Showcase Stylish Storage Solutions

By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine

“The home needs more storage!” It’s a common gripe heard from homeowners and buyers. A home can never have too many shelves or closets.

Indeed, a majority of about 1,000 survey respondents said their number-one biggest annoyance about their home: “The lack of storage,” according to the 2015 HSH.com survey. Sixty-seven percent of survey respondents put the lack of storage as one of their top five annoyances about their home.

In all your listings, showing off the storage potential should be one of the top items on your to-do showing prep list.

And that obviously first brings you to decluttering. Not surprising, the less clutter, the bigger the space will appear. So that means hauling away most of what is cluttering those closets, pantries, and shelves so that homebuyers can see the space, the floor, and the wall.

Here are some ideas for showing off the storage in a home:

Add a mudroom.

Stage a mudroom in your listing next to an entry door or even in the garage. The “drop zone” area is appealing to buyers who seek a place to store shoes, coats, bags, and anything else as they enter the home. These can be small areas, consisting of just cubbies, hooks, and a mat for shoes.

Invest in wicker baskets.

These are a stagers’ best friends. Add them to open shelving in the bathroom or living room to make the area look organized and added drop zones for belongings.

Add baskets galore in the closets.

Take a look at the photo below with all the baskets lining the wire shelves. Adding a line of baskets puts the storage potential center stage.

Clean out the closets.

Remove a majority of the clothes hanging in the closet and leave only a few on wooden hangers. The storage space will look less cluttered.

Stock the pantry in containers.

An overly cluttered pantry will look smaller. Enlarge the space by using containers for foods and lining items in a row to look organized.

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