Staging A Primary Bedroom- Think Retreat

The primary bedroom should be a retreat for the owner of the house.  It should be peaceful and relaxing.  So the definition of retreat is a place of safety or privacy; a refuge.

You want your primary bedroom to be quiet and peaceful.  A place where the new homeowner can have some solitude and relaxation.  Staging the bedroom with some simple techniques can make a buyer want to spend time and relax in the bedroom.

Clean

A spotlessly clean home will always impress buyers and that also goes for any bedroom in your home.  Lamp shades and behind the beds can be areas we overlook and dust builds up.

Clean every corner of your primary bedroom.  No one wants to take on your dirt.  Think about hiring a professional cleaner not only to help in staging your bedroom, but consider having a professional cleaner, clean your home from top to bottom.

De-Personalize by Removing All Personal Items and Clutter

Any room you are staging for a sale should start with a complete de-personalization and de-cluttering.  This is true for staging any bedroom in your home.

Remove all personal items from view.  This means clearing your nightstands of all personal belongings, trinkets, grooming items, books, magazines, etc…. You want the home buyer to take ownership of a room visually and when your “stuff” is visible, it makes it difficult.  I always say take the home out of the house when it comes time to sell.  That means take your personality and style out of house so it will appeal to a larger group of buyers.

You are moving so now is a great time to start packing up your seasonal clothing and getting rid of clothing you no longer need.

Less is More When It Come Time To Stage A Bedroom

When it comes to staging less is more and this goes for staging a bedroom as well.

What items define a bedroom?

A bed, a nightstand or two with a lamp and a dresser.  If it is a larger room, a small sitting area can be nice with two chairs and a small table.  Pair down everything but the absolute essentials to identify it as a bedroom when it comes to furniture.

That means if you have two dressers and they don’t really fit, get rid of one. The less you have for furniture the more it will open up the space.  You want to create a good traffic flow and make the room spacious. I have completely removed dressers from very small primary bedrooms and guess what most of the buyers say how spacious it is they don’t even notice their are no dressers!

A small primary bedroom can undoubtedly be challenging especially if a couple is sharing the space.  But as much as your cramped bedroom frustrates you, you don’t want to pass that perception of a cramped bedroom on to your potential home buyers.

Color Creates an Atmosphere of Peace

The paint color you choose for the walls of your primary bedroom and the decor accomplish two key selling points.  Remember, the decor of a primary bedroom can be highly personalized and you may need to make some adjustments to give your bedroom a broader appeal when selling your home.

First, your bedroom should be painted a color that promotes peace and rest. Calming colors are greys, taupes, blues and greens.

On the other hand, red is known to raise one’s blood pressure. Red is certainly not a color you will want to use in staging your primary bedroom.  Yellow can promote anger.  Certainly, not colors you associate with calm and peace and project the image of retreat.

Secondly, your master bedroom should be of a neutral palette.  Even a soft blue or green could turn a home buyer off.  You can still do a blue or a green but keep it in the realm of a neatral color. But, most home buyers will be able to work with grey or greige walls and they can add stronger colors with their accent pieces.

If you want to introduce a color into your wall paint make it very subtle.  Take for example Pittsburgh Paint’s White Sage, which would be considered a neutral green or Pratt and Lambert January Frost which would be a neutral icy blue.

In each case, the color is very subtle and more to the neutral side.  Most home buyers will feel they can work with these colors.  This is a key point to remember.  Home buyers do not want to spend countless hours painting their new home.  If your home is a color they can work with, they will find it more attractive.

Make sure your neutral color theme carries through to the bedding and window treatments as well as the wall colors.  If need be, buy a cheap bedding set from Target or Walmart to bring your bedding into your neutral color theme.

When Staging A Bedroom, Make the Bed Your Focal Point

It is the primary bedroom, so go ahead and make your bed the focal point of the room.  Give your bed that luxurious hotel look by layering the bedding.

You can achieve a luxurious layered look by using a bed skirt, fitted sheet, flat sheet, bedspread, comforter or duvet along with layered pillows.

The layered pillow are an absolute must when you don’t have a headboard as it creates an illusion of a headboard.  Use a combination of sleeping pillows, euro pillows and decorative pillows to build the “headboard”.

Above the bed a large piece of artwork or several smaller pieces will finish making the bed the focal point when staging your primary bedroom.

Window Treatment in Your Primary Bedroom

Usually, when staging any room, I say get rid of the window treatments alltogether!  But, it is the primary bedroom and I know I like my bedroom dark.  If you can, stick with simple, clean sheers with a simple curtain rod.  Most buyers will appreciate a bedroom flooded with natural light.

If you simply can’t survive with simple sheers choose a very simple drape that has clean lines.  Keep it solid colored and tie your drapes in with the neutral decor of your staged primary bedroom.

And, by all means, open them up during the day so your home buyers can see the natural light.

The Closet

Now is the time to start clearing out your closet.  Pack up seasonal items you aren’t using and get rid of things you haven’t used in forever.  You know we all have those items.

Once you have paired down the items in your closet, it is time to organize your primary closet.  There are little things you can do to impress home buyers.

Organize by style and color. Don’t put anything on the floor…. even shoes!  Get a shoe rack instead.  If you have shelves store clothing in bins and don’t leave them loose.  Don’t use yourprimary bedroom closet to keep things like luggage or seasonal decorations.  Find another spot.

And, certainly, leave extra room.  Never show a completely packed closet.  It leaves the impression there is plenty of closet space.

Living in the Interim

Certainly, living like this while showings are occurring can be a hassle.

Take each area, like your bureau or nightstand where you usually store personal items, out in the open.  Find baskets your items will fit in.  Baskets can be quickly hidden and pulled out quickly when you need it.

If you have a bed skirt on your bed sliding those baskets under your bed is a perfect spot.  Accessible at a moment’s notice and out of a buyer’s view.

Finishing Touches

Now that you have it set and you have created a clean palette, you can go back and place a few items on the nightstand and bureau.

A nightstand certainly should have a table lamp. A small piece of art or mirror can hang on the wall opposite the lamp to build some height.  Or a larger piece of artwork leaning against the wall will work.

You can bring in 2 or 3 small books to stack and maybe a small trinket dish.  Just a few non-descript, non-personal items.

A bureau with a few small accent pieces to create balance or with some fresh-cut flowers can be perfect.  Just enough so it looks lived in.  If the bureau doesn’t have a mirror and it is waist high think about adding a large piece of artwork behind it on the wall.

For a final finishing touch, maybe a sizeable full-length mirror leaning against the wall.  Mirrors are always a great way to make a room look bigger.

Final Thoughts on Staging the Primary Bedroom

Your primary bedroom is one of the rooms that can make or break you when it comes time to sell your home.  It is a room you want to look its best.  It is also a room many homeowners neglect because it’s not a room where visitors typically go.

Show the buyer they can have their own peaceful retreat in their own home.  Don’t make them try to look past the cluttered furniture, the overflowing closets and all of your items.

This is also time to pack and purge!  And show your buyers this can now be their new retreat. Preparing and staging your home is a critical step in receiving top dollar for your home.

Other Resources:

• Anita Clark  Killer Home Home Selling Tips For The Bedroom
• Debbie Gartner  Whats the Best Flooring for Your Master Bedroom
• Maria Mastrolonardo  8 Easy Steps to Packing
• John Cunningham  Maximize Your Homes Value with Staging