If you're selling, here are some tips from some top Stagers...

 

1. They never leave a room empty

Any home seller's top goal is to make a small space look bigger.

To get that look, you might be tempted to empty out the space and remove all your bulky furniture. But there's a twist: Emptiness can actually make rooms look smaller.

Instead, professional stagers manipulate your visual perception of a room through the use of the right kind of furniture, says psychologist Kristie Barnett, author of "Psychological Staging: The Home Staging Secrets of the Decorologist."

"An empty room gives buyers no point of reference for size," Barnett says. "I have seen many buyers walk away from a vacant home because they falsely believe their own furniture will not fit in the master bedroom or that the living room will not provide enough seating for entertaining. Staging rooms with furniture helps establish the room's size and helps a buyer visualize how they can arrange their own furniture."