Feeling stressed about where to put all of your stuff while you show it for sale? There is plenty of space to “hide things in plain sight” in almost every home. In fact, when we stage home, most of our homeowners take these tips into their new place, even after home staging.

Toys are usually the biggest visual clutter problem. We can address this with affordable baskets and bins that work with the current décor. 

For bigger toys, like rocking horses or ride-on toys, if it’s necessary to keep them in the living space, we have sometimes parked them behind the sofa. They are still available to the kids, but not the first chaotic thing that a buyer sees when walking in the home.

Most kitchens have some paperwork in them day to day, but creating a designated spot for paperwork can both raise the value of your property and help you contain clutter while you are on the market.

Just in general, you can cut your clutter and improve your organization overall by starting to go paperless while you are prepping your house for sale. An app like Evernote might help you to present your home for sale, and also help you stay organized long after the sale.

Some clutter becomes art when you take it off the floor and mount it as artwork, like we did with these guitars.

If you’ve never used your display cabinet or shelves to actually display your pretty collections, selling your home is the time to do it. It can provide a focal point and show off built-in architecture.

The space under your bed can also store some items, especially if they aren’t something you’ll need to access until after you move.

If your closets are stuffed, you’ll want to organize them as well, but you’ll still have stuff to go back into the closet. Attractive bins and boxes can be expensive. But using attractive gift bags can be an inexpensive way to organize and create a clearer closet or storage space.

Of course, if you have the chance to bring in baskets to dress up a space and hide your everyday clutter, go big.

People buy space, and they like to know that every space in a house has a purpose. So while you want to clear out rooms as much as possible and show as much floor and wall space as you can, make sure to turn the nooks into little workhorses. Rather than let this space under the stairs sit empty, we removed a study desk from one of the bedrooms (freeing up space there), and set this nook up as a study station. Give your buyers a vision of how great every space in your home can be!

Even if you aren’t moving and staging your home, these are pretty good ideas for hiding things in plain sight. Which one will work for you?