You’re proud of your home, and you want to show off your personal style. Or perhaps you’re thinking of selling, and it’s time to work the room, so to speak, so you want to showcase your dwelling to potential buyers.

Here are some tips to up your online game and make your home stand out on social media.

• De-clutter your home. With experts like Marie Kondo becoming overnight superstars, there’s a lot to be said for keeping a clean look. This is an opportunity to show off the space in your home, and if you’re selling, it’ll allow the buyer to more easily envision their own artefacts gracing the dwelling. Move aside and store what’s just taking up space, and focus on the key items that you want to show off. Keep in mind that too personal can be too visually noisy for fresh eyes.
• Add some fake houseplants. The plastic flowers of the past aren’t what they used to be. Today, fake foliage can be strikingly beautiful and will add a splash of colour to your home. Play with heights, sizes and various locations, and let those plastic evergreens thrive in their no-maintenance existence.
• Bathe in light. Natural light is the secret sauce. Artificial light, and using flash, can take away from the true colours in your picture and create heavy shadows and glare. Experiment with different times from dawn to dusk, and take care not to shoot directly at a beaming light source.
• Add some area rugs. Rugs make a statement in any room, and can also add a more comfortable, “homey” appeal. Select the right rug to tie in your home’s colour scheme and anchor your furniture. Remember, the size of your area rug is important and is a question we’re often asked. Here are some quick tips for buying the correct-sized area rug. Vifloor Canada has some excellent styles in our Cortenaer Wool Carpet offerings.
• Try going live. Facebook and Instagram have a “live” video feature that allows for streaming of video as it happens. Live feeds get priority in the platform’s algorithms, so they’ll display more prominently than a still photo or text post. It’s important to note that those live videos will only appear on Instagram for 24 hours, so don’t worry about over-staging the video. Make it personal, off-the-cuff, and watch your engagement skyrocket as your audience chimes in and you work the FOMO factor with that disappearing video.
• Don’t forget about hashtags. There are tons of heavily-used tags out there relating to #interiordesign, #decor, #realestate and the various rooms within your home. You can also tag the city you’re located in. Are you particularly proud of an element within your room, such as the #carpet? Tag that too. You can build your own list of hashtags to use by following some of the top influencers in the home design category, find out what they’re using, and borrow some ideas from them.