It’s one thing to be used to living comfortably in your own interior arrangements – or disarray.
But it’s quite another when you’re eventually ready to sell your home, and the interiors often need to be redone to make the property sell-able.
However, that needs more work than just bringing in the house stagers, says staging consultant Chris Davis, of Smart Staging.
He says that most stagers don’t do a lot decluttering as it’s too time consuming and they would rather do enhancements.
Start your property search
He finds people hold on to sentimental belongings the most, such as old art or photos, gifted decorations, or old furniture piece passed on in the family.
“You see a lot of family photos - mum and dad kissing on the beach in Rarotonga or wherever they got married. We are selling the house, not living in your house," he says. “Buyers need to see themselves in the property."
Davis says that staging improvements can be as simple as moving a couch from one side of the room to the other. Also, depending on the wall space, Smart Staging can sometimes bring in up to 15 pieces of art.
Ray White agent Suzie Fox agrees that less is more when selling a home. “We can’t appreciate the house when it has too much. I feel that we all need to declutter our lives,” she says.
One of the things she notes is that while having many books may mean you are well-educated, a cluttered wall of books might not look best. However, like Davis, she says artwork and mirrors work well when preparing a house for sale.
But as well as helping in a house sale, decluttering also has a therapeutic effect on other parts of your life.
Let’s Organize It business owner and professional house organiser Elena Zharkaia believes that when the living space is organised, the mind and soul are at peace too.
The self-proclaimed “organisational fairy” says people mainly ask for help with decluttering wardrobes, kitchen cupboards and kids’ rooms. “When clients and I get rid of unnecessary things and organise the living space, I often notice they lose weight, pick up a new hobby – they are ready for a fresh start after letting that baggage go.”
Less is more, when preparing to sell a house, real estate agent says.
The passion for cleaning and putting things in order started when Zharkaia was a little girl. When she stayed at her grandparents’ house, instead of playing with toys she would always ask if they wanted anything cleaned up and hours later present an immaculately arranged room.
Her daily obsession with cleaning turned into a part-time business over a year ago, not long before the “Marie Kondo effect” started when Kondo's Netflix series came out at the start of the year.
Zharkaia recommends dividing all your items into categories such as clothes, electronic devices, sentimental things, important documents. Then, sub-categorise that clothes pile into tops, bottoms, sportswear, heels and others.
It is better to begin the transformation of your space with the wardrobe, she says, and work towards ending with sentimental things such as souvenirs and family photos.
Like Kondo, Zharkaia is a big believer in keeping only things that bring you joy and benefit your lifestyle.
“Your home is a place where you relax your body and rest your soul, where you recover after a working day, filled with energy and love,” she says.
“Therefore, it is so important to keep the order and the correct organisation of space in your house, which in consequence leads to a balance of energy and harmony in your home.”
Auckland-based fashion blogger Jess Molina says her closet felt chaotic and was overflowing until she read Kondo’s book and tried her methods. “I'm a natural hoarder but clothes especially are my weakness. Some thrifted finds, some new, some designer - they were all living in my wardrobe and I knew that I had to make space and declutter my life.”
It took Molina hours to go through a pile of clothes, holding up each item and asking herself if it sparked joy. It was a painful process, she says.
A concept of keeping only things that you love hit home for Jess and changed her approached to shopping.
“I am more aware of what I buy, more aware of what's in my wardrobe. When I go shopping now, I ask myself if I really love it. And more often than not, I find myself walking away, rather than buying.”
Young professional Shawn Moodie and his partner tried organising their home after seeing the Kondo television series. Almost a year later, the couple have found it hard to maintain, but have stuck with the folding techniques.
“It helped us get rid of unnecessary stuff, brought temporary joy but it is hard to maintain. Flash forward and our house is still cluttered. It is largely my fault because I still own too many bad t-shirts,” says Moodie.
