Home staging doesn’t need to be a costly, complicated affair.

Sure, you could go all out and buy new furniture, hire a staging professional, and so on. But if you’re willing to roll up your sleeves, it can actually be a fun and relatively inexpensive project.

Viewings typically last around 5-10 minutes. In that short timeframe, making a good first impression is vital – buyers decide within seconds whether they’re interested in a property.

That’s why we’ve compiled this home staging resource to help your home sell faster.

Also skeptical if home styling or staging can really affect your home sale? We have success stories to make you believe it- we sold this property within 3 days!

We’ve sorted these home staging tips by room and priority levels, beginning with the living room, kitchen, bedrooms, and dining room as the most important. Check out the list here:

159 Home Staging Tips:

Living Room
- Large or Open-Concept Living Rooms
- Small Living Rooms
Kitchen
Bedrooms
Dining Room
Bathrooms
Front / Entrance
Basement / Attic
Balcony
Artwork and Wall Hangings
Throughout the House
Bonus Tips

Living Room

Do your research and know the kind of buyers who will be looking at your home. For example, if you live in a hipster area known for its artisan cafes, decorate with a millennial audience in mind. Or for properties with many bedrooms, it makes sense that buyers might have children – so stage accordingly.
Marie Kondo your home. You want your place to be as clutter-free as possible for the staging. Use platforms like Carousell and Craigslist to sell or give away stuff that’s in decent condition, then put the proceeds into your deep cleaning / storage rental budget. You’d be surprised at how much money you might fetch from the random knickknacks that have been sitting around for years!
Rearrange your furniture to ensure there’s a clear walking path. You don’t want prospective buyers to be bumping into anything during the viewings.
Rent a self-storage unit. This will typically cost $30-$300 depending on your area and the amount of stuff you have. This is where you’ll put the items or furniture you want to keep.
Make sure you can see 30-40% of the floor if there aren’t any rugs. This has to do with our spatial perception: the less of the floor buyers can see, the smaller the room feels. At the same time, leaving the room too bare can make it hard for buyers to visualise making a life there, so you want to strike a fine balance.
Rearrange furniture symmetrically. This works particularly well for living rooms. But if you’ve got a large room to work with, you can use asymmetric furniture configurations to divvy up the functional space.

Image Credit: Akin Design Studio

Accentuate your home’s positive qualities by creating focal points. If you’ve got a large window with lots of natural light for example, place a large piece of furniture (like the sofa) directly opposite or perpendicular to it. This draws viewers’ eyes to the area.
Get rid of (or store) oversized furniture. Unless you have a very large space, these make your home feel cramped.
Avoid oversized artwork or wall hangings for the same reason.
Remove personal items: portraits, memorabilia, trophies, shoes, jackets, customized cushion covers, sports paraphernalia, and so on. You want to minimize any signs that people live there. This might feel awkward if you still do, but removing as many of your personal effects as possible helps buyers better connect with the space.
Remove “eye clutter” – i.e. furniture or other items you want to keep but which may not be stage-worthy. Every day, move a few of these pieces to your PODS containers or transfer them to your storage facility. Just don’t remove the container until your home has been completely staged.
Remove any storage units that don’t come with the house.
Remove any kids toys – or organise them neatly into decorative baskets like Chelsea from Two Twenty One did.
Remove any non-neutral items like religious or cultural items, taxidermy, provocative artwork, ashtrays, decorative weapons, and leftover festive items.

Image Credit: Style Curator

If you have bookshelves, remove 25% of your books, then rearrange them so some are vertical and others are horizontal. This lightens your bookshelves while also adding a bit of personality to the room.
Use open shelves to add depth and create more storage in the room without blocking walls or windows.
Organise the insides of your cupboards, cabinets, hallway closets, and storerooms. Buyers will open the doors to look inside.
Keep the back of your furniture away from walls – this can give off a cramped vibe. Move them away from the walls (at least an inch or two) or tilt them at an angle instead.

