How to Stage your Bathroom for Buyer Appeal

When holding an open house or inviting potential buyers in for a showing, the bathroom is one room that can easily make or break a sale. Easy to overlook during renovations and more prone to getting dirty than some of the other rooms, the bathroom can be enough to make a buyer look elsewhere. Luckily, it doesn’t take much to get your bathroom ready for open houses and private showings. Set aside some time one weekend and get everything done.

How to Stage your Bathroom for Buyer Appeal

How can you make your bathroom appeal to potential buyers

Image via: Benjamin Benschneider

Invest in Minor Remodeling

Swapping out a cracked or ugly sink and cupboard for an attractive, affordable bathroom vanity will make a huge difference in the room’s look without a complete floor-to-ceiling renovation. Think of other minor upgrades you can make quickly, and even on a limited budget, such as:

• A new cupboard
• A new toilet seat
• A new shower curtain
• New window curtains
• A new mirror
• A new toilet-paper holder
• A new soap dish

It doesn’t matter whether or not you’re taking the new addition with you — you’re probably not leaving a countertop soap dish behind, for example. What matters is that you “set the stage” for a beautiful bathroom, one that seems new and classy, and like it’d belong in a five-star hotel room.

Clean your Bathroom Thoroughly

The bathroom is one of the dirtiest rooms in the house. Your job is to clean it thoroughly, from top to bottom. Leave no bit of grout unscrubbed and bleach the white clean if you need to. Remove the fan cover and clean out accumulated dust. Take out the sink stopper and unclog the drain, in case the buyer turns it on and sees your drain back up. Disinfect every surface, and leave every part of the room sparkling.

Create a bathroom that homebuyers will love!

Image via: Jeri Koegel

Banish Stained Walls

When you’re scrubbing, you may notice a few areas where soap, a sponge and power scrubbing just aren’t doing enough. Walls stained with mildew and mold are the most frequent culprit. If after years of using the bathroom that ugly black stuff has started accumulating, you need to banish it entirely. Mold is dangerous, and mildew looks like mold — you don’t want a potential buyer thinking there’s mold in your bathroom. Tear down any wallpaper, peel away paint and repaint or re-paper the walls.

Use Neutral Colors

When painting or even when decorating, choose neutral colors like beige, yellow and white. The bathroom shouldn’t stand out too much to the potential buyer. Bolder colors are more likely to turn off people. If they want bolder colors, they can change the room once they’ve purchased the home.

If you’re not painting, hang neutral-color shower curtains (if you have them) and neutral color towels. Banish the cartoon-character beach towels and the rubber-ducky shower curtains, at least when you’re showing. These are simple enough changes that can be easily undone when the house is not on display.

Ensure your bathroom is clean and welcoming

Image via: Ellinor Ellefson, Elle Interiors

Add a Fragrant Vase of Flowers

Even the most gorgeous of bathrooms may smell off-putting. Loading the room up with manufactured air fresheners is a start, but it could seem like you’re covering up something you don’t want buyers to smell. Instead, put a fragrant bouquet of flowers in a vase and place it on the sink or atop the toilet each time you have a showing. It’s an elegant and effective touch. If a bouquet is too big in an otherwise small and cramped space, a single large flower like a lilac or a rose will do.

The bathroom is one of the more difficult rooms to stage for a showing because there are so few furnishings to rearrange; however, the lack of furnishings is also what makes it one of the easier rooms to prepare. Just don’t ignore the room because it’s small and doesn’t seem to need as much attention. Remember: Potential buyers want to see clean, functional bathrooms.

About the Author: Kevin Lunn is a real estate agent with over two decades of experience.

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