Stage the Laundry Room to Avoid Scaring Home Buyers

Summary

In a slow real estate market it’s especially important to romance buyers through every room in a home, even the laundry area. The Staging Diva®, Debra Gould, shares her expert home staging tips for a basement laundry room that might otherwise scare off home buyers.

Stage the Laundry Room to Avoid Scaring Home Buyers

When it comes to rooms that are neglected in home staging, the laundry room often makes the list, especially if it’s part of an unfinished basement.

But that’s a mistake according to home staging expert, Debra Gould, also known as the Staging Diva®. Since it’s important to romance buyers when trying to sell a home, it’s important to get rid of any scary areas and that includes basement laundry areas.

If the laundry area is in the dark corner of an unfinished basement, a buyer might think, “I have to do two loads a day, and I’m supposed to do it in this creepy space? Forget it!” However, if the laundry room is bright, clean and even minimally decorated, the same buyer won’t be using this as a reason not to buy the house.

And in today’s slow real estate market, sellers can’t afford to give a prospective buyer any reason to hesitate.

“You don’t have to go crazy with the design of the laundry room,” says Gould. “Keep it minimalist. It should be brightly lit, clean and functional.”

In this photo example from Debra Gould’s portfolio of staging projects for her Six Elements clients, she transformed a dark unfinished basement that had a washer and dryer hiding behind a mound of junk. Quick fixes included: removing the clutter, painting and adding a few decorative touches. Even though it’s essentially still an unfinished basement, the overall impression is one of usable space that won’t scare off buyers.

Debra Gould offers these home staging tips for the laundry room:

• Discard or store off-site anything that does not have to part of the laundry area. This should not be a dumping ground for unused items

• Easily brighten up the laundry area with a coat of paint and additional lighting. Even an unfinished basement looks better when the concrete floor is painted and there are no dark scary corners.

• Put detergent and other laundering supplies in cupboards or attractive canisters or baskets.

• If there’s a window with a drab view, hide it with a curtain or a nice blind that is light enough to allow some light to pass through it.

With just a small amount of effort, you can transform even the dullest laundry room into a beautiful space and that can go a long way towards helping a prospective buyer imagining their life in the home you’re staging.

If you found this advice useful, you should read Debra Gould’s Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide: Home Staging Tips, Tricks and Floor Plans. Written for home stagers, it’s full of this same type of home staging advice and covers room in a home.

About the author

The creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has staged millions of dollars worth of real estate, including seven of her own homes. She is the president of home staging firm SixElements.com and has trained thousands of home stagers to start and grow their own businesses.