Every Fall I dread turning the clocks back!  I hate losing day light hours and coming home after work to more and more darkness. To make your home lighter and brighter this season, consider my design ideas as featured in Better Home's and Garden's DIY Magazine. Do you have any tips for making your home lighter and brighter that you want to share?

When I stage a property I always like to use a pop of the same color in each room to unify spaces and add more flow to the home. I also use a pop of color to direct the buyer's eye to which selling features I want them to notice- the great fireplace, the kitchen counters, the cozy sitting area in the master bedroom. Perhaps it is the season but lately I have been loving orange and how it adds warmth and sizzle to the spaces we stage. Take a peek and try it out in your own home. Add some perky pumpkin, mellow mandarin or calming homcantaloupe to give your rooms a kick that you can enjoy all year round.

Still not convinced that you need to stage your home to prepare it for sale? Think staging only works for model homes? Take a look at our most recent staging in Malvern Pennsylvania. Located in picturesque Chester County, this gorgeous home had great selling features but needed to be fine tuned to show families how they could live there. The results? Stunning!

This weekend I was going through some photos of past home staging jobs and had a great time remembering some of the wonderful (and sometimes strange) things we had seen over the past few years. I thought it would be fun to share our first staging jobs. Below are mine:

The room I staged in my first staging class. Not bad for 45 minutes and using what you have. Notice the valance I made from a runner!

The first home I staged on my own- it was a woman I had never met before and she let me do it for free to use for marketing. I ran into her last weekend in a lighting store and she remembered me! She said the room is still the same!

The first vacant home I staged. It sold within 2 weeks! I still have the striped urn- it cost me a fortune!

If you are like most home owners your house is set up the way you like it, but when it comes time to sell you need to take a step back and make sure that you are showing buyers the best use for each space in your home. You may need to use 3 bedrooms in your 4 bedroom home as office space, but most home buyers will want to see how those rooms can be used as bedrooms. Your formal dining room may work well for you as a playroom or yoga studio, but home buyers want to envision their formal dinners there. You may not have a ton of storage and opt to use the living room as a storage locker but home buyers will not understand where to entertain. Home Staging makes sure that you are properly showing buyers the best purpose of each space in your home. Check out the transformations we made below:

This formal office was being used as a game room- great for the seller but not too appealing to the home buyer that needs a home office:

This home seller was using his master bedroom as a home office but it did not send the luxury retreat feel home buyers were looking for:

This home seller was using their dining room as a formal living room. But buyers were wondering where to have Thanksgiving dinner!

The family living in this home loved using the large living room to hang out and watch tv, but buyers needed to see a formal space they could use for entertaining:

This home had a ton of storage but you would never know by looking at this catch all space. We gave it a new purpose:

The area at the top of these stairs was vacant. A simple solution was to show buyers how they could use this area as a home office, freeing up a bedroom for sleeping:

This dining room was perfect for the kiddies, but did not make sense for home buyers wanting to actually eat in there!

You know you have been staging for a long time when you get a call from a client you helped years ago to stage their current home. I was elated to hear from 2 clients last month who I had helped 3 years ago and were moving again. Clearly these clients understood that home staging was an essential part of marketing and selling their homes.

I was equally surprised to get a call from a new client to stage their home. When they told me the address of the house something seemed all too familiar. When I pulled up to the house I instantly remembered- this was a home that I staged the first year I was in business! The family that had purchased the home was now moving and wanted to make sure this home looked its best. These clients were a joy to work with! They had already installed new windows and removed all the carpet.  They eagerly agreed to make some simple updates- new lighting in all the rooms, polish the hardwood floors, repaint and add new blinds. During our first meeting we discussed what type of buyer would most likely buy the home. Given the great neighborhood and schools I felt it would most likely be a young family. I recommended that the clients use their existing furniture and rent some pieces to give this home the young, trendy look first time home buyers would be looking for. Below are some photos of the transformation. I am thrilled that these clients were so open to staging- I will keep you posted on how quickly they get an offer!

As you may know I am a huge fan of MirrorMate Frames the amazing custom frame that can update a boring builder's grade mirror and give your bathroom a brand new look in just minutes. We recently staged the home of Kyle Korver, a professional basketball player for the Utah Jazz. When Kyle played for the 76'ers he purchased a home in the Philadelphia suburbs. When he made the move to Utah we were called in to help him prepare the home for sale.

The home looked beautiful and had a lot of custom upgrades and finishes but the bathrooms needed some finishing touches to give them the higher end look they deserved. Below are some before and after photos of three bathrooms we updated using MirrorMate Frames. What you did not see is that we also stained the bathroom cabinets a darker color to go with the more contemporary feel of his home (they were pickled wood and looked too country) and installed new scones in one of the baths. I am kicking myself for not having before-the-before photos but we were so busy getting the home ready for market that I forgot to take them!

If you have not used a MirrorMate Frame for one of your staging projects make sure to check out their huge selection of finishes and take advantage of their Summer sale- some frames are 40% off!

I just got off the phone with an ecstatic Realtor- her most recent property was listed on Sunday, got an offer on Monday, accepted the offer on Tuesday and got a back up offer Tuesday evening. The reason she is so thrilled is not only because this home sold so quickly but because the last home we staged for her also sold in less than a week!

