By William Rodarmor

As many people know, one of the most effective steps in preparing a house for market is staging. True to its theatrical heritage, staging in real estate means making your house look its best when put before that most critical of audiences, the buyer. And staging nearly always pays for itself in higher sales prices.

But stagers don’t only use their talents to showcase a home that is going on the market. They can also give valuable decorating advice to people who plan to stay around to enjoy the results. (Consultations run $100-$150 an hour.) We’ll talk here about staging a house to be put on the market, but a lot of this applies when you just want to beautify your surroundings. We also give a few East Bay stagers you can consult with, and we list staging tips people can use themselves.

The goal of staging is to create an atmosphere, to create spaces that buyers will want to live in. So stagers may supplement or remove existing furniture and art, and even furnish entire rooms. They usually start with the basics: removing old furniture, carpets, draperies, and clutter, and improving the landscaping. The challenge is to make small rooms seem bigger, big rooms feel cozy, and dark rooms look brighter. Stagers sometimes remove doors, dot the floors with lamps, and increase the wattage of bulbs. They may bring in special pieces of furniture to enhance a house’s native charm.

What creative staging does is offer a sense of possibilities. Many of us have trouble imagining how empty rooms can be transformed. A stager takes bare rooms and gives them warmth and a human dimension. Good staging helps people to psychologically and emotionally place themselves comfortably in a space. So whether you plan to sell your house next month or stay in it for decades, a stager can help you make it look and feel its best.

“The trick is to increase the house's natural visual appeal while staying in character,” says Lisa Kruse, who joined interior designer Connie Riccardi six years ago to create Sorella Staging, which stages about 75 houses a year. “You want to maintain its integrity.” Just as she wouldn’t put Mediterranean furnishings in a Craftsman house, Kruse is careful to use furnishings that are pleasing without being intrusive.

A staging job will cost the seller anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000, and an average three-bedroom house will run $3,000-$4,000. “Oddly enough, the price isn't necessarily tied to the cost of the property,” says Kruse. “It depends entirely on how much needs to be done.” That in turn depends on whether the house is vacant, needs some simple rearranging, or is still being lived in. “A vacant house will be quick,” she says. “An occupied house is a lot of work to stage for the market.”

Sandy Bails and Terry Gillen were in the pink recently, but they didn’t like it. The co-owners of Stage•Right were staging a condominium in downtown Berkeley, and the listing agent wanted the decoration to be gender neutral. Problem was, the condo walls had been painted bright pink. There wasn’t time or money for a paint job, so the two women installed furniture that ran to grays and tans. Bails and Gillen first set about transforming a front parlor into a plausible bedroom. When they were done, the room had acquired a bed, an armoire, and a small writing desk. It wasn’t a real bedroom, but it would show buyers how the space could be used to accommodate overnight guests.

The rest of the condo was pretty straightforward. The kitchen got a small table and a single chair. Fresh towels went into the bathroom. The living room’s proportions were a bit odd, and the two women spent 15 minutes jockeying carpets and chairs until it looked right. “We even bring in fresh flowers the day before the open house,” said Bails. “And if there’s a second open house, we’ll come back with more flowers.”

In an April New York Times Magazine article called “Stager Fright,” satirist Cynthia Heimel made Bails and Gillen sound like a pair of stereotypical designers who spend their time driving BMWs and pondering the mysteries of beige. The reality is less glamorous. Bails has a 10-year-old Volvo, and Gillen, who drives a 2001 Ford pickup, says: “Most of what we do is drive to storage to pick up more furnishings.”

Deadlines are always tight, and stagers hustle to get their job done. The work is physically exhausting, says one stager. “You’re on your feet all day long, moving stuff.”

The results are worth it, though, when an ugly-duckling house turns into a swan. But that has its own pitfalls, because great staging can actually scuttle a sale. Every stager has a story about doing such a wonderful job that the owner fell in love with the house all over again—and promptly decided not to sell.

“There is something we hear from clients all the time,” says Peter Damm, co-owner of Berkeley Hills Realty. “After the staging and all the prep work are done, and their house looks beautiful just before going on the market, they say, ‘It looks so gorgeous and spacious, I wish we had done these things five years ago, and had the chance to enjoy it.’”

William Rodarmor is a writer, editor, and French translator in Berkeley, California.

If you plan to sell your house, stagers may suggest doing some of these things to make the property look and feel more attractive.

Outdoors
• Keep the lawns mowed and shrubs pruned.
• Clear driveway and steps of debris.
• Apply fresh paint and replace damaged bricks or siding.

Garage
• Store or discard anything you don't need. Clean floor and tidy shelves.

Living Areas
• Drapes and carpets should be clean.
• Paint or touch up as needed.
• Electrical systems and plumbing should be in good working order.
• Replace any burned-out light bulbs.
• Wash windows inside and out.
• Fix loose knobs, sticky doors, and the like.
• Clear out clutter, including extra furniture.

Bathrooms
• Renew the caulking around tubs and showers.
• Hang a new shower curtain.
• Repair leaky faucets.

Closets
• Be sure closet lights work, and clothes are neatly hung.
• Store shoes or other loose items in boxes on the shelves.

Kitchen
• Replace counter tile or grout.
• Clean the oven and wax the floor.
• Keep sinks clean and shiny.