Focus your efforts on staging in strategic areas that ensure your property is seen in the best possible light, sells quickly and with minimum investment on your part. Your bathroom is one such area. Here are a few tips to help you stage your bathrooms properly:

• Aim for a spa-like look and feel: Beautiful bathrooms are a big draw for buyers.

• Buyers want to imagine themselves enjoying the same kind of luxury in their own homes and so a bathroom that projects that look will appeal to them.

Since you obviously cannot create a real spa at home, your best option is to make the best of what you already have, with the minimum of expense.

With a few changes here and there, you can give your bathrooms a spa-like look and feel that prospective buyers will love, so keep this in mind as you make the changes below.

• Give the bathroom a thorough cleaning: Clean everything thoroughly, remove stains and make sure it’s all immaculate.

Clean water-stained shower doors with a lime dissolving detergent.

You can also hire a professional to refinish a stained bathtub.

Cleaning may not be the most exciting thing in the world, but it’s very important to do it, as this gives buyers the impression that your home is well maintained.

• No cleaning products in sight. Yes, you need them to get that thoroughly clean look that will impress, but buyers really do not want or need to see cleaning products all over the place.

• That implies housework and maintenance, not the beautiful spa-like experience buyers want to imagine they can get from a bathroom.

Remove other things like bathroom scales, spare toilet rolls, toilet brushes, wastepaper baskets, sponges and the like.

Also stash all your personal items like soaps, toothbrushes, cotton balls, etc., under the bathroom sink where they’re hidden away.

Seeing your personal hygiene products can make buyers feel a little awkward as if they are encroaching on your personal space.

• Hang fresh, luxurious towels and lay down bath mats. The addition of beautiful, soft towels can transform any bathroom in an instant. Thick, white, luxurious towels always work well, but brightly colored towels are also very popular these days.

Get new ones if you can, as these look better than washed towels, and only use them as display props when prospective buyers are viewing.

If you have a lot of counter space in your bathroom, you can create an even more luxurious feel by placing a neatly folded pile of two or three matching towels on the counter, beside the bath.

• Organize storage space. Buyers love plenty of storage space and they will open your bathroom cupboards to see how much space is available.

You want to create the impression that storage is plentiful, so make sure that your cupboards are not full and overflowing.

About half full, or maximum of two-thirds full is a good look, and make sure everything inside is well organized.

This applies to your counters too. Clear off the counters and remove all of your everyday toiletries and bathroom supplies.

If you really do not have enough space for all your toiletries, put the excess in toiletry baskets and store them out of sight in another room.

• Accessorize for a better look. Once your bathroom is free of clutter and your personal hygiene products, enhance the whole look with a few well-chosen accessories.

Use things like scented candles in varying heights, fragrant soaps, bath oils, natural loofahs, a basket of tightly rolled washcloths or even a good book.

Choose accessories in soft colors and keep things simple, so it doesn’t create a cluttered look. Candles, in particular, create a layer of warmth, elegance, luxury, and tranquility.

If you’ve got the space, you can go one step further by putting in a stool or ottoman beside the bathtub.

This is both functional and stylish and will give your bathroom the ultimate private suite look.

• Add fresh flowers. Flowers and plants make a lovely impact on a room, and the same goes for bathrooms too.

Add color and texture to your bathrooms with your favorite flowers.

It doesn’t have to be a bouquet, especially if the bathroom is small – a single stem or a small planter will enliven the bathroom.

• Upgrade where necessary. Although you don’t need to spend a lot of money to stage your bathroom, there may be some things that you are actually better off replacing.

Some small, inexpensive upgrades can have a big impact on the total look of your bathroom. Repainting your walls for instance.

You can only carry off the spa-look if the walls look good.

If your bathroom is wallpapered, it’s likely that the wallpaper is peeling. So remove it and paint instead.

Even if your walls are painted, you may want to consider repainting them to give a fresh new look. If you’re going to paint or repaint, it’s always a good idea to stick with neutral colors. They are more likely to appeal to more prospective buyers.

You can add some color using brightly colored towels and accessories as described above.

Apart from painting, other bathroom upgrades that you can do without spending a fortune are: replacing leaking and worn taps, installing new light fittings and updating the cabinets.

If your toilet is broken, badly stained or outdated, you should consider replacing them.

Buy a new shower curtain and tie it back with ribbons, or replace a shower screen that is badly stained or cracked.

If your home is higher priced, you may also consider other more substantial upgrades like changing tiles, in order to preserve that luxury-bathroom feel that buyers will expect to find in such a home.

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If you would like to know what the current market value of your home is, and how to increase it, give me a call. I would be happy to swing by to review that with you. I’ll also share how you can get a free, 1 hour home staging consultation by a professional home stager.