The bathroom has a special place in every house. It’s a place where you can lock the door and sink yourself in tub of hot water and nice smelling foam, letting all the troubles of the day fade away. It’s also a very difficult room to stage. If you don’t use the help of a professional, it’s quite often an unsuccessful or even too costly experience. However, let me sum up the basics of bathroom staging.

As I mentioned in the article about kitchen staging, the bathroom is one of the rooms which should be 110% clean. Obviously, since bathrooms have a higher air humidity, the main issue is mould, especially in caulking. Don’t forget to start fighting it early and you may need to repeat the procedure several times and the acids and colors you use may be smelly for many hours or even days . Paint the walls with fresh colors. It will not take you a lot of time and the effect is more than worth it. Clean and polish all metal parts and mirrors and don’t forget to clean the lights and light bulbs too. If you are staying in the house, be sure your kids don’t leave any surprises in the toilet which could affect the deal.

Start by removing all the clutter lying around– shampoos, cups, medicines, plasters, etc. You can leave simple arrangements of tooth paste and brushes (they should be new of course), or a luxurious scented soap. Don’t leave anything on the windows, let the light flood in.

The next step depends on the actual state of your bathroom. You should replace all cheap plastic towel racks, spigots or toilet paper holders with chrome ones (be careful with brass fixtures, they are a bit out of date) and also consider changing taps and shower heads. Also change the shower curtain and buy some new colorful towels. Although the colors should be fresh, don’t go crazy using patterns with dolphins and mermaids (unless it’s a children bathroom). The same goes for fancy transparent toilet seats with shells. Remove the mat around the toilet – it invokes unpleasant ‘what-has-soaked-in-there’ associations with buyers, even when completely new. One small mat in the middle of the bathroom will be adequate.

If you have some spare money, you can invest it to bring some luxury into the bathroom. A pedestal sink is quite popular with buyers (it gives that kind of ‘ancient luxury’ feeling) and it helps to increase the optical size of your bathroom. An excellent investment is also a Jacuzzi tub (or whirlpool) although it won’t save you if the rest of the bathroom is poorly designed. Pleasant smelling air can be achieved using scented candles, a simple (bathroom-friendly) plant can help your bathroom gain freshness. Try to make the place look like a luxurious hotel room – place good shampoo in a nice bottle, buy the best toilet paper and towels should to be thick and fluffy like a sheep’s fleece.

You have two key selling points in your home – the kitchen and bathroom. If things are not as they should be in these rooms, then the whole process will be much more difficult.