The winter months are usually a slow time when it comes to selling real estate. But if you stage homes that are for sale properly that will boost potential buyer interest in the home quite a bit. The key to getting homes to sell during this slower period of the year is to make sure that your staging is beautiful and will make potential buyers want to have their own holidays in the home. Decorate with heavy throws, pretty window treatments, and seasonal décor to play up the potential of the home to be a great family gathering place. Here are some winter staging tips from expert home stagers to inspire your own winter staging strategies:

Keep Snow Where It Belongs

A cozy home with a beautiful snowy landscape will impress buyers, but you should make sure that the snow stays in the yard where it is supposed to be. Make sure that all walkways and the driveway are cleared of snow and salted. You need to be sure that buyers can get safely to the door and move safely around the property. Make sure there are no large snowdrifts on the edges of the driveway or on the patio or deck.

Turn Up the Heat

You are selling the idea that the home is warm and cozy in the winter cold. You can’t do that if it’s freezing inside. Make sure the heat is set at leave 70 degrees and give the house time to warm up before you have potential buyers in the home. That way when people come in from outside they will subconsciously think the house is warm and cozy.

Bake Something Seasonal

The smell of baking cookies, pies, or other sweets will enhance that cozy sensation for buyers. The home will seem like a perfect home for the holidays when they walk into the sweet smell of holiday goodies. It’s also a good idea to set up a coffee and tea station with seasonally flavored drinks so that they can help themselves to a hot beverage.

Organize the Front Hall or Foyer

When people come in, they are going to be wearing coats, snowy boots, hats and other winter gear. Set up a hanging rack or a pretty entry way storage bench with a floor mat so that people can wipe their feet or remove their boots, hang up their coats, and keep all their hats and mittens and other items organized. This will not only protect the home’s interior from wet or muddy shoes it will also show potential buyers that the house is functional in the winter and there is plenty of room to take off winter gear when people come in the house. If the home has a mud room come in that way instead of through the front door.