Selling your condo can go a lot more smoothly if you take the steps to make it appear more spacious and inviting to potential buyers. However, hiring professional stagers can get pricey, so it isn’t in every budget. Here are some tips for staging your condo on your own.

Consolidate

Consolidation is paramount in making even the smallest spaces seem roomy, so remove every piece of nonessential furniture in your home. If you have any armoires, extra side tables, particularly hefty coffee tables, multiple dressers, or china cabinets, put them in storage while you work to sell your home. Having furniture in your home is important—you want potential buyers to be able to imagine themselves living there—but it’s best to keep the furnishings to small and minimal pieces. After you remove all the nonessential furniture pieces, walk around your space. This is a good measure of whether your space is too crowded. If you can’t get around without squeezing between or running into furniture, rearrange it.

Clutter can also really make storage areas feel small. Take any clothing, kitchen gadgets, and household appliances you won’t need for the next couple months out of your closets, cabinets, and pantry and store them to make these spaces look larger.

Brighten

A bright space feels more open and has an enlarging effect on your rooms. Bedrooms that feel spacious, in particular, are very important to most buyers. Fortunately, there are many ways to make bedrooms feel bigger. If the paint in your bedrooms is chipped, too dark, or too bold, paint the walls a light, neutral color. Light gray, bright beige, or even a subtle lavender are all great options. You can also remove large curtains and unnecessary window coverings to really let the sun shine into your home. Doing so makes your home seem larger and more inviting.

Clean

Cleaning your condo before listing it is a given, but many spaces often go unnoticed during deep cleans—even though they need it the most. Here are some spots to clean before putting your condo on the market:

• Behind the toilet and its base

• Inside your cabinets and all shelves

• The floors of your closets

• The floor underneath your bed and other large furniture

• Your blinds and windowsills

• Doors, their handles, and their frames

• Washer/dryer

• Ceiling fans

• Toothbrush holder

• Shower curtain

• The top of the refrigerator

• Baseboards

• Refrigerator drawers and shelves

Cleaning these areas, in addition to the main areas, can really make your condo shine for potential buyers, looking more updated with a simple deep clean.