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As September comes to an end, many people begin preparing for the holidays. Halloween is just six weeks away. Thanksgiving takes place three and a half weeks after that. Then, Christmas Eve falls exactly four weeks (to the day) after Thanksgiving. And, finally, we welcome the new year one week later. Many people love to decorate their homes for the holidays. However, you probably heard that you need to stage your property using a simple, neutral palette in order to appeal to a broader buyer base when selling your Southern California home. Fortunately, there are ways to participate in holiday decorations for home sellers. You just need to tone it down a bit.
Holiday Decorations for the Home Seller
Keep It Simple, Silly (KISS)
No matter what holiday you decorate for, keep all adornments simple. Add a holiday hand towel to the kitchen and bathrooms. Perhaps, add a decorative light or two. A wreath on the door welcomes guests while saying “happy holidays”. Only use a few small-ish accent pieces in each room (meaning three to five…not ten to twenty). The big inflatable snowmen and 12-foot tall skeleton need to stay in storage until next year.
- Nature Nurtures
When in doubt, go natural with your holiday decorations. Pumpkins easily turn from Halloween decor to a celebration of the fall harvest and Thanksgiving. Just leave off the jack-o-lantern carving. Instead, paint a silly face on the front and turn it around after Halloween. Summer squash, apples, speckled swan gourds, leaves, branches, and pinecones all work great for any end-of-year holidays. Plus, they easily transition from one holiday to the next with little to no effort. Cut branches and/or flowers from your garden. Add them to a decorative vase and place them with a few pretty fairy lights on the mantle, on an end table, or on the window sill.
Coordinate With Existing Color Scheme
Complement your current color scheme with holiday hues in a similar palette. Clashing colors make rooms look too busy, overdone, and unattractive. These turn buyers away rather than invite them in for a closer look.
Keep Decorations Size-Appropriate
Unless the room is super-sized with cathedral ceilings, you might want to take a “pass” on that huge evergreen Christmas tree this year. A smaller, more appropriately-sized tree ensures that buyers see the room as something they would like to live in.
Let the (Natural) Light In
Finally, lighting plays a huge part in many holiday decorations. However, you still want buyers to see how much natural light fills up a room. So do not place decorations in areas that block out that natural light. Keep windows decor-free and keep extra-dark decorations to a bare minimum.
Muna Dionne, your Inland Empire specialist with Coldwell Banker Realty