Image Credit: Nathan Fertig

Replace your heavy curtains or layer them with sheer curtains so as to let in more natural light. Simple, breezy window coverings create a feeling of openness and make the space appear visually larger.
If you’ve got grilles on your windows, remove or push them aside. This lets in more light (and prevents your house from giving off a prison-like feel).
If you’ve got a good view – don’t block it with furniture! Instead, create a focal point to draw visual attention to it.
If you haven’t got much of a view, steer attention away from that. Draw attention to something else in the room instead – a comfortable lounge area for example.
Add a few complementary-coloured throw pillows to the couch, or create layers with sofa throws/linens. If you’ve got a dark sofa, use light-coloured cushions and throws to create contrast and brighten up the look.
Lay a carpet beneath your sofa. Make sure it’s big enough that the front legs of your couch can rest on it. The carpet textures and colours you select should be in contrast to your sofa. For example, if your sofa is colourful, select a solid, neutral colour for the rug.
Fill up the empty wall behind your sofa. Prints, frames (depersonalised ones of course), mirrors, or even a console table would work.

Image Credit: Vinicius Amano

Juxtapose a classy-looking floor lamp next to the couch. Not only does this brighten up the room, but it also serves to accentuate your perfectly-styled sofa.
Change out your coffee table. You might even want to use a unique-looking table (like a wooden stump) to create focal points.
Use a table runner to style the coffee table.
Add a tray to keep remotes and other small items organised.
Set the scene by putting out a chess set or a tray with a bottle of wine and glasses. This helps buyers imagine what it’d be like to live in the place.
Add some life to the room with fresh flowers or potted plants. These should be long-lasting and have no strong odours (alstroemeria for instance) so as to avoid triggering pollen allergies.
Introduce pleasant scents with reed diffusers / lightly-scented candles, but make sure they aren’t overpowering. We wouldn’t recommend baking cookies here – some buyers may wonder what you’re trying to cover up!
Deodorise your rugs and fabrics. Steam clean your carpets.
If you’ve got any furry friends – eliminate all traces of them. Defur, get rid of any pet stains, and definitely make sure the kitty litter (or otherwise) is nowhere in sight or smell. Scrub rugs and fabrics until unwelcome blotches are completely gone, or replace the textiles if necessary. The last thing you want is to trigger any animal allergies in your buyers.
Open up wall space – you want at least 20-30% of the wall visible. Having furniture lined up from one end of the wall to the other makes the room appear smaller. For example, if you have a bookshelf, a sofa, an end table, and some artwork along one wall, remove the bookshelves and keep only a couple choice pieces of artwork.
Fill in any nicks or holes in the walls with putty, then touch up the place with a fresh coat of paint.

Image Credit: iCanvas

If you’ve got low ceilings, you’ll want to make them appear higher. To do this, you could use vertically-aligned artwork hung on the low side based on the view from a seated position in the room. Furniture should be on the shorter side as well, so no tall canopy beds.
Hang curtain rods closer to the ceiling and get floor-to-ceiling curtains. This makes ceilings appear higher.
Conversely, emphasize your high ceilings if you’ve got them. Instead of hanging artwork on the low side, picture where they should be at eye-level in a standing position – then hang them 6 inches higher. Put up brightly-coloured artwork to give buyers a reason to look up and notice your high ceilings. (Many buyers won’t notice otherwise.)
Open up the windows to let in as much natural light as possible during viewings. This creates a feeling of openness – and therefore spaciousness.
Use natural elements (like plants) or lighter-coloured paints & furniture to brighten up the room. Furniture or accessories with reflective surfaces can also help here. Place these below or next to light sources to maximize the bounce of light rays.
Update the lighting. You might even want to consider an eye-catching chandelier or hanging light fixture to create visual interest.
Repaint rooms in light, neutral colours – something that’ll appeal to the mass market. Unless you’ve got a professional interior designer advising you on how to colour-coordinate your walls with the furniture, we wouldn’t recommend going for something bold like a lime green accent wall. You can use different shades of the same neutral colour for a bit of variety, but using a single colour throughout a room can make the space feel larger.

Image Credit: Francesca Tosolini

Choose paint colours that will complement your floors. For example, if you’ve got a lovely oak flooring, a lighter paint colour would stand in sharp contrast and bring out the rich hues.
Consider buying or renting “stage-worthy” furniture that will brighten up your place and accentuate its best qualities. For instance, lighter-coloured furniture help with light reflection and therefore brighten up the room. But don’t go overboard with this: you only need a few key pieces to stage a home well.
Scrub down the fireplace if you’ve got one. Replace the screen and do away with any soot stains.
If the above fireplace would make a good talking point for viewers, you might even consider making it the focal point of the room. Add a few choice accessories and good-looking birch logs, hang a piece of artwork or a mirror over the mantle, then finish off the look with accessories on both sides.

