7 DIY Primary Bedroom Staging Tips for the Oasis Every Buyer Dreams About
You don't need a professional to turn your primary bedroom into the calm oasis every buyer dreams of coming home to. Here's proof, with pictures!
The primary bedroom plays a pivotal role in home staging because it’s often considered the emotional centerpiece of the home. Buyers imagine it as a personal sanctuary, a place where they can unwind, rest, and escape the stresses of everyday life. The right staging here can leave a lasting impression, transforming the room from a mere sleeping space into a luxurious, welcoming retreat.
Focus on creating a sense of serenity with plush bedding, soft, neutral tones, and calming decor that whispers relaxation. The goal is to help buyers visualize themselves swapping out their daily worries — trading in those high heels and endless cups of coffee for plush slippers and a soothing glass of wine, enveloped in comfort and peace. This vision can be the final detail that turns a browsing visitor into a committed buyer.
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Home Staging Report, 36% of buyers consider staging the primary bedroom “very important,” ranking it second only to the living room on the staging priority list.
But let’s be real — those picture-perfect primary suites you see on HGTV might have given you some pretty unrealistic expectations about home staging. With features like clawfoot tubs, massive walk-in closets, spa-like showers, and floor-to-ceiling windows, it’s no wonder you’d feel like pulling off that kind of look is intimidating, out of reach, and way too expensive. Even if your primary bedroom has a few of these features, it’s easy to feel like you’ll never quite measure up.
Find an Agent Who Can Help You Stage Your Home
An experienced agent will understand the value of staging, provide DIY tips, and refer you to the best staging experts in your market. HomeLight can connect you with a top-performing agent near you.
That’s why we’ve put together this practical guide to bedroom staging, packed with tips and tricks you can start using right away. Let’s dive in and transform your primary bedroom into the space every buyer dreams about.
From total chaos to calm retreat: How to declutter a bedroom
Top-selling Denton, Texas, agent Cami Hobbs shared that the most challenging part of home staging is tackling clutter. Although decluttering tops the charts in terms of difficulty, it is the most important step in staging the primary bedroom.
Why?
Picture walking into your bedroom when it’s cluttered with piles of laundry, half-empty cups of cold tea cluttering the nightstand, unread magazines stacked on the floor, and random items scattered everywhere from the daily chaos of life. The space feels more like a disorganized storage room than a sanctuary, overwhelmed by the evidence of everyday stress and unfinished tasks. It’s hard to imagine relaxing or feeling inspired in an environment that reflects disorder and fatigue.
Now picture how the primary bedroom feels when you’ve freshly cleaned and vacuumed the space, dusted, and taken all displaced items and put them back in their proper spot in your home. Decluttering, though it requires more legwork, will feel about 10 times better than that, which is an experience you want to create for any prospective buyer who walks into your space.
We’ve put together three ways you can tackle the most difficult part of bedroom staging right away.
1. Use the KonMari Method of decluttering
Marie Kondo, creator of the KonMari Method, believes in using gut reactions to items to get rid of clutter that does not “spark joy.” This method is extremely effective because it works with your first reaction to an item, and doesn’t leave any time for, “but what if I need this someday?”
This process will take a few days, but it will help you in the long run, especially when you need to move. By decluttering now, you don’t need to put everything you own into an expensive storage unit for showings. Instead, you’ll have eliminated all of the items that you no longer need and enjoy and will be left only with your essentials.
To summarize the process, which you can read more about in our blog post on getting a home ready to sell, you’ll take out and physically hold every single item in your bedroom. You’ll notice which items give you a positive feeling, and which items you feel negative or neutral about. You’ll donate or sell these items, and keep only the items you have a positive reaction to.
Though it may seem like a big task, this method is the easiest way to declutter, because you won’t be able to belabor over keeping things you don’t need. An item will either make you happy or unhappy. Keep the ones that make you smile and part with the rest!
2. Follow these rules to get serious about storage
Hobbs recommends putting any excess items you don’t need for showings in storage. An easy rule is to store two-thirds of your belongings, leaving only one-third in the house. Some examples of things you may want to store:
- Out-of-season clothes and shoes
- Extraneous knick-knacks or decor
- Most or all of your personal photos
- Large items you don’t currently need, i.e., air mattresses, extra sets of sheets, air drying racks for clothes, etc.
Use your best judgment here. The more you can pare down and store, the better your space will look. And don’t forget that closets count, too. Prospective buyers will look in all of your closets and expect them to be just as organized and clean as the bedroom. Don’t shove anything in your closet. When in doubt, store it.
3. Give the space a thorough cleaning
Your primary bedroom needs to be spotless. Think about it this way: The bedroom should be as clean as a freshly cleaned hotel room the day you check in. You can read all about home clearing in our cleaning guide, but here’s a brief overview.
- Dust everything with a Swiffer duster (these dusters cling to dust, and you can throw them out when you’re done
- Wipe everything down with an all-purpose cleaner like Mrs. Meyers (they are aromatherapeutic and will give the space a great scent)
- Vacuum and mop all the floors
- Put clean bedding on the bed
- Throw out any and all dead flowers and plants
