13 Home-Staging Secrets

Highlight your home's strengths, downplay its weaknesses and appeal to the greatest possible pool of prospective buyers — or simply your inner designer — with these 13 secrets of home staging.

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Hide CaptionShow CaptionShake up the room's style and attitude by periodically moving furniture around and incorporating old accessories into your design in a new way.

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By Leah Hennen

You'd never consider donning the same clothes for days on end, so why force your home to endure the same tired decor year after year? "We get used to our surroundings, but they can become stale and stagnant. If a chair has been in the same spot for five years, move it!" says Barb Schwarz, known nationally as an expert for preparing properties to sell and co-author of Home Staging: The Winning Way to Sell Your House for More Money.

Think of your digs as a superstore, with the added bonus that everything in it is free. Give yourself permission to move furniture, artwork and accessories between rooms on a whim. "When you move things to new spots, you appreciate them again and give your house a whole new look for nothing," Schwarz says. Suggestions:

Just because you bought that armchair for the living room, for instance, doesn't mean it won't look great anchoring a sitting area in your bedroom.

Perch a little-used dining room table in front of a pretty window, top it with buffet lamps and other accessories, and press it into service as a beautiful writing desk or library table.