When it comes to staging the interior of the home, we refer to numerous check lists and guidelines. Overall we’d like to appeal to the 5 senses. I’ve asked numerous Real Estate Agents about the first thing they notice when they enter a home. Each and every one of them said the same thing ...”the smell”

We appeal to the sense of smell by ensuring fresh, clean and odorless air. We strongly discourage the artificial smell of air fresheners and ‘plug-ins’. Air fresheners make people feel like they are being used to disguise something - maybe mould or dampness? Likewise we suggest you avoid the smell of potpourri, especially that synthetic sweet smell. If anything, we prefer the use of essential oils. These can be purchased at any pharmacy or health food store - we specifically recommend one of the clean smelling citrus oils like lemon or grapefruit. Fill a spray bottle with 1/2 cup of water add 20 drops of essential oil. Spray this solution into the air and it will eliminate cooking, pet and cigarette odors.

We appeal to the sense of sight by creating a setting that is organized, tidy and most important - clean. Each room should have a clear purpose, identity and hopefully be finished with style. Know that the more light you can get into a room the bigger and more spacious the room will appear. Indoor plants eat up space so ask a neighbor or friend to store them or give them away.

The sense of sound is also one you may want to address. We say may because there are definitely two schools of thought on this matter. We don’t recommend the use of music in a situation where the noise of traffic is an issue. We don’t want to use this as a method of hiding anything, but there is a lot to be said for the sound of light classical music or smooth jazz as a soft gentle background effect.

We appeal to the sense of taste because house hunting can be a draining and exhausting experience. There is something to be said for a small bowl of candy or some cookies, and maybe even something cold to drink,

Finally, in appealing to the sense of feel, we definitely want to avoid anything that might be offensive to the prospective buyer. How about the sight of a monkey in the cage or the collection of animal heads mounted on the wall with glass eyes watching as you walk across the room. Sights like this are disturbing to the hardiest of house hunters and items such as these should definitely be removed ... unless you want the house to be on the market for a very long time.