We got advice from a stager and it seemed to work, as we sold the house very quickly (12 days) in the depth of the market. -- remove everything personal-photos, diplomas, whatever-- you want the buyer to envision their family, which may be very different from yours, in the space -- Pottery Barn is apparently the go-to source for colors and house fashion in the buying cohort. Doesn't matter if it's ugly, just go for it -- no one wants to fix anything, no matter how trivial, so either make sure everything in the house works or get rid of it (ie torn screen door--better to take it off than leave it there needing fixed) -- fresh paint (in Pottery Barn colors) works wonders. It also forces you to clean everywhere-- move every piece of furniture. The house can not be too clean. -- refinish the floors if they are bad. Doesn't need to be a good job, it just needs to look like it doesn't need work (no one wants to fix (or paint, or refinish) anything! -- move about 2/3 of your furniture out to a remote location. empty the garage and empty the basement completely -- empty 80% of the stuff out of your cabinets and closets and put it in storage. Yes people will look inside all of them. You want to make them look big and uncrowded. -- we replaced brass cabinet knobs with brushed nickel and brass light fixtures with brushed nickel or oiled bronze. The cheap nasty ones from the Borg will do just fine. Brass is out, out, out. -- plant some pansies and mulch everything in the yard. Get rid of brush piles, rotten fences, old playground equipment, anything that looks like it might involve work to deal with. -- depending on your price level, replace the kitchen appliances with stainless. Again, they can be cheap and nasty as long as they look new and shiny. -- put new big fluffy white towels in the bathroom and new fluffy rugs on the floor. Store them between showings so that they always look new. Make the bathroom look as spa-like as possible. -- turn on every light every time you show the house Did I mention that no one wants to fix anything?

Both places I bought were empty. One was a sponsor apartment that had been rented out in NYC. When I was looking then whenever possible I asked for a floor plan and would decide if I even wanted to see it based on floor plan. I tend to think of myself as practical and I am right handed (so left brain) so maybe there is something to the personality idea. As for my house, I first saw it with furniture and that is how I remember it. We refused to bid as much as they wanted and walked. Several months later the relo company bought it and it was empty and we bought it from them. Although I remember the POs drapes (very nice but were not left!) but I remember not being impressed with her cabinets in the living room and I do remember how much I liked it empty (although it tends to look a little too long that way) To be honest i would rather have an empty room than a card table unless it was nice one. I do agree about small bedrooms, we have a small one and it is amazing what you can fit in there, at one point we had a Twin bed, Two cribs, a changing table and Two dressers and the room is 10 x 14. When I go to sell I will move the cribs to opposite walls (they like being on the same wall now) to make the room look wider

LOL, ZAMSX is right. That goes for everybody living in the house. It is a pain to live staged. I used to spray the closets with Fabreeze "Linen & Sky", pour Pine Sol down the bathroom drains, and mop all the way out the door for every showing. Yup, certifiable. LMAO today. When we were selling a staged house my DH kept asking: When am I going to have my stuff back?!!! I'd say: Soon Dear. As soon as we sell. Soon. LOL Silicon Valley. Wow. I'm in NE. Two different worlds. How's your market? MB- Euro shams would be nice, and 2 regular, with the purple one popping the finished look. -Do you have a couple of white or light slipcovered Parson's chairs for the FP area? Borrow them. Any small chair slipcovered for warmth(Target has slipcovers) will work. Kitchen- Stand the 3 paintings (12x14 or so)leaning against the backsplash wall, vertically , but not completely straight. If you have lights shining on them from lights under the cabs would be nice. The reason I mentioned BM Silkien Pine in the kitchen is because its considered a neutral green. Some buyers are sensitive to green, some are sensitive to blue. You can't win. A couple of light rooms with pale grey/blue, or pale grey/green are fine. The rest should be in the off-white/ cream/beige family. You shouldn't have a problem finding paint to go with Ivoire. Any BM Neutral Whites will work. BTW- I read where you're considering making one of your sons' bedrooms into an office. Don't do it. Leave it as a bedroom. One den downstairs is enough.

I also feel I'm completely good with staging my home myself. I think I'll be good in staging other homes too. I won't probably be good in creating the real design from scratch, with renderings and all; but I'm good with styling. So I guess I kinda feel my authority is threatened)))) Luckily I have a few weeks to talk myself into being cool with it. This stager however brings only accessories as I understood..but I don't need any accessories, my home is full with accessories:) Of course it's probably wise to pack the best and most favorite ones, as I have lots of ceramics that's dear to my heart-and also breakable. But even after packing them all, I'll have plenty left. The agent reassured me the stager will work with us around our stuff..maybe she'll decide whatever I have is more than enough. Maybe she'll tweak here and there. I'd rather her bring furniture, as we want to move custom shelving to our new place first. And it will create a lot of empty space. But that's probably too expensive. The agent also mentioned she'll bring towels for us..now that sounds kinda cool)) Since I highly prefer this company: http://www.frescotowels.com/showcase/gallery Probably not everyone's cup of tea.. Even though it is still beyond me what difference does it make. When we bought this current place it was full of personal artwork. And furnishings I didn't care for. We put an offer within an hour. Didn't bother me at all..I don't get why things suddenly need to become generic when you're about to sell.