How to get the lighting right when you are listing your home for sale

Selling a home can be a lot of work. Part of why I enjoy staging is that I get to make it easier for people. Usually, it’s for people who are having their homes staged by Essential Home Staging, but there’s no reason those of you living in your home while it’s on the market have to miss out on the fun.

So today, I am going to talk about lighting. As a stager, I think about it a lot. I am assessing the lighting situation when I preview a home, before I stage it. I think about it when developing a staging strategy. And I think about it on stage day.

The fact is that great lighting brings some life to your home and it can make rooms feel bigger and fresher. It’s an easy and inexpensive way to make your home show just a little bit better. So let’s walk through some of the factors affecting your home lighting and some recommendations for optimizing the light in your home.

Natural light

Let’s start with the kind from mother nature. Assuming you don’t live in a dungeon, you’ve got some natural light coming in. Take a look at each window and ask yourself if it can be optimized.

• From the outside - look at shrubs, trees and anything else that can stand between the sun, or cloudy sky in the case of my fellow Seattle-area sellers, and your windows. A little trim and clean up outside a window and improve the view, add light and increase your curb appeal all at the same time.

• From the inside - if you have curtains blocking even a small portion of your window, you are sacrificing some light. I always prefer to stage without curtains, because we are selling the home with it’s windows, not the decor. But I get that you may need to live in your house and you don’t want to give your neighbors a free show. If your windows aren’t old (and needing to be camouflaged), and you have some decent looking blinds, take those curtains away, and do away with the rods too.

• From both sides - hire a window cleaner. The difference this can make in a room, and in listing photos, is significant.

Improve your bulb game

Listen, we have all rooted around in the garage looking for a bulb to replace one that has burned out. When you are living in your home, you might not think about it much, but the types of bulbs you use do get noticed by visitors. During your pre-sales prep, do a bulb audit.

For can lights and attached lighting fixtures, opt for a warm and soft white. When you are standing in the aisle at Home Depot, you might wonder what that means. I recommend 2700K. It’s warm but not yellow and works in almost every application.

If you want a little bit brighter of a feel in the kitchen or bathroom, where task lighting is appropriate, you can go for 3000K. I recommend putting in the 2700 bulbs and seeing how the kitchen and bathroom feel. Task lighting can seem important when cooking or applying makeup, but it’s not really important when you are a buyer viewing a home that is for sale. Consider how the lighting in the room looks in general.

The selection of bulbs for can or track lights is super important. Because these can shine down directly on a persons’ face, they can give a kind of interrogation vibe if they are too cool, and they can cast a lot of shadows. It’s harsh. Use a bulged reflector bulb to fill the can and distribute light (like a BR30). You can also use a LED retrofit kit, which gives a nice clean look. It would only be a priority to me if your cans look old and rough.

Now what about Edison bulbs? They sure had their moment, but I am going to be blunt. I hate them for staging. You want your lighting to be bright enough so folks can see well, but do you need to burn their corneas by exposing the filament? No, you don’t. Skip the trend and get some nice simple frosted bulbs.

Updating lighting fixtures

You might be wondering if you need to do this. Without seeing your home, I can’t tell. But there are a couple things you need to keep in mind.

• Your taste in lighting does not matter. Your home should be staged for your target buyer, who may or may not have the same taste as you.

• Your lighting fixture style should not make a statement. It needs to be stylistically neutral; a “statement” fixture is a distraction.

• You need to assess not only the visual appeal of your lighting, but the amount of light it is giving off. For example, dark shades block light, and intricate patterns can cast odd shadows.

The good news is that changing out lighting fixtures can be inexpensive and there are so many options available.

My favorites are drum fixtures, which can be used as ceiling lights, pendants and chandeliers, and coordinate well with matching sconces. Use search term “drum light fixture” at the retailer of your choice. Scroll down the product page to see items that have been purchased together. It’s not wrong to let someone else do the hard work for you.

Examples of simple drum fixtures that are great for staging. Opt for lighter shades and coordinate finishes.

The last thing I will remind you is to make sure your fixtures and cans are cleaned. I can’t tell you how many times I have entered into a “ready for staging” home to find dust and cobwebs on lighting. No judgement, I just looked at mine yesterday and they need some work. Just keep in mind that a cleaning for staging is a different service than just a regular cleaning. So ask your cleaners to take care of these things and/or check them out afterward.