What’s wrong with this picture? Staging can be simply thought of as determining what’s wrong and then adjusting it to optimize the presentation to and impact on buyers. Learning how to stage yourself can be easy and you can do it yourself, economically, with the furnishings you already have. The important point is that you need to understand why the adjustments are being made.

So, what is wrong with this picture? To begin with, this nice front porch is one of the first things a buyer is going to see on this property and this is the angle that the buyer will see it from first. From this angle, the porch is not balanced with all of the furnishings situated to the right. An unbalanced presentation virtually always has a negative impact on a buyer and often they may not even be aware of why. Even worse, though, this arrangement of the furnishings is framing the next door neighbors’ front porch as a focal point and drawing buyers’ eyes to the neighbor’s porch. This is not the first impression you want them to have.

In the after photo, buyers’ eyes will be drawn to the rearranged furnishings as a focal point creating a positive first impression which invites them to visualize themselves spending time on this porch and enjoying it. The answer to the question of, "Why was this front porch staged this way?" is to change the focal point from the neighbor’s porch (a negative) to the seller’s porch (a positive) for the buyer’s first impression. Also, this porch is now balanced, and seems larger, which are always first impressions a seller wants to create.

In learning to stage yourself, you have a variety or resources and media to choose from. There are many free resources on the web and on television that can guide you in staging your property. For more complete, step-by-step instruction you may want to consider purchasing a do-it-yourself staging guide or product that will teach you the "Why’s" and tell you "What is wrong with this picture," and how to fix it. Knowing why you are making each change is important in learning how to successfully stage your own home.

Editor's Note: Kathey Carter is the Creative Director for Katchart LLC. For more information, go to www.katchart.com.