time consuming and it is taking a TON of elbow grease! The lesson I’ve learned is, no more cleaning products on my hardwood! I’ll be using vinegar and water from now on!
Absolutely stunning!! All the best for a quick sell! Sure would be hard to leave that beauty! Do you remember the color of your master walls? Love your home!!
gorgeous house!! do you happen to know what the exterior stone name or brand is or where you purchased it? we are having a hard time with stone and I love yours!
Hi Amy, Thank you, I wish I could remember the name of my stone. We got it through Beehive stone in Salt Lake, I’m sure they would recognize it from the photo if you reach out to them 🙂 Good luck on your search! -Jen P.S. I did a quick search and I think ours might be one of the Windriver natural stone products. I hope that helps!