Show Ready

Our house has been on the market a little over a month and we continue to wait with patience (sort of) on that perfect buyer who will appreciate it as much as we do.  That said, it is just flat hard to try to sell your home while your entire family still resides in it.  In lieu of making my children dwell outside in a tent until it is sold, I have adopted a few rules to keep things "show ready" while still letting kids be kids, as well as a couple of ways to make the house more pleasing to a potential buyer.

1.  Buy a Bucket.  Yep, a big old opaque Rubbermaid tub.  When the realtor asks to show the home, go on a mad raid throughout the house dumping every toy, lego piece, and leftover shoe imaginable inside.  Then use all of your arm power to lug that thing into the laundry room and throw it in with the Christmas decorations so people think it belongs there year round.  Just remember to empty it later so you can do it all over again the next time.

2.  Depersonalize.   As adorable as your family may be, you want others to see your place as their  home (bringing you closer to the contract phase), so lose the personal pictures.  I was able to take most of our frames off the walls without issue, but in the case of our stairwell pictures, there were too many nail holes to make the process of take-down worth it, so instead I went to my favorite paper store and bought coordinating wrapping paper and notecards, then framed them on the walls.  I miss the pictures of my kids, but appreciate the pleasing effect this provides.

3.  Create some color.  Head over to your local nursery and invest in some hanging baskets and potted flowers.  A little color can mean all the difference when making a first impression.  Also, bring some of the foliage inside.  For the last two months, the galvanized vase on my dining table has held fresh cuts from the yard, helping potential buyers to see the benefits of the bushes and trees on the property.  Don't have a lot of outdoor plants?  Try to grab a few fresh flowers every week to have somewhere in your house.

4.  Buy a tart warmer and go to town trying out new fragrances.  With three kids and a canine, things aren't always coming up roses around here, but I invested in an attractive warmer for my kitchen and am having the most fun trying out the Yankee Candle scents.  Favorite one so far is Vanilla Lime followed closely by Fluffy Towels.

5.  Continue to live.  Just because my house is for sale doesn't mean we're going to stop making Saturday morning blanket forts or baking up messes on a weekday afternoon.  Life goes on.  We don't know what the future holds, but we've planted a summer vegetable garden, hosted parties, and painted artwork on the screen porch.  Because it's still our home until it's not.  And we love it.