Home Staging Tips Using the Five Senses

To sell a home quick, real estate agents will often recommend higher-income clients hire a home stager. The stager comes into a home, removes extra furniture, and makes aesthetic changes that make the home easier to sell. The end result is the type of home you’ll normally see on HGTV or in a home-decorating magazine.

But the vast majority of homeowners aren’t selling multimillion-dollar properties. Those sellers have a need to move their own homes as quickly as possible. Some real estate agents have the expertise to advise a homeowner on a few changes they can make to improve a home’s aesthetics. However, unless something stands out as likely to repel potential buyers, they likely will leave it up to the homeowner to make big changes. Before you put your home on the market, take a look at each of your rooms through the eyes of a potential buyer, using all five senses. Here are a few things to examine as you look around.


This sense generally gets a homeowner’s full attention, since it is the one factor that works on a conscious level. To be truly successful as a home stager, however, you need to see your home through the buyer’s eyes. Go through pictures of homes for sale online and notice the things that appeal to you, as well as those that don’t. Remove extra items that make rooms look cluttered and reposition furniture to make rooms look open and airy. These tips can help.


Like the rest of the senses on this list, smell is something that will work on a subconscious level. Homeowners looking at a combination of new and used homes will likely walk through home after home that smells like fresh paint. Set your home apart by adding scents that make your house feel like a home. Light a fire in the fireplace or cook a batch of cookies just before the buyer arrives to ignite the senses.


Taste is a tough one but if you’ve baked cookies, leave them on the counter with a sign inviting buyers to take one. This is a popular tactic at open houses to lure customers in and make them feel at home.


Before you put your home on the market, listen to the sounds potential buyers will hear. If you hear absolutely nothing, keep it that way. Homebuyers will notice that outside sounds are sufficiently masked and be drawn to the house because of it. If you can hear street sounds or other undesirable noises, light a fire in the fireplace or run a water feature in the family room to demonstrate those sounds can be replaced by something more peaceful.


Wander through your rooms and touch various surfaces. Make sure when buyers open your refrigerator or touch door handles that they are completely clean and smooth. Touch railings and entry trim to make sure those surfaces are dust-free, as well.

If you’re putting your home on the market, you likely hope it sells quickly. By engaging all five senses as you walk through your own house prior to selling it, you can identify things that will work on both a conscious and subliminal level to lure in potential buyers.