It's not just design work - it takes a lot more than that. And it's a bit like a cake recipe.

Mix together a knowledge of popular colors...an ability to display things creatively...ESP about potential buyers...a pinch of magic...a cluster of enchantment...and stir together to create "sizzle."

In the hands of a staging expert - presto - a va-va-voom room!

It was a 911 call - an emergency intervention.  Chotchkes had taken over the home of a grandmother! 

There were colonies of them - big chotchkes, small chotchkes.  Call the exterminator!  Oh!...I was the exterminator!

My job was to exterminate the chotchkes in order to stage the house for sale.  Three days, a crew of 3 and over 100 boxes later, the deed was done - no more chotchkes.  We could finally see the house, have it thoroughly cleaned and stage it so it could be put on the market. 

After living in this property for over 50 years this lovely lady could not see that her home was not the showplace to others that it was to her.  That's because potential buyers just aren't interested in the sellers' possessions, and if they are, they lose their concentration on the purpose of their visit - to buy the property.

Staging a property using too many "chotchkes" causes the same problem.  Buyers stop to look at the "trees" and forget about the "forest."  So, remember KISS - keep it simple, sweetie.

I work on many tiny Philadelphia homes - tiny living rooms, tiny kitchens and tiny, winding stairways.  Some of these houses are so tiny that builders or owners have cut trap doors into the bedroom floors so the furniture can be heaved from the first floor to the second and from the second floor to the third. 

Unfortunately, there have been no trap doors in the houses I have worked on.  All the tiny houses I work on require tiny furniture and creative strategies to stage upper floor bedrooms. 

In one itty-bitty house with only one bedroom, we couldn't get a full bed box spring up the steps, so I built a "box spring" out of banker boxes.  (I heard of a stager who uses refrigerator boxes.)  And, we had to make several attempts at winding the headboard around the stairway to finally get it up the steps.

So, this is where our staging creativity comes in.  It's not just in the design work - sometimes, it takes down-home ingenuity and a good hard push!

Love it! Love it! Love it!

Pink is my favorite color. I wear it all the time. I have a stainless-steel watch with a pink face. And I even had my business cards and letterhead designed with 3 shades of pink, gray and black. Cool, huh!

I would love to stage a pink bedroom -- pink bedding, pink curtains, pink accessories...pink, pink, pink! But I haven't allowed the personal (pink) side of my brain to take over the staging (neutral) side of my brain.

Here's why. Pink just doesn't appeal to everyone. It appeals to some women, but not most men. And...here it is...pink isn't neutral. And neutral is the cornerstone of staging. 

So, if your "pink" urges start to overtake you and you begin to "think pink", remember the following words of wisdom about staging.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU. This is about staging the property to appeal to the largest number of potential buyers. So, DON'T THINK PINK.

When my sister and I were little girls, our mother always told us before company came to "Put on a pretty face."  This meant we should wash our faces, comb our hair and wear our very prettiest dresses, so everyone would think we were absolutely gorgeous and always looked that way.

Mother was always concerned with what the neighbors thought, so our house received a "good going over" from stem to stern in the event any of these kind visitors looked in closets or kitchen cabinets.  No one was ever going to say anything bad about Ruth's kids, closets or cabinets!  Not ever! 

No excuses.  My parents did this exercise every time there was a visit, a party or a holiday dinner.  No matter what, my sister and I always put on our "pretty faces." 

So, it shouldn't be a surprise to you that houses also need to put on their pretty faces before company comes, if they want their visitors to have a good impression (and to buy them). 

An unstaged, empty property is like someone who wore jeans to the prom, or didn't dress correctly for an interview.  If your property doesn't put on a pretty face, it's going to have a hard time competing with other properties that do.

Staging puts on a pretty face.  It's the cosmetician/make up, stylist/hairdo and dress designer/evening gown of the young woman going to the prom. 

So...to sell a property quickly and for more money in today's extremely competitive market, you need to have it staged by a professional. 

A professional stager knows the buyers in the area and what they are looking for...knows what the right look is for that area...knows how to make potential buyers fall in love with your property.

In other words...someone who really knows how to PUT ON A PRETTY FACE.