When it comes to entertaining, the dining room plays a major role. In the buyer’s eyes, a large enough dining room will allow to have many guests and be comfortable in enjoying a nice evening amongst family and friends. However, when buyers are visiting homes, the dining room is often a space that is completely overlooked. It is often overshadowed by the kitchen, which is the heart of the home, or even the living room which is the go to place for resting and relaxing. This leaves your dining room as a space barely remembered by the buyers that come through the house in search of their perfect home. So when you have visitors coming to view hour house, make sure that your dining room is dressed to impress.
Here is What You Will Need:
- Your favorite cleaning product (I recommend Pledge Multi-Surface)
- An elegant table runner
- A service for four people
- 4 elegant napkins
- A bottle of wine (it doesn’t have to be full)
- 4 wine glasses
- A small plant
- A bowl of fresh fruits (if you have a buffet)
Here is How to Pull It Off
- Clear everything from your dining room table as well as from the buffet. You need every flat surface to be clear of clutter and you need to make sure that it is clean.
- Use your favorite cleaning product to clean the dining table and the buffet. Make sure that there is not dirt or stuck on food spills left. If you have a tablecloth to protect your table, and you have a nice table, you should consider removing the tablecloth for the duration of the visit. If your table is an older style or has a damaged surface, leave a table cloth on it but make sure it is a neutral color such as light beige or cream. Avoid white as it can be too bright.
- Place a table runner on the table. If your table is long, place it along the width of the table. If your table is shorter you can place it along the length to give the illusion of a longer table.
- Set the table for four people, placing two plates on either side of the table. Do not place any plates at the ends of the table. You want to give it more of a comfortable and intimate feel. Place the plate down first, a salad bowl inside and the wine glass to the right. It is
- recommended not to use any cutlery when you set the table for a visit. You do not know who will be walking into your home and a fork or knife can cause harm. Don’t worry! No one will even notice that there is no cutlery.
- Place the small plant at the center of your table as a centerpiece and position the wine bottle casually beside it without being too specific about centering it or aligning it with the plant. Make sure that the plant is fairly low so that guests are still able to talk to each other.
- Place the bowl of fresh fruits at the center of the buffet if you have one.
The idea behind setting the table as part of a home staging strategy is to get the buyer’s imagination going. Don’t over-do it and go wild with colors and accessories. Keep it simple and tasteful. Getting the buyers to start seeing themselves in that very dining room, having a nice evening with their friends, drinking wine, laughing and enjoying their time together will surely make a lasting impression in their minds. Remember that people buy what they see, even if it is in their mind’s eye. If you are able to show them a good time, they are more likely to buy into it.