This Realtor understands that in today's market staging a home is essential to getting a faster sale. She also knows that home staging does not have to be expensive. Often times all a client needs is a home staging consultation or a plan of how to best present their home for sale. Once I meet with a client to advise them on how to prepare their home for sale,  they can then complete their home staging home work- this can mean rearranging the furniture, decluttering, cleaning or adding items to accent the home. Once their staging work is complete the home can be listed and shown.

Below are our recent statistics for homes we have recently staged in the Main Line and Philadelphia region. If you are considering listing your home this Fall, I recommend that you begin to prepare your home for sale now so that it is ready to show. Visit our website www.hartstaging.com or contact us for our $tage and $ave plans for every home seller's budget.

Ardmore, Montgomery County PA: Home on the market 2 months, after staging consultation sells to second buyer to tour the property.

Ardmore, Montgomery County PA: Home listed on Sunday, sold the next day to first showing.

Ardmore, Montgomery County PA: Home sells after 3 days on the market.

"House was listed on Monday and sold on Thursday (Friday with counter offer agreed to). Also had another offer on Saturday and all thru the process lots of comments about "beautiful house  - very well presented"!.Thanks much for all your help"

Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County PA: Home on the market for 6 months. After consult and recommendation to remove wall paper sells to second buyer to see the home.

Devon, Chester County PA: Home sells after 1 week on the market with multiple offers!

Devon, Chester County PA: Home sells in less than 2 weeks on the market.

Haverford, Montgomery County PA: Home sells in less than 2 weeks on the market.

Havertown, Delaware County PA: Home sells in less than 2 weeks on the market.

Merion Station, Montgomery County PA: Home sells to first buyer to look at property (home seller spent 9 months getting home ready to sell and it was worth it!)

Narberth, Montgomery County PA: Home sells in less than 2 weeks on the market.

"The house is under contract, we signed on Monday night and the inspections were Thursday. I will let you know once the deal is completely done. I think your staging had a huge impact on the speed of the whole process,  and the final price. We cannot thank you enough, you are amazing, and I have learned so much about living in a tidier fashion which I really like."

Newtown Square, Delaware County PA:  3.6 million dollar home gets offer after 40 days on market and 10 showings!

Newtown Square, Delaware County PA: Home sells in less than one month with 3 other homes in the same development on the market!

Radnor, Delaware County PA: Contemporary home in traditional neighborhood sells in less than three weeks on market!

"We got an offer, with the buyers' first visit occurring about 2-2 1/2 weeks into the project. We've accepted, and closing will be around the 30th. Thanks so much for your guidance; I know it made a difference."

Wynnewood, Montgomery County PA: Home sells in one week after home staging consultation.

Kate Hart is an award winning home stager servicing clients in the Main Line and Philadelphia regions of Pennsylvania. Visit www.hartstaging.com to learn more about our services and our new Virtual Real Estate Staging Services^tm for every home seller's budget. For all other locations contact us at www.selecthomestagers.com to find an associate in your local area.

Lately it seems like we have been physically staging a lot of occupied or lived in homes- this means a lot of decluttering and packing up client belongings! Typically we do not do hands on staging for occupied homes, instead, we provide a home staging consultation and the client completes the plan that we recommend and then we come back for fine tuning or to add a few accent items.

For our most recent project in Villanova Pennsylvania we were asked to do the physical staging and rearrange the home seller's items to make the home presentable for sale. When I first visited the property to provide the client with an estimate I was surprised to see that he did not have much furniture at all to rearrange. I recommended that we use his items and treat his home like a vacant property and add furniture and accessories to show the best purpose for each space.

While I was there I also made some recommendations on things the client could do to make his home show even better such as remove the wall to wall carpeting that was covering the hardwood floors, remove the dated window treatments and repaint the walls to remove any wear and tear. As I was leaving he asked me if there was anything else he needed to do- Knowing budget was a concern, I casually made a comment that since his bathrooms and kitchen were dated that he needed to consider updating them to make his home more competitive. I showed him the unused space in the hallway between the kitchen and powder room and how the future home owner could expand the kitchen. A few phone calls and emails later we had a deal to stage the home.

When I arrived today I was shocked! The home was not the same home that I had seen a few weeks prior. The home seller had done all the things I recommended- he removed the carpet, polished the floors, removed the window treatments and repainted. But that was not the best part- he had remodeled the kitchen and even took down the wall to open up the space! I was shocked, excited and overjoyed- he had done his home staging homework!

Below are some before, during and after photos of this property. I am so impressed with his understanding of staging and that he needed to do something to make his home stand out in today's market. After we completed the staging he agreed to add a new refrigerator too to make the kitchen even more of a selling feature! See if you can spot how we used the home seller's things!

Still not convinced staging can help you to properly prepare your home for sale? Take a look at the pictures below of a home staging we did in Gladwyne Pennsylvania this week. If this does not convince you to stage your home I do not know what will! Staging can transform even the most "lived" in home into a showplace that appeals to the most potential buyers. Take this bachelor pad for example and consider what we are selling- how someone lives in their home or how buyers want to envision living in a home. Just looking at these pics makes me exhausted but amazed at what can be done in one day. I am also proud of the home seller for realizing that he needed to invest in staging to market his home. Pictures may be worth a thousand words but staging is worth thousands more for home!