Interior Design Ideas

Staging Your Home For Sale

April 18, 2026

Assuming your house is clean, smelling fresh, brightly lit, and offering views out of sparkling freshly washed windows, it’s time to consider whether your furnishings are supporting the mission-to get someone else to imagine that your house is theirs. Once you list your property it becomes a product, and ideally it is barely furnished. The role of the furniture is to control the way the property will be viewed. Rooms look largest when the sight line runs diagonally. So for example, if the first view of the living room, is across to the fireplace, place a chair or large plant to the side of the fireplace to direct the view there. If there is a small bedroom, the bed should be pushed against the far corner opposite the entry door. If an area is disproportionately long and narrow, place a mirror on the long wall to reflect across and widen the room. If you have a wonderful deck or patio, place something colorful (bright chair cushion, or planter) at the perimeter to pull the buyer’s attention there. With each of these long diagonal views, the visitor is subconsciously measuring the space, and you want that measurement to be as large as possible.

Lit alcove beyond the dining table.

Photo by Montecito Home Staging

Visitors should be able to walk easily past your furniture without concern that they will bang or scrape it. This may mean taking the buffet out of a narrow dining room, or leaving simply a sofa and single lounge chair in a living room. Take down your trophy wall because buyers will be drawn in to the intrigue of photos and plaques which show who you know and what you do, and become distracted from your “mission”. Sheers, draperies and blinds should clear the windows to give an unobstructed view, and they should not cover door handles or light switches.

What to do about colorful decorating schemes? Throughout the years, I have seen few, recently decorated listings where currently fashionable colors flow naturally from one room to the next, and with a professional quality paint job which does not appear to need a touch up. If this describes your listing, then your decorating might help sell the property. Not every buyer will be interested in your property, so focus on the profile of your most likely prospect. Hint: That person or couple is probably a lot like you were when you chose the property, and they are buying for the same features that attracted you. So put yourself in their shoes, and imagine where they shop, what they read, and how their peer group is decorating. If your color scheme does not fit for this imaginary buyer, get out the shell white, and start painting.

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Lastly, plan for photos of your property on the Internet. In fact, look at photos of listings on websites, like Realtor.com. In my experience, buyers click through the photos until they find one which gives them a reason to disqualify the property, then click, they’re on to the next one. Those photos should be a harsh reminder, that limited furnishings and off white walls are probably less offending than overly decorated rooms. Use the photos to showcase architectural features of the property, rather than the furnishings.

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