STAGING LARGE OR OPEN-CONCEPT ROOMS

Image Credit: Sharath Babu

Designate zones and divvy up the functional areas of the room. For example, you might have a conversation space, a reading space, a game table, and maybe a game console area.
Use colour coding, geometric shapes, visual layers (e.g. a raised or sunken floor, false ceilings), or distinct lighting zones to differentiate these functional areas. Group furniture accordingly as well.
Use a few large pieces of furniture as visual anchors rather than many small pieces, as the latter will make the room feel cluttered. Smaller pieces can then be positioned as accents as needed.
Go for the luxe effect by using an extra-large rug. The entire sofa-and-two-chairs setup should be able to rest easily on it.
Choose a colour palette and commit to it fully. Having too many colours in the same room, however large the room may be, can make it feel disorganised.

STAGING SMALL LIVING ROOMS

Use one or two larger pieces of furniture as a visual anchor for the room. Contrary to popular belief, having only small pieces of furniture when staging a small room merely emphasises the size of the room. It’d be better to invest in a versatile, regular-sized piece of furniture that serves multiple functions (e.g. an ottoman that can be used as a coffee table or extra seating). You can then use the smaller pieces to complement it.
Select pieces of furniture that don’t take up visual space – like chairs in a colour that blends in with the wall paint, or glass coffee tables and clear acrylic chairs that people can see through.

KITCHEN

Eat out on days with home viewings – you don’t want food odours lingering in your house. Your family may rave over the chicken tikka masala recipe you recently perfected, but the smell of spices and oils won’t do you any favours when you’re selling your property.
Similarly, don’t leave any dirty dishes in the dishwasher or sink.
Clean up any dirt and grime from your kitchen cabinets, drawers, walls, and backsplashes. Pay particular attention to the area under the sink and inside your cabinets. Go over any scuff marks on the wall with a melamine eraser sponge.
Polish the stove until it shines, free of any watermarks or stains. Clean (or replace) dirty drip pans. Take off the stove knobs and clean them.
Clean out and tidy up your pantry. Leave 20-30% of it empty to give the appearance of spaciousness.
Use decorative baskets and jars of the same size & shape to store small-ish food items. Jars and bottles that are of different sizes demand visual attention and appear messy. Just beware of having too many of these – you still want a relatively uncluttered look.
Clean and tidy up your drawers. Use smaller containers or organisers to sort everything neatly.

Image Credit: Christian Mackie

Add a backsplash to the kitchen. If you’d rather not go with a tile backsplash, there are a number of alternatives: vinyl, faux brick, beadboard, and even laminate.
Replace kitchen fixtures like taps, sinks, and so on with more modern stainless steel pieces.
Remove all cleaning products and sponges from the sink area – unless you’ve got pristine, stage-worthy bottles for your detergents.
If your fridge is empty, wipe the inside down and make sure there aren’t any lingering odors. If it’s still stocked, organise the contents.
Remove your magnets and all the notes tacked to the fridge. Polish the door and handles until they shine.
Remove any food items (cereal boxes, onions, garlic, etc.) and appliances from kitchen counters. The counters should be as uncluttered as possible save for perhaps a cookbook and a few decorative items.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Arrange your spices in alphabetical order. Turn all your coffee cup handles the same direction (if you’re displaying them). Buyers will notice these little details and assume you’re just as meticulous with the rest of the house.
Change out kitchen cabinet doors and handles, especially if they’re dated or faulty. This is cheap & easy to do without completely overhauling the kitchen. You can even freshen up the look by painting your kitchen cabinets a warm off-white colour, or use laminate as a cheaper and hardier alternative to replacing all the wood. Laminate cabinets work particularly well for humid climates, where their traditional wood counterparts are prone to swelling or termite problems.
Clear out all the dishes except for a single attractive matching set. Likewise, minimise all of your glassware, cookware, and miscellaneous kitchen items down to just the essentials. Buyers will likely open the drawers and cabinets, and you don’t want them to be turned off by the clutter that’s likely to have accumulated over the years.
If you’ve got a dining area in your kitchen, use a smaller table to make the space appear larger. Set the table with the matching set of dishes and cutlery you kept.
Clean or refresh your tile grout. If the grout is old and impossible to clean, you can buy a bottle of Grout Refresh for $15 and apply it on your own. Or if you’ve got enough depth to do so, you can simply put new grout on top of the old grout.
Make sure your windows aren’t blocked. You want as much natural light to come in as possible.
Make sure your garbage bins are always emptied and out of sight.

