$3500. wow. My realtor suggested someone. she walked through the house with me for about an hour or so. gave me suggestions from a fresh eye. we had a pod and had been decluttering. it cost e $125. funny enough, when I got a contract on my house and starting looking, I was looking at a lot of houses. the one I fell in love with - she helped them too!

Yes, I think organizing the linen closets, utility closets, is a very good idea.

I generally keep my personal beauty products (lotions, sprays, make-up, etc) to the bare essentials. I remember the last house-hunting we did about 10 years ago, I was shocked at all the clutter in the master bathroom. Clean that stuff out! I don't want to know what body lotion and foot scrubs and nail polish removers you use.

oh and if you look on the buying and selling homes forum there are lists of what to do.

Basically we - did an maintenance that was needed and things we would do for the spring anyway like, powerwashed the house, got the windows cleaned in and out. and the roof cleaned. did some touch up painting outside, had the beds mulched and weeded, took off our storm door which had seen better days, replaced our shutters (cheap ones from home depot, they just needed to be replaced) put any rooms that were used for an odd purpose back to the "normal" purpose. decluttered massively (got a head start on packing and put stuff in a POD) , had a deep clean, painted a room taht was a strange color to many, Were accommodating of all showings. ( the person that offered asked at 1pm for a 7pm showing. :P they were there till 8:30 our kids were tired. but whatever!

what you need to do to the house you are working on will depend on the house. pics might help, here or on the buying/selling forum.

Thanks!

On the stagers' quotes, I was talking about people that come in and do absolutely everything - the house is empty and they stage the whole thing. Her realtor gave her some general staging advice. But the full-service people charge a lot.

A staged house with stuff in the cabinets and drawers would be a red flag for me if I was a buyer. I would want to see inside the hidden spaces to look for possible problems.

eta: if someone is still living there, yes the cabinets need to be organized. And clean. And with fresh paint that brightens the area.

Most important is that it looks clean...no one wants to buy someone else's dirt...and uncluttered...you don't want to give the impression that there's no storage space.

I remember someone once suggested that the seller keep all their bathroom items (add the wet washcloths and used towels on top at the last moment) in a basket that they could place in their car when someone was viewing the house. That's an easy way to keep the bathroom looking extra tidy.

Just remember what you spend MAY make this house stand out/be remembered but it will get her no more money. I too wonder at the need for closets/drawers that looked staged not LIVED WITH. But given the world we lived in it is not difficult to imagine a buyer who wants "brand new" even though they only have money for "old and loved". Bottom line you and your two friends will have a blast doing this so enjoy THAT and if it results in a quick sale BONUS!! A basket for kitchen necessities that are clutter to others as well as bathroom/vanity items is a good thing. Easy way to stash it all temporarily in her car. My mom was duped by my dad and the realtor. Came to take the on line pictures w/o notice--and they show!! And then the day the house went on the market with no warning he knocked and brought people through. The house was not prepped for a showing yet!! They got 5 offers that first day. Bottom line good bones and the right price sells houses. Even when you leave your work out socks draped over your tennies on the bottom step, or your toothbrushes are on top of the vanity in the bathroom, or you have five appliances out on the little or no counter-tops!! AND FYI there was a bidding war..most offers were over their asking price.

"why would I open somebody else's drawer?"

These are probably drawers that are part of the house--kitchen drawers, drawers in the bathroom vanity.

If you want ideas for staging the insides of cabinets and drawers, check out Pinterest and Apartment Therapy.

Also, ever since watching that program on drug addicts, be sure to put away any Rx drugs out of sight and out of reach. On the show, this one woman went to all these open houses just to get to the bathroom to steal their oxy Rx's.

I would definitely open the kitchen drawers I would want to know whether they were Bluhm slides or some old wooden thing that's just going to be a pain. Similarly I open closets because sometimes what looks like a normal depth closet is only 6 inches deep. When I open the closet and find that it is so tightly packed that you can't see what the depth is it's a problem.

xarcady, thank you:) I'm okay in organizing:)

I've always staged my own homes also, and while having cabs/closets organized, I don't feel staging them would have anything to do with selling a home. Get rid of the majority of boxes/bottles, especially if they're almost empty. People expect to see certain things in certain cabinets, and that includes the cab under the sink, as well as bathroom cabs. Closets may have more to do with selling a home for sure. If there are kids, having things stored in bins/baskets as well as hanging shoe bags(for those teeny tiny things)will help keep things off the floor, and the bins are usually stackable. Narrow bins which go UNDER beds is another great idea. If there are hanging clothes, have them hung neatly, not falling off hangers. I'm a nut about my own MB closet, and guess it does look sort of staged, but it's just me being anal. I have my clothing color co-ordinated, as well as warmer clothing separated from cooler clothing. Shoes are on stacked shoe racks, and canvas baskets are on the top shelf for odds/ends, such as handbags, scarves, etc. I don't have a dresser/chest of drawers in the bedroom, but have two mirrored dressers in the closet giving it a sort of dressing room look. Also a full length mirror. Well organized closets also give a good idea about the size, and also make a home look more taken care of. People like that. ;)

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.

As for the drawers..I'm as curious as all the other people out there, and I deeply love homes as a concept. So I've been to many, and as a buyer too. A discerning buyer))) And I bought four homes in my life, by now. But unless the house is empty-no, I won't open any drawers. Especially in the bathroom.

If I'm looking into bathroom cabinets, it's because I want to see what the bottom of cabinets and drawers look like - not how cute they are - looking for leak stains and damage.

Keep the essentials in a basket and take it with you.

We sold the house empty, freshly painted and scoured totally clean ... no attempt at staging ... and the general reaction of lookers was positive.

There are videos and tutorials which are very helpful. I have done all of my houses and all sold with in a week. My realtor gave me some books and videos to learn from. Try you tube and Google.

Thanks Lily's Mom,

I agree about the line of demarcation that you have described. We are assuming that people will open the spaces that they are buying, so we want these spaces to be totally clean and organized. The reason I use the word "staging" is because they will look better than an ordinary day in a busy house with kids.