How to Stage Your Bedroom for Under $500

When selling your home, it’s best to stage it in a way that makes it homey and inviting. Potential buyers want to hear about your home’s size, appliances, and more. 

However, even more importantly, they want to feel comfortable and at home walking through the house they’re considering purchasing. Make them feel this way by staging your home in a way that makes others think, “I can see myself living here.”

For many, a bedroom is a haven or sanctuary after long days at work and dealing with the kids all day. Therefore, staging a bedroom is so vital that buyer’s agents even list it as the second most important part of the house to be adequately staged, right after the living room, according to the National Association of Realtors. 

Below, we’re sharing our top tips for staging a bedroom on a budget so that you can make your bedroom and home more appealing and sell your home faster. 

Prioritize Lighting

Great lighting is essential for any part of your home to make the space shine. No one wants to live in a dark, dull space, so lighting is an easy way to increase the attractiveness of your home and bedroom. 

Natural light is preferred, especially when it comes through windows. If you have plenty of windows in your bedroom, have these cleaned by a professional window cleaning company to maximize the natural light coming in. Your realtor may be able to recommend a great service. 

If you don’t have access to natural light or plan to show your home later in the day, consider changing your light bulbs. Choose light bulbs with a warm tone, which will feel much homier and inviting than harsh, cool fluorescent lights. 

Make Your Bed Beautifully

Beds are the focal points of most master bedrooms, so you’ll want your bed to look lovely. Start by assessing your current bedding. Does it look nice? Is it outdated, tired, or worn? 

If you can, use the same comforter and bedding if they are in style and fresh looking. However, we strongly recommend investing in new bedding if this isn’t the case because this will be a focal point in your bedroom. If you don’t have them already, invest in a couple of nice pillow shams and throw pillows to give your bed a modern and elegant look. 

If you’re unsure about what colors to choose when picking out new bedding, go with a neutral color like all-white bedding or something fresh and trendy, like a relaxing green. Then, add pops of color with your new throw pillows or a throw blanket. Choosing a comforter that is one size larger than your existing bed can add a luxurious “cloud-like” feel without breaking the bank. 

Consider adding a headboard to make your bedroom come together more and uplevel the overall look of your room. 

Before buyers come over, make sure that your bed is always neatly made and the pillows are artfully laid out on your bed.  

Deep Clean Your Bedroom

You want your bedroom to look more like a clean, inviting hotel room with a touch of home than the average person’s bedroom. As a result, your bedroom needs to be spotless. 

Start with these cleaning projects: 

• Start by dusting the entire room from head to toe. A Swiffer duster can be a great choice because the duster easily clings to dust and is disposable. 
• Wipe down all surfaces in the room with an all-purpose cleaner. Consider choosing an all-purpose cleaner with a refreshing but relaxing scent. 
• Vacuum your floors. 
• Mop any tile or hardwood floors. 
• Keep your laundry bin emptied and laundry folded or hung. 
• Keep clean bedding on your bed at all times.
• Iron your sheets and bedding to keep them wrinkle-free. 
• Dispose of any dead plants or flowers. 
• Regularly declutter and clear off your surfaces to keep the room looking neat. 

Ask your real estate agent for additional advice on what areas of your room may need to be deep cleaned. 

Paint Your Bedroom

Paint is an inexpensive way to change the appearance of your room entirely. If it’s been a while since you’ve given your bedroom a fresh coat of paint, or if your bedroom is currently painted a dark or drab color, it’s time to repaint it. 

Paint choices for a bedroom should feel inviting, comfortable, and relaxing. Neutral colors will be ideal, but colors that make you feel like you’re at a spa are also acceptable. Fresh whites,  creams, light grays, beige, or light blue are great choices. 

Organize Your Closet 

A lack of closet space can be a major dealbreaker for many potential buyers. After you’ve done your bedroom and closet declutter, follow these tips to improve the look of your closet to buyers: 

• Ensure that your closet is not overstuffed
• Make sure there is space between the hangers in your closet
• Clear the floor completely — if you need some space for shoes, only keep a few pairs neatly organized on a shoe rack on the floor. 
• Store extra clothing or storage items in your attic or extra storage space. 
• Keep the laundry bin empty. 
• If you have the budget, consider furnishing your space with a new closet system. This will definitely increase both the real value and perceived value for potential buyers.

Add Plants to Your Bedroom

Plants give life and color to any room, but people often overlook them in the bedroom. However, you should definitely add plants to your bedroom because they can improve the air quality and add brightness to your space. 

If you don’t have a green thumb, consider purchasing fresh flowers from your local florist and arranging them in a lovely vase placed on your dresser. The flower vase will add color and freshness to your room without the concern of keeping the plants alive. 