BEDROOMS

Choose appropriately-sized mattresses for the room. Many rooms have a king-sized bed, for example, but this will only make a small-ish bedroom feel even smaller. Whichever size you choose, you should have enough room to fit a bedside table on each side.
If you’re reluctant to buy a new mattress just for staging, air mattresses or camping mattresses are an inexpensive alternative. You can typically get these for under $50 each. It’d also be a good idea to indicate the size of the mattress so that buyers can gauge how feasible it is to put a bigger (or smaller) bed in.
Invest in quality bedlinens. Think “luxurious hotel room” – you want the sheets and comforter to look plump, fresh, and inviting.
If you don’t already have one, get a headboard. The bed is the focal point of the room, so go all out in dressing it up.
Create layers and use textures to add a bit of personality to the room. Adding a few throw pillows and a bedspread would do the trick here.
Pare down furnishings and accessories. This is especially important if you’ve got a home with mismatched furniture or an abundance of child-friendly décor (and understandably so for most first-time sellers).
Clear all items from the floors and tabletops. There shouldn’t be any clutter in the room, period.

Image Credit: Burst

Add lamps to your bedside tables to soften the look.
Empty (or minimize) your wardrobes. Pack up and store your extra clothing somewhere else – keep at least 20-30% of your closet empty to appeal to a sense of spaciousness.
Replace the random assortment of mismatched hangers in your wardrobe for a set of wooden ones to create a classy look.
Move all jewelry and other valuables to a safe spot.
Remove televisions, stereo systems, or video game consoles from bedrooms. You want bedrooms to be depersonalised and feel like a sanctuary to guests.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Add a full-length mirror along one wall to reflect more light and create the appearance of spaciousness. If you’re concerned about the cost, a small collage of mirrors will also do.
Paint the room in a calming, neutral colour if it isn’t already. Pick a paint with an eggshell finish so the walls will reflect more natural light.
Be careful about “gendering” rooms – a family with two young boys might not be able to imagine putting them in a room with frilly pink linens. Likewise, a master bedroom should appeal to both sexes.
If you’ve turned a spare bedroom into a storeroom for old junk, clear the room of all clutter. Transform it into a home office, kids room, or guest bedroom so it won’t feel like a waste of space to potential homebuyers.

STAGING SMALL ROOMS

Get rid of non-essential furniture like vanities and large dressers.
If you’ve got a small bedroom, stage two single beds on the outside walls with a little nightstand in between. Beds give us a sense of relative perspective, so having two of them makes the room appear more spacious than if it were simply empty. It’s also easier for buyers to imagine going from two beds to one instead of vice versa.

DINING ROOM

Use centrepieces to create focal points, particularly with large pieces of furniture like dining tables. A large, bare dining table can look cold and uninviting, so you’ll want to style it with visitors in mind. For example, put a bowl of fresh fruit in the middle to create a feeling of warmth, or set the table as if guests were coming over.
Clean thoroughly and declutter. This is true for every room, but bears repeating because of how important it is. A few stray crumbs and a ketchup stain here and there may not be a big deal when it’s just you and your family, but it won’t pass muster with prospective buyers.
As with the living room, update the lighting if necessary.
Centre the dining table on the area rug. Alternatively, for open-concept or longer rooms, position it underneath the ceiling light or chandelier.
If the room is oblong, you may need to put something of equal weight on the other end of the room for visual balance.
Don’t use more than four dining chairs unless you have a huge dining room. You’ll also want to maximise walking space around the table, so push those chairs in if there isn’t a lot of room.
Replace soiled or dated fabric cushions on the chairs as needed.
Position a large mirror on one wall to create the illusion of an extending room. This is especially important if your dining room is on the small-ish side and/or lacks natural light.

