The Home Staging Process Explained

You've likely heard the adage: "First impressions last."

The first impression of your home is no exception. If you're thinking about selling your home, consider home staging.

Whether you declutter rooms or tackle landscaping upgrades for curb appeal, you can make your home more appealing to buyers. Here are our best home staging tips for sellers.

What Is Home Staging?

In real estate, home staging involves attracting buyers during the home selling process to help sell the home more quickly. Put simply, you "set the stage" for your home.

What might you do to stage a home? There are plenty of ways to create a more aesthetically pleasing space, including:

• Clean
• Style
• Declutter
• Rearrange
• Depersonalize
• Define
• Freshen

Successful home staging shouldn't just get buyers excited about a space; it should help them envision themselves living in it.

Does Staging A Home Really Work?

The benefits of staging a home include the following:

• Attract more potential buyers: The more effectively you've staged your home, the more likely you'll attract possible buyers. The more potential buyers, the more likely you'll sell your home. More potential buyers can also put it on the fast track to sell.
• Show ways to use extra spaces: If you have a unique (or maybe a little awkward) space in your home, you can show it off by adding conversation spaces, reading nooks, a statement chair, shelves, a plant, storage baskets, artwork, a bench seat or a storage desk.
• Potentially increase the selling price: Staged houses tend to sell faster, command higher offers, and yield a greater return on your investment. Buyers' and sellers' agents said one in five individuals said home staging increased offers. Plus, staging a house usually costs a fraction of the potential increase in the sales price.
• Spend less time on the market: Almost half of seller's agents (48%) reported that staging a home decreases time on the market, according to a National Association of REALTORS^® report. Reducing the amount of time on the market means you'll ultimately get results more quickly.

You may wonder if it's better to sell a house empty, but staging your home generally helps it sell faster.

What Does A Home Stager Do?

A professional home stager or staging company typically offers interior decorating and design experience. They evaluate your home's condition, recommend how to improve its appeal and help you rearrange furniture. Professional home stagers often offer their own furniture, decor and artwork to stage your home.

Your real estate agent might also do a great job of staging your home, but if you’re confident in your abilities, you can be your own home stager. You can use your skills to paint, depersonalize your space and add warm touches, such as fresh flowers.

How Much Does Home Staging Cost?

The average cost of staging a home ranges between $791 – $2,836. Here’s a list of the factors that affect the cost of staging:

• Paint supplies: Paint can cost between $200 – $600 for supplies, and you can generally expect to pay between $967 – $3,041 to have your home painted, or between $2.75 – $4.70 per square foot. It might cost you around $3,000 to paint the exterior of your home.
• Home repairs: Homeowners spent $13,667 among three categories of home services spending, including improvement, maintenance and emergency repairs, according to an Angi report. The amount you'll spend depends on your needs.
• Storage organizers: Storage organizers can help you consolidate your storage items. A closet organizer, for example, may cost between $1,000 – $3,000, while a prefabricated wire system may cost just $200.
• Furniture and decorations: Home staging furniture may cost between $500 – $600 per room per month, which could add up to $2,000 per month after your initial setup.
• Cleaning supplies: The average cost of laundry and cleaning supplies in the U.S. is $169.83 per consumer unit, but it may cost you more for deep-cleaning supplies.

How To Stage A House For Sale

If you want to stage your home yourself, you can DIY the process, but note that our first step involves getting a professional consultation. There's no right answer here, but it’s important to understand your skill set. Learn how to stage a house for sale in the steps below.

1. Consider A Professional Consultation

Getting a professional consultation before staging a home can help you make the right decision about whether or not you should take care of your home staging yourself.

But first, determine the services you need, how long you'll need them and whether you need to rent big things, like furniture, to stage an empty room. Doing so will help you decide how to move forward with home staging.

2. Repair

Making repairs may also increase home value. Think of all the potential repairs that could encourage buyers to choose your home. Keep a discerning eye on areas that need fixing, and be sure to:

• Patch holes and cracks
• Repair or replace broken fixtures
• Replace worn or outdated flooring
• Fix leaks
• Address structural issues

However, it's important to know what not to fix when selling a house. It’s best to avoid renovations unless they are likely to provide enough return on your investment.

3. Deep Clean

Plan on cleaning your home to prepare for staging. The messier your home, the longer it may take to sell, so you’ll want to clean it from top to bottom. Your home-cleaning checklist might look like this:

• Wipe down the walls
• Use a damp cloth to clean light switches
• Clean countertops
• Clean windows, inside and outside
• Scrub the bathrooms
• Pay attention to grease or grime in the kitchen
• Vacuum and shampoo carpets
• Mop hard floors

Different homes have different deep-cleaning requirements, so don’t worry if your checklist looks different from your neighbor’s.

