Sellers

Home staging is about illusions. It's beyond decorating and cleaning, it's about creating moods. Staging makes your house look warmer, more loving and best of all, it makes home buyers want to buy it. After you’ve cleaned, decluttered, painted and made minor repairs, you will want to improve the environment of each room.

You can hire a professional stager, who possess the skill of a top-level designer, or you can take some of their tricks and try them out yourself.

Professional Staging Tricks:

• Arrange sparse pieces of furniture in an appealing grouping known as a vignette

• Showcase a generous usage of soft fabrics such as silk, lambswool, satin

• Drape window coverings with simple lines

• Add unique elements to shelving, bookcases and fireplace mantels, which draw attention to predetermined areas

What Accessories Does a Stager Use?

Stagers bring in a vast array of items to spruce up the house. Here is a small sampling of items professional stagers often use to dress each room. How they are utilized is limited only by creativity and vision.

• Mirrors

• Plants

• Silk Flowers

• Floor & Table Lamps,

• Area and Throw Rugs

• Small Loveseats

• Ottomans

• Afghans

• Pillows

• Inflatable Queen-Size Beds

• Baskets

• Plastic Tables & Chairs

Don’t Clutter; Accessorize

Keep in mind that the goal is not to clutter the home with nick nacks, but rather to give each room the feeling of completion. People by homes, not houses, and empty rooms will make it harder for buyers to get a good sense of the space. Work with each room to showcase how best to utilize the space, making each seems spacious and inviting. Small rooms and oddly shaped rooms make it especially hard for buyers to visualize how to arrange furniture, so ensure these rooms look appealing with the proper furniture arrangement and accessories.

Professional Staging Tricks & Tips

An artist for 35 years, Dawna Johnson, is an Accredited Staging Professional Master (ASP) and owner of Sacramento Staging Solutions. She says the idea behind staging is to allow rooms to show themselves. "If your home is vacant, it's soulless," Dawna warns. "Without staging, it will probably remain on the market for many months." She calls the kitchen the "heart of the home," and offers this practical advice for making that space sparkle:

• Apply orange oil to cabinets that appear dry, which will renew their original luster

• Put out large bowls of fruit such as polished apples, bright oranges, luscious grapes

• Arrange colorful and fun cookbooks on the counters

Dawna believes in bringing the outdoors inside through the use of greenery and plants; in creating clean, crisp spaces and arranging furniture with plenty of room to walk around. She says bathrooms are essential to dress well. "Bathrooms should look open, airy and delightful," says Dawna. One of her favorite tricks is to add baskets filled with spa treatments such as:

• Towels, tied with ribbons

• Scented soaps

• Creamy lotions

• Moisturizing & Facial jars

Curb and Yard

The back yard needs staging, too. For patios and decks, bring in plants and potted flowers, and add additional color by setting the picnic table with a bright center piece. Ensure that your front yard has the most appeal. Make the entryway look pristine with not only new paint, but also with a plant or a display of colourful flowers. The more inviting the outside of your home, the more excited people will be to see the inside.