BATHROOMS

Reglaze the tub if needed. It will cost you a fraction of what it’d take to replace it with an entirely new one. For around $200-$650, you can remedy a problem that buyers expect will cost them thousands.
Remove any personal items such as prescriptions and contact lens solutions from your bathroom cabinet.
Clean grime, soap scum, and mineral buildup off shower doors. A simple combination of baking soda, white vinegar, and salt will typically take care of many problems here.
Deodorise and declog drains. Baking soda, vinegar, and boiling (or hot) water will often do the trick.
Minimise the toiletries. Less is more!

Image Credit: Pixabay

Use only perfect personal accents. Especially in the bathroom, anything left out should be pristine and reminiscent of a luxurious spa. For instance, fluffy white towels can work as an attractive accent, but those old, threadbare towels you’ve had for decades should be hidden away. Bars of soap should be fresh and clean, bins always emptied, and so on – you get the idea.
Add a splash of green with potted plants, air plants, or succulents.
Add a plush rug next to the bathtub or shower…
…and a few fluffy folded towels too!
As with the kitchen, replace dated knobs, handles, and cabinet doors in your bathroom.
If you’ve got a large cabinet-style sink in a small bathroom, consider swapping it out for a pedestal sink to maximise space.
Fix leaky or dripping taps.
Replace/repair broken and cracked tiles if any.
The same goes for chipped mirrors. The devil is in the details.
Scrub clean – or refresh – the grout. If your grout is white, a bit of bleach and a toothbrush might do the trick. But if your grout is too old, you may have to redo it entirely.
Renew old caulking, particularly if you notice any leakage or mold.

FRONT / ENTRANCE

Take a look around at your neighbours’ houses: does your entrance stand out compared to theirs? If not, consider tidying and touching it up so that it immediately catches people’s eyes. The entrance is the first and the last impression people will have of your property, so you want it to be memorable.
Touch up your gate / door numbers.
Look over your mailbox and touch it up with a fresh coat of paint if needed. It should look clean and inviting.
Boost curb appeal. Mow lawns, tidy & clean up walkways, wash front windows, and repaint gates/porches.
If you have a garden or front lawn, you might even want to consider illuminating the path up with solar lights if you’ll be showing the house in the evenings.
Polish your door knobs ‘til they shine.
Put down a welcome doormat and potted plants in bloom – maybe even one or two pieces of porch furniture if you have room for it.
Put umbrellas neatly into a stand if you have any around. But you’re still trying to minimise clutter, so it’d be best not to have too many of these!

BASEMENTS AND ATTICS

Finish the basement (if you have one). This is one of the easiest ways to add square footage to the house, but is a step typically missed out by many sellers. If it’s unfinished, it doesn’t count toward the overall square footage.
Declutter. Many multi-storey homes have basements or attics that have sadly become storage areas for all of our old stuff over the years.
Style the place so it invites people to linger rather than becoming an immediate turn-off. For example, you can turn it into a reading room by adding one or two comfy chairs, a reading lamp, a small coffee table, and perhaps a small rug.

BALCONY

Choose pieces of furniture that are visually lightweight, like wrought-iron chairs and tables with a slender build. Bulky furniture will make the balcony appear smaller and more cluttered. The most popular combination for a balcony is a small outdoor table and two chairs (or a bench). With a bit of configuring, you’ll have a cosy dining or lounging area that looks inviting to visitors.
Hang green or flowering potted plants from the corners. This will infuse a bit of life into the space while not taking up any space. You can also wall-mount planters, clip them to the railing, or simply arrange them neatly along the edges.
Put up a set of outdoor roller blinds or curtains. This gives the balcony a bit of privacy and shade.
Add candle lanterns or string lights for a touch of whimsy. There are even solar-powered ones available in a variety of styles, so you can keep your balcony lit up all night with the power of the sun.
Clean the balcony before every viewing – the outdoor element can get pretty grimy in a flash, and you want prospective buyers to have the best possible impression.

ARTWORK AND WALL HANGINGS

Avoid obviously cheap, mass-market artwork that looks like it might belong to a budget hotel. Choose tasteful pieces that complement the décor of each room.
Use artwork with pleasing geometric shapes, natural landscape paintings, or abstract/modern wall décor.
In general, make sure the centre of these pieces are hung at eye level. The exceptions are if you have high ceilings or you’re hanging the pieces behind a sofa / dining table (in which case they should be hung higher as well).
Match sizes of wall décor to the size of the wall. Position small pieces behind small to mid-sized furniture or walls with less surface area. Big pieces are appropriate on larger plain walls.
Use artwork with similar styles, geometric shapes, colours, and subjects.

