Podcast Episode 15

Transcript

[Judy]
Selling a vacant home can be a challenge, but staging it the right way can make all the difference. Did
you know that staged homes often sell faster and for more money than unstaged homes? Let's learn
how to turn an empty house into a buyer's dream home and maximize your sales price.
Welcome to how to sell your Atlanta home with Sage and Grace, smart homeowner strategies,
successful real estate sales. I'm Judy Jernigan, founder and team lead of Sage and Grace Realty
Group and a partner at Clerio Real Estate, my licensed broker in Georgia and North Carolina. I help
homeowners achieve their real estate goals with strategies that make the process smoother, faster,
and more profitable.
Today, I'm thrilled to introduce you to Christina Bell, Atlanta's vacant home staging expert with 20
years of experience and a passion for transforming vacant spaces into homes that home buyers fall in
love with. Christina is the founder of No Vacancy Home Staging and a leading home staging
company. Her work has been featured on HGTV and in the New York Times and Realtor Magazine.
And her simple classic approach to staging has helped countless home sellers achieve success. Let's
dive in. So let's start in the right beginning.
[Krisztina]
What is home staging? Well, we do have to make a distinction here, of course, because there's a
difference between home staging and, of course, decorating a home. This is obviously staging a
home to sell.
And so we're neutralizing the space, taking a little bit of that personality out of the home. A seller's
very attached to their home, but now they need to kind of look at it from a buyer's perspective. Yeah,
so it's a little bit different.
Decorating is putting personality in, home staging, taking it out, and, of course, trying to get the home
nicely staged. Neutralized to appeal to a broad range of potential buyers, of course.
[Judy]
Yeah. So why is staging a vacant home a home better? Since people have packed up, they've moved
out, there's nothing left in it.
[Krisztina]
Why is staging important? It's a really important and vital marketing tool, of course, because there's
many benefits to staging, as you know. We, of course, want to show buyers how to lay out a space.
So it is vacant and empty. They're a little unsure if maybe a couch would fit or maybe their bed would
fit in a room. And so other benefits, too, is that if it's a dated home, maybe somebody has lived in the
home for a long period of time, we need to maybe do some updating.
It's easy to update light fixtures, hardware, things of that nature, maybe refinish flooring, and maybe
they've moved out. Maybe it was an estate situation. Mom or dad is moving to assisted living of some
kind.
There's a lot of that happening right now these days with our aging baby boomers. And so bringing
furnishings in that's caseful and showing off the features of the home, whereas maybe if there's things
in the home that are not dated, maybe need some renovation, we kind of tend to distract from that,
utilizing home staging when we bring in furnishings into a vacant house. Of course, it adds value, too.
Remember that. We definitely want to make sure that you get a good appraisal value for the home as
well, and staging really does help with that, not only interior-wise, but also exterior-wise, too, because,
of course, the curb appeal is very important. You touched on a lot of things there.
Yeah, it's a lot to soak in. It's a lot to soak in.

