We stage occupied homes! What is home staging to us and the average person are two very different things.
Home Staging to us is creating your best home-selling look for the house you are living in using your own things. We use what you have and declutter, depersonalize, rearrange, style, detail and stage your home for sale. It’s your home’s Red Carpet Event.
If you ask the average person to tell you their take on what is home staging, they will more than likely say it’s about furnishing a vacant home that’s for sale.
Actually, the concept of home staging was created back in 1973. This was long before people were flipping and furnishing vacant homes. The actual purpose was centered around the fact that the way you live in your home and the way you sell your house are two very different ways.
Home staging actually was designed to turn an occupied home into a hot commodity. Similar to detailing a car, a home for sale also needs to appeal to the largest number of buyers. “The Model Home Look” works to create the feeling that every buyer wants and will pay top dollar to get.
Furnishing vacant homes is how the term home staging has come to be known on television. Unfortunately, that’s simply not how it started.
Wikipedia states:
“Home staging is the act of preparing a private residence for sale in the real estate marketplace. The goal of staging is to make a home appeal to the highest number of potential buyers, thereby selling a property more swiftly and for more money.”

Melinda Bartling knows:
“At Overland Park Home Staging, we stage occupied homes. We create your home’s best look, using your own things so it appeals to more people. When buyers see themselves living in your home, they will buy it faster and pay you more money for it every time. We have the eye and vision to be able to give your very lived in home that model home look.”
What is Home Staging
Overall, home staging is an art. It takes a professional stylist with the right “eye” who can walk into your home and create your best look. It’s all about using the right things, in the right places to draw your buyers in and get them excited about living there. In a nutshell, it’s a very specific process of preparing a home for sale, regardless of the price or location.
Since buyers start their home search online, the potential buyers already have an opinion of your house – even before they arrive. The way it looks when the photos are taken is of utmost importance. The way your home was or wasn’t staged will determine the number of showings it gets. For these reasons, we always stage and style your home for your photo shoot.
First impressions in real estate are crucial. As great home stagers and stylists, we enhance not only your interior, but also your curb appeal. We like buyers to get excited before they get out of the car. Above all else, your buyer’s anticipation is imperative.
Our system
Our system of staging and styling a home for sale focuses on three main things:
- Decluttering
- De-personalizing and
- Rearranging your furniture and accessories to create the right flow and arrangement to draw the buyers in so they can see themselves living in your home.
To get the process started, we give you a punch list of things to do. Once you complete your decluttering and de-personalizing, we come back and create the Home Staging Magic that is the key to multiple offers and more money.
That final step is creating your Home Selling Flow that takes your home from “Now to WOW!” This is all about the proper arrangement of your furniture and accessories. This step is where the money is in selling your home.
For those very reasons, your home staging should only be completed by professional home stagers and stylists – not your Realtor.
At Overland Park Home Staging, we have over 35 years of selling homes 15 years of staging homes. We know what sellers want and what buyers want. That’s a big key to our success. We understand both real estate and home staging and how they work together to bring you the successful results you deserve.
Vacant Home Staging
If you have a vacant home, staging is a very popular choice to help buyers visualize themselves living there. There are lots of television shows that talk about “bringing in the home stagers.” Recent flips definitely need to be furnished to make them stand out from their competition.
In this scenario, professional home stagers are paid lots of money to bring in furniture and accessories. Their goal is to create a fabulous setting that will entice and draw the buyers in so the offers come rolling in.
While our specialty is staging occupied homes, we do have the inventory available to stage your vacant home if necessary.

What home staging isn’t
Sometimes a staged home doesn’t sell. It’s often because it wasn’t staged properly to attract the largest number of buyers. At that point, it needs to be re-staged by a stylist that can give it a whole new look.
This is why we warn you to be careful about choosing your home stager. The way your home looks will affect your outcome and your bottom dollar.
For that very reason, you should know that Realtors are not trained to be home stagers anymore than they are trained to be interior designers. The art of home staging comes down to proven strategies and the personal taste of your stylist.
Furthermore, clearing off the kitchen and bathroom counters is not staging – that’s clearing flat surfaces. At Overland Park Home Staging, we have the unique “eye” that it takes to use and arrange a seller’s things. That talent has proven beneficial to sell our staged homes in less than 3 days, with multiple offers and for thousands of dollars over the asking price.
No matter what definition you believe when it comes to home staging, you can maximize your value and minimize your time on the market. You did want more money and less time on the market, didn’t you?
Find out how we can give your home “The Model Home Look” and turn your home into every buyer’s dream home. Contact us here or call or text (913) 515-3250 to schedule your Home Staging!