Image Credit: Pixabay

If the artwork styles are more varied, use similar frames to give off a more coordinated feel.
Arrange wall décor pieces by symmetry or asymmetry. The former makes your space feel visually larger, but also more boring. The latter mixes things up a bit and adds visual interest to the room.

THROUGHOUT THE HOUSE

Keep virtual staging in mind: your first viewings are online, after all. Better to have 1 professional-grade photo than 10 bad ones.
Use the rule of three to group objects: a set of three candles or perhaps three different-sized vases for example.
Consider hiring a professional photographer. These guys won’t just check for the best lighting and snap the home as-is (as most of us will). They’ll actually move stuff around to find the best focal points, lighting, composition, and so on.
Do a deep cleaning and make sure everything is sparkling. you may even want to consider a professional crew for this, as the level of cleaning you’ll need to do extends beyond your typical “spring cleaning.” You want prospective buyers to feel like the house was extremely well taken care of – nothing turns us off like having to clean up somebody else’s grime (our own grime, oddly, is infinitely more acceptable)
Hide all the cleaning items once you’re done. You don’t want buyers to think about the mundane, grittier aspects of day-to-day life. For example, take down the detergent from the laundry area.
Brighten up dark corners or hallways with decorative mirrors.
Identify and fix cracks, peeling paint, and seepage in walls.
Be consistent with the theme of your home. Each room should feel like it’s well connected to the next rather than being an entity of its own.
Update your power outlets. They’re cheap (under $10) and easy to do yourself with the help of YouTube and a few tools.
Refinish parquet/hardwood floors and polish marble floors. Worn and scratched-up floors look dingy and leave a poor impression in buyers’ minds: they’ll wonder what else has been neglected.
If you’ve got concrete or old linoleum flooring, using vinyl flooring is an inexpensive way to update the look. You can even do it yourself if you’re a hands-on type. Just be sure that the underlying surface is clean, smooth, and dry before you lay the vinyl.
Remove dated or garish wallpaper. That said, wallpaper removal can cost anywhere from $200 to $1,600 depending on your area and the size of the room, so it’s sometimes cheaper just to wallpaper over it rather than remove it and then repaint.
Alternatively, MoneyCrashers suggests staging the room with a select few solid-coloured accessories to play down the pattern. This is provided the paper is limited to a bathroom or perhaps the kids’ rooms, however. You might even want to play with a “vintage” look here.
If it’s a large and important room that’s been wallpapered, you can paper right over it with an inexpensive, solid-colour texture. Just be sure to sand down any bumps or imperfections, and then prime it to reduce show-through. (Don’t paper vinyl over vinyl though – this traps moisture and breeds mildew.)

BONUS STAGING TIPS

Stage vignettes – or little scenes – throughout your home. As home staging expert Marissa Runkle advises, “stage these scenes around a light source, use a variety of textures, and include a vibrant pop of colour or accents at each scene.”
Transform unused nooks into a “lifestyle space.” These awkward corners are common at staircase landings or the edges of irregularly-shaped rooms. For example, if you positioned a small table there with a lamp / potted plant and maybe a small chair, it would transform it into an inviting space. Instead of trying to hide them away, get creative!
If your home or building complex has limited parking, avoid open houses as this will emphasize the lack of parking.
Similarly, if your property is on the small-ish side, you’ll want to avoid open houses so as not to have too many people in the rooms simultaneously (which makes the place look more cramped than usual).
Print out a fact sheet for your home – floor area, orientation, dimensions of each room, which walls/beams/arches are structural supports and cannot be torn down, nearby schools, childcare centres, clinics, and markets. You can even include details like the updates done to the house over the years, or the paint colours used for each room.
More is not always better – stage rooms with a single theme in mind. A bedroom with workout equipment and a lounging area might not work so well for buyers who simply want a place to relax after a long day.
Clean your home before each viewing. You might even want to go the extra mile and take care of details like polishing the kitchen sink or washing your windows before any prospective buyers come over.