When you have teenage children, and are selling a home, there’s a good chance their rooms need a bit of attention, to say the least.
Teens can be messy and have tastes that don’t jive with staging a home—their walls may be painted a funky color and might be cluttered with posters of celebrities and sports stars. Plus, a lot of teen rooms can be cramped with stuff, even old toys dating back to their younger days.
Here’s how you can work with teenagers to get them involved in the staging process.
1. Be Collaborative:
Don’t lay down the law and order them to rip down their posters and throw away their belongings. Sit down and have a discussion about how the entire house needs to be staged, not just their room, and seek their input.
2. Consider Painting:
If your teen’s room is an unusual color, or if there are scuffs and marks on the walls, it’s time to paint. Neutral colors work best but work with your kids on picking something that they like since they’ll still be sleeping in this room for a while.
3. Clear the Walls:
Some kids load their walls up with posters, cut-out pictures from magazines, pictures of friends and all sorts of stuff. Anything that’s torn or old needs to be taken down. After repainting the room, let your teen hang a few favorites For an added level of style, have them framed. It looks better for staging and will make for a nice touch in your kid’s future room.
4. Clear Stuff Out:
Go through their clothes, toys, games, books and other belongings, and figure out what to keep, throw away and donate. Keep in mind, it’s not always the kid’s fault that they have an abundance of stuff, parents can be sentimental about their children’s old clothes and toys. If there are a lot of items you want to hold onto, consider renting a storing unit.
5. Plan for the Future:
As you do things like choose a paint color for staging, ask your teens about the color they’d like their next room to be and let them get creative and pick what they want.
Also talk with them about furniture, artwork and other touches they’d like to have in their future room.
Always remember that moving can be difficult for a lot of teens, so be understanding of their needs as you sell your home.