4. Depersonalize Rooms

You want to ensure that you make your space look neutral so that potential home buyers can mentally put their own things in your space.

Remove all personal items from your home, such as:

• Family photos and portraits
• Names on throw pillows
• Monograms on items, such as welcome mats
• Toiletries
• Medications
• Clothing
• Personalized artwork
• Overly unique decor

Do you need to make the house completely bare? No, of course not, but keep the walls, tabletops and other spaces generic so that people can envision their photos on side tables and their personal items on shelves.

5. Perform A Smell Test

If you notice unpleasant odors in your home, identify the source of the smells, clean the area and remove items or materials causing the odor. Consider using odor absorbers, like baking soda, to eliminate smells, such as in a spot where your dog regularly sleeps.

Check out our other strategies to remove pet odors when house staging.

6. Prioritize Important Rooms

While you should clean the entire house, potential buyers want to see certain rooms look more impeccable than others. In other words, potential buyers want to see staged living rooms, closets, bathrooms and master bedrooms. Here's what you can do for each:

• Living room: Opt for a neutral look, getting rid of flashy pieces, like a loud rug or wild curtains. Touches of color are okay, but keep it simple.
• Closets: Are clothes cascading out of your closets? It's time to give your closet a breather so your closets look spacious and well-organized.
• Bathrooms: Bathrooms should be sparkling clean and smell great. Get rid of mildew smells with fresh flowers or a candle.
• Master bedroom: Prioritize the master bedroom. Make it cozy and ensure you feature an attractive bedroom set. Accent with pillows or blankets on the end of the bed or tossed over a couch or chair. As always, keep the wall decor generic.

7. Improve Curb Appeal With Fresh Landscaping

Landscaping improves curb appeal and influences staging a home for sale. After all, it's what home buyers see as soon as they pull into your driveway!

Improving curb appeal can involve mowing the lawn, adding mulch, trimming bushes and trees, planting colorful flowers and maintaining the overall aesthetic of your home's appearance.

Consider pressure washing your sidewalks, patio, deck and exterior walls. Paint your shutters and front door and give everything a once-over.

Tips For Staging A Home

Looking for more tips on staging a home? Here we’ll dive into more specific tips, such as using natural light, neutral paint colors and more.

Use Natural Light

Use natural light to emphasize the nicest areas in your home. Doing so can include window cleaning and maintenance, using sheer curtains, taking advantage of skylights, decorating with mirrors and incorporating reflective surfaces. Natural light can give your home a bright, airy, welcoming appearance.

Paint Walls A Neutral Color

Choose an appropriate paint color for selling a home. Consider neutral colors, like warm grays, taupe or navy, instead of bright pink or red.

Warm grays create a homey vibe, taupe walls have a neutral yet warm tone and navy offers a bold, classic paint option for your home.

If you don’t want to paint the whole interior of your home, you can instead update one or two rooms, like the kitchen and main entryway.

Add Plants And Subtle Art

Selectively adding plants to a home staging design can give your house a pop of interest. Subtle art, as opposed to bold art, can add to the overall effect when staging a house to sell.

Remember That Less Is More

Stage your home according to your budget and lifestyle. Remember that you'll need to decorate sparingly.

If you're overwhelmed by the task, remember that you're going to move anyway, so packing up the excess will help you start to peel back on the extra stuff in your home.

If you can't stage the entire house, consider staging one or two key rooms instead of tackling the whole thing.

Home Staging FAQs

Still have questions about home staging? Take a look at some common questions and answers about home staging for individual visits and open houses.

How can I lower the cost of staging my home?

You can cut down on the number of rooms that you hire a designer to stage. Ask them about their various package options to get the most appropriate match for your budget. You can also stage it yourself if you have the skills to do so.

What is virtual staging?

Virtual staging involves staging homes to their utmost potential using a graphic editor. It's much cheaper than actual staging and allows for limitless design options. It can be a powerful marketing tool for selling your home.

Virtual staging allows you to "move" personal items or furniture that might negatively affect your listing. Virtual staging also reduces changes to your lifestyle while your house is on the market because it's all done online.

What is soft staging a home?

When you soft stage a house, you still stage the home, but soft staging doesn't include furniture. For example, soft staging your home might mean adding artwork and plants to make your home more inviting.

The Bottom Line

Staging your home can involve making several changes to put your house's best foot forward.

You can clean, style, declutter, depersonalize and freshen up your home when it goes on the market. However, if you're not an interior design expert, you may want to consider hiring a professional to stage your home before selling it. 

It's also about the details that delight potential buyers. Consider appealing to all the senses, not just what a visitor sees. For example, you might put a candle in the kitchen or keep the home warm or cool, depending on the season.

Ready to sell your home? Start the home selling process with a licensed real estate advisor to help determine the best way to sell your home.