Real Estate Investment 101: Getting Started

Three Strategies For Making Your Home's Hallways More Appealing

Many people who are looking to sell their homes will spend lots of time and money fixing up various rooms throughout the dwelling, but may overlook the value of focusing on other spaces. It's important to remember that when your house is on the market, interested buyers are carefully evaluating every part of the home before they decide whether they'll make an offer — and how much their offer will be. Your hallways may not be the prime attraction when prospective buyers visit your home, but the right amount of attention to detail can go a long way toward making your listing more appealing for those who are checking it out. Here are three strategies that you can employ for dealing with your hallways as you look to sell your home.

Remove Things That Add Clutter

Some homeowners have objects in their hallways that may have specific purposes but that actually add clutter to the area. For example, a bulky piece of art hanging on the wall or some type of storage solution may be things that you enjoy having in the hallway, but they contribute to this part of your home feeling cramped and perhaps difficult to navigate. Before you list your home, take stock of any items in your hallways that fit this description and remove them.

Add More Light

Lighter spaces feel larger than darker spaces, so it's useful to evaluate the look of your hallways and determine if you can make some changes to their hue. For example, if you have a hallway with charcoal or dark blue carpet, you may find that replacing the carpet to a lighter shade will immediately give the hallway a brighter and thus larger feel. Additionally, replacing incandescent bulbs in the light fixtures above your hallway with LED bulbs will generally make the hallway feel larger.

Reconsider Around The Stairs

In the hallways on the second floor of your home, particularly where the stairs open into the hallway, you may have a half-wall running along the edge of the hallway and above the stairs. This design is commonplace in many homes, but can actually make the space feel smaller and less inviting. An alternative is to remove the half-wall and replace it with rungs and a railing that match the rungs and railing of your staircase. The gaps between the rungs contribute to the hallway feeling more open, but the area is still safe if you have small children.


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