There are simple things you can do to create an inviting portrait of your home. The purpose of staging your home is to reveal to your prospective buyers a vision of the lifestyle your home offers them. Rather than spending a fortune to accomplish this goal, spend some time doing a few specific things in living areas that will be their main focus. If you have hardwood floors, polish them immediately before your home is photographed or when your buyer is coming over. Open your window treatments allowing  sunbeams to stream across your floors. If you have a wood dining room table, remove your protective tablecloth and let the richness of the wood show through. Then enhance with a unique centerpiece or vase filled with fresh flowers that add a pop of color to the space. Set the table as if you were hosting a dinner party all the way down to place mats, dishes, flatware, candlesticks and sparkling clean crystal. Take it to the next level of elegance with your fine china and cloth napkins set within napkin rings on the plates. Kitchens are all about cabinets and counterspace so let those shine through. Clear away all the clutter and add a glass bowl filled with lemons or granny smith apples. Again, fresh flowers are always a plus. If you have stainless appliances take the time to polish away fingerprints. Get your granite gleaming and use some Murphy’s oil to showcase your cabinets. If you have a good sized dinette table, set that one too, but in a more casual manner. If you have a breakfast bar counter or breakfast bar island, set that instead of your dinette table to show the total potential of the space. In all the other rooms, shine, vacuum, and declutter. Remove remote controls and other eye distractions. If you have an ottoman, top with a throw and tray filled with a book teacup and saucer or coffee mug. This also works great if you have a lounging area near an outside pool or patio space.

Spend some time looking through home and decorating magazines and re-create scenes that catch your eye. Carefully staged bookcases can create a beautiful scenario. Make your master suite a private retreat. Something as simple as placing extra throw pillows on your bed and a fringed blanket across the bottom can completely change the feel of your space. Replace personal photos with carefully placed artwork.

If you have lived in your home for even a short period of time, things have become ‘ordinary’ to you and you will find yourself overlooking the scuff on the wall, the lack of window treatments, the mildew in the corner of your tub or the lack of shine on your floors, windows and appliances. Enter your home through the front door and walk through as if you were your buyer. You will see your home through a more discerning set of eyes and realize what you can do to create the best visual for your prospective buyers and convert one of them into the perfect buyer of your home!