Set the stage to showcase your house for sale

Home stagers recommended decluttering the kitchen — taking everything off the counters and removing personal items. PHOTO BY SUPPLIED When Colleen and Doug Stewart listed their Kamloops house for sale, they were pretty confident it would be snapped up quickly. The three-bedroom home was fairly new, well-maintained, had a big backyard, and was within walking distance to an elementary school — ideal for a young family. On top of that, the interior was smartly decorated and nicely laid out. Or so they thought. “Our real estate agent recommended we hire home stagers,” says the couple, which surprised them, as did the stagers’ suggestions. “They recommended decluttering the kitchen — taking everything off the counters, removing personal items — putting rooms back to their original purpose (the couple had been using the dining room as an office), changing the hardware in the bathrooms because the drawer knobs looked out of date. They even suggested painting some rooms. They basically wanted it to look like a house and not a home.” Staging can help sell a home faster, but, Happy Homes Staging’s Betty Wharton, says, “It’s a tough market right now and everything is about price and presentation. Buyers have choices and they can be picky so you really have to do everything to make your property stand out from the rest.” PHOTO BY DAVE HORVATH Creating a house, not a home Olivia Walsh, commercial operations manager for Burnaby-based Furniture Connection, says, “Sometimes it’s just rearranging the furniture to a better layout. Sometimes it’s getting rid of things that don’t need to be there, that are in bad condition or don’t show nice.” PHOTO BY SUPPLIED Betty Wharton, home staging consultant and owner of Chilliwack-based Happy Homes Staging Co., seconds the house-over-home suggestion. “You need to take some of the personality out of your home.” In addition to decluttering, she advises removing religious items, toiletries, pet items like dog beds or cat trees, and postcards stuck with magnets to the refrigerator. Olivia Walsh, commercial operations manager for Burnaby-based Furniture Connection, says, “Sometimes it’s just rearranging the furniture to a better layout. Sometimes it’s getting rid of things that don’t need to be there, that are in bad condition or don’t show nice.” Wharton agrees. “Usually people have too much furniture, so we’ll edit items to create a flow. We also suggest adding green plants because they bring life to a room. We’ll send…