Stage Your Nightstand

The nightstand is a crucial piece of furniture in your bedroom that can immediately bring harmony to your space or make it look cluttered. 

We recommend clearing off your nightstand and choosing a few key pieces to display. Keep the items generic but nice, like candles, books, plants, or wall art. Remove personal effects or picture frames. Remember, you want to create a blank canvas for buyers as they go through your home so that they can imagine themselves living there. Picture frames or personal items detract from the blank canvas. 

When in doubt, remember that less is more for how many items you keep on your dressers and nightstands. 

Remove all Unrelated Items 

Your master bedroom should look like a haven, so all items not helpful for a peaceful night’s rest need to be removed or hidden. 

Remove extra furniture to keep your bedroom spacious, and take any items like a desk or treadmill out. Furniture that isn’t related to the bedroom can give buyers the impression that there isn’t enough room in your house. 

If you have a guest bedroom, keeping this space a hybrid between a bedroom and office is more acceptable. If possible, make it over as an office because many people work from home nowadays, so this can be an attractive selling point. A hybrid office and guest room are often better than no office space at all, but avoid having any office items in your master bedroom. 

Hide Wires

Exposed wires are unattractive and distracting from the many great parts of your bedroom. They can even be dangerous if someone doesn’t see a cord or wire and trips on it while touring your home. 

While staging your bedroom, choose some neutral-colored cord covers and install them to hide your cords and keep them from distracting buyers. Double-check that you are not breaking any fire codes in your area. Heatproof boxes are a great option for hiding power strips safely. 

If you’re concerned about creating a fire hazard or trying to save money, simply remove the cords and wires before open houses or showings. 

Add an Area Rug

Your home’s flooring is a big selling point because no one wants to purchase a home with old, outdated, or worn flooring. 

Add a strategically placed rug to your bedroom to make your space look larger and more put together. We recommend adding an area rug with a distinct color and texture that differentiates it from the existing carpet. A solid shag rug can be especially appealing in a bedroom because it adds a cozy feel to the room while looking modern and homey. 

Add Ambiance to Your Space

Adding light music and scent is a simple and inexpensive way to make your bedroom more inviting for buyers. 

Consider playing soft jazz music on your TV or device to set the mood as buyers walk through your home. You can also burn a candle or use a diffuser to make your home smell great. We recommend choosing a light, fresh scent and nothing too overpowering or intense. 

Banish Clutter

We know that you have clutter in your home, and any potential buyer looking at your home will also have clutter they inevitably bring. 

However, a buyer isn’t daydreaming about a future home filled with clutter when picturing their dream home. They are imagining a picture-perfect space that is clean, warm, and inviting. A space that showcases their personal style and treasured belongings. Not a space filled with clutter, mess, piles of laundry, or cluttered surfaces. 

Before placing your home on the market, it’s vital that you go through and deeply declutter your home. Not only will this improve your chances of selling the house quickly, but it will also help with the moving process because you’ll have fewer things to move. 

Take time to go through your bedroom and really ask yourself what areas look cluttered and what items you no longer need in your new place. 

Here are some common pain points to declutter: 

• The top of your surfaces – Go through and declutter old knickknacks, magazines, books, and other items lingering on top of your dressers and nightstands. 
• Artwork or frames
• Old throw pillows – Throw pillows can elevate your bedroom, but go through them first to make sure they are in good repair and match your bedding and room.
• Your shoes and accessories
• Your master bedroom closet – Ask yourself what clothes you actually wear and need to keep. What pieces have you worn in the last year? Declutter things you no longer wear or items that aren’t in good condition or don’t fit well. 
• Children’s toys
• Under the bed – You don’t want potential buyers to be met with visible clutter stacked underneath your bed, as this makes your bedroom look smaller.

If you declutter your bedroom and the area still feels cluttered, take a few boxes and pack up out-of-season clothing, such as sweaters or tank tops, and store any sentimental knickknacks or frames in these boxes. 

Final Thoughts

Staging your home, especially your bedroom, is one of the most critical steps in selling your home. Don’t underestimate the impact of deep cleaning, decluttering, and simple changes like added lighting and new bedding. Remember, you can easily bring any new light fixtures, bedding, or rugs you invest in with you to your new home.

Don’t hesitate to invest a few hundred dollars into updating your bedroom space because the rewards will be worthwhile. We recommend consulting with your real estate agent during this process to ensure they agree with your decisions to improve the room. After all, they have years of experience in the industry and may be able to point out other simple fixes that will increase your home’s sellability. 

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