It’s kind of an instinct: when we hear that company is coming, we run around the house removing stacks of mail and magazines from the dining room table, shoving piles of laundry into closets and generally straightening things up. We may even buy some fresh cut flowers and throw them in a vase to make our home look more inviting. Whether we know it or not, what we’re doing—putting our abode’s best foot forward—is, on a very small scale, “staging” our homes for our potential visitors.



Now think real estate and potential buyers. If we can minimize clutter for our guests, we can—and absolutely should—do the same when it’s time to put our house on the market. But getting a home ready for sale is usually more involved than just clearing off a few bookshelves, and that’s where professional home stagers come into play.

Home staging is the art of making a home appeal to a broad spectrum of people, so it attracts buyers and gives them the opportunity to see the home and all it has to offer—not what it contains.  In practical terms, home staging can mean taking a vacant, new home and filling it with furniture and accessories so potential purchasers can envision how the spaces will work and fit into their lifestyle. On the other end of the spectrum it can mean emptying out a too-full home, repainting tired walls and making updates to everything from window treatments and cabinet hardware to appliances and flooring. The goal for both is the same: to sell the home quickly and for its asking price.