One of the concerns or questions that always comes up with my new students is: What do I do if the house looks so great when I get there that there is nothing for me to recommend during my home staging consultation?

Trust me, that won’t happen! Every house has something that needs to be moved around, removed or added before it goes on the market.

The beautiful room seen here, looked very similar before they implemented my changes. In fact this million dollar property located about 90 minutes outside of the city, was filled with beautiful furniture already. But a lot of it wasn’t optimally arranged.

One of the problems with this eating area off the kitchen was that the light fixture was originally hung about 12 to 18 inches lower than you see it here. This had the effect of closing in the room and making you feel like it was about to fall, which was scary since it’s so heavy-looking and it’s hanging over a glass table that’s sitting on a ceramic floor.

Homebuyers might not have realized exactly why they felt unsettled in this room, but that would have been a key reason. The other change I made was putting that large plant in on the right where a tall TV/TV stand used to be.

Decorating to sell is not the same as decorating to live which is why there is always something to recommend in any home you do a staging consultation in.

Take this living room at right. All the contents were already in the house when I arrived. But not in the same places as you see here!

At the start of my Home Staging Consultation, it was difficult to walk through the living room because of the placement of the chairs. The corner to the left of the fireplace was empty and the plant that currently occupies that space was in an awkward spot in the crowded dining room. The fireplace mantle was covered in family photos and figurines and the hearth was covered in small plants. There was no lamp beside the couch, I found a beautiful one in a basement guest room!

While what we do may seem obvious to us at times, it isn’t obvious to the clients we serve. They don’t bring the same eye to their home that we do for two key reasons:

• very few home staging clients can look at their own homes as objectively as they should before putting them on the market

• the general population doesn’t have the same design and color sense a home stager does

If you would like more direction about what to do in a home staging client consultation, you might be interested in my Home Staging Consultation Checklist.