[Judy]
Let's go back first to, you mentioned changing light fixtures. Yes. What are some of the things, beyond
furnishings, someone, a homeowner's picked up, they've moved out, they want to sell, make sure
their home shows in the best light.
They're probably not interested in remodeling, per se. No. What are some of the smaller things, easy,
that they might want to consider doing?
So, sure, but I'm sorry.
[Krisztina]
Sure, and sometimes sellers can be a little stubborn. They don't want to put that money back into the
house, of course, which is the reason why I teach a paint CE class to real estate agents, but also I
have some sellers and couples that come in and take the class. They want to learn more, like, what is
it about paint?
Paint is actually the number one recommendation because it's the least amount of money spent for
the greatest return. Paint's very inexpensive. I'm a big Sherwin-Williams fan, so, of course, we love
alabaster as the number one paint color.
Now, we might see some beiges coming in. It's trendy, but a lot of people are still using the warm color
white. It's not really good.
It's an off-creamy white. Yes, it is. Alabaster is an off-creamy type white.
Definitely paint is the least expensive. Now, when you get into light fixtures, you could do anything.
The metals are in.
It's very trending right now. The golds, the brushed. Actually, more like the brushed brass, but a lot of
people are still doing the black and whites.
Hardware is another thing, too, that could be updated. Keeping it simple, though. Light fixture, reason
why you might want to change that.
Maybe it's just too traditional, too much, too heavy. Maybe you want something more simplistic. That's
the great thing about staging is you want to keep it simple, but also attractive and neutralized as well
to obviously attract a broad range of potential buyers.
[Judy]
As we talked about, paint is something to consider. Yes, changing light fixtures is something simple to
consider. And I have a good opinion.
You can help people with that. And hardware, talk a little bit about hardware.
[Krisztina]
Hardware, kitchen hardware, in the bathroom, updating that. Back to the light fixture, I do want to
mention, sometimes people are like, I'm not going to spend the money. I don't want to buy one.
Maybe there's a really not-so-great-looking one in the dining room. If there's enough windows and
lighting, then just cap it. You don't really need to buy it.
Let the buyer go ahead and maybe spend the money on buying their own light fixture. So that's an
inextensive weighing budget for me as well. Again, taint being another.
Hardware is just more, maybe making it more current. Maybe it's kind of dated hardware in the
kitchen. Maybe they're going to repaint some of the wood cabinetry maybe to a white color, then
definitely replacing it with updated hardware.

Like I said, the metals are kind of in, but you know, brushed silver is simple, easy. It's always going to
be around if they don't want to kind of pick something out. But that's what's nice about home stagers
that we have on our team is that they come out and they are designers too.
So they can kind of help with that selection possibly as well.
[Judy]
Okay. You mentioned outside staging as well as inside. You talked a little bit about curb appeal.
What are some things you do to help?
[Krisztina]
Curb appeal is landscaping, very important. Obviously, you know, pressure washing is good. Right
now, there's a lot of leaves that have fallen down and definitely blowing all the leaves off.
Make sure the gutters are cleaned out, things of that nature. As we head into spring here soon,
because it sounds crazy, but you know, we'll head into the spring season, real estate season.
Definitely having fresh flowers on each side of your door, possibly a new welcome front doormat as
well.
And you know, make sure those street numbers are visible. Right now, it gets a little darker at night.
And so making sure it's well lit so that somebody has an evening showing, that's also important too.
Landscaping is big.
[Judy]
People, I love that you mentioned the front door because most people go in and out of columns right
at the front door and they spend an unusual, not unusual, but an extra amount of time standing with
the real estate agent at the front door while the agent is getting that lock box open.
[Krisztina]
Yes, so having that front porch area or the freshly painted front door, you know, it's the first
impression. And it is a lot of time. It is, it is.
And they hope to, they're building up their anxieties when they first lock in, you don't want to
disappoint them too. Hence the staging on the inside of the home is just as important as well. So
you're kind of setting that expectation at the curb and hopefully it's going to keep going as they enter
their home.
But also it's there when they come in that you're creating that emotional connection with staging as
well.
[Judy]
That's really honest, right? We want people to be able to emotionally get excited and be able to see
themselves living there. Right, exactly.
Another benefit of staging, yes. So you talked about light, light and fixtures. How important is light
overall?
Natural light, bright light, being able to, how about, do people like a home where it's dark and cozy
and private career, are they going to want a bright open?
[Krisztina]
Well, as you can see, we're standing in the house for those that are not on watching video wise, but
listening and there's no windows and there's no curtains, there's no nothing, all these windows here.
So we're letting a lot of light in, but we're leaving it very simple, clean lines. It works really well.
If you have a good professional photographer that knows right now would probably be a little bit too
bright and might wait a little bit, maybe early morning or maybe in the afternoon to maybe take photos
so that the lighting isn't too much because we've got a lot of bright light coming in this home in

particular, but we actually recommend when it comes to staging, removing heavy draperies. And if you
lead the rod up, that's fine, don't worry about it. That is not going to make a break of sale, but the
heavy draperies take them down and just make for again, clean lines and bring more light into the
home as well.
And hence landscaping is another biggie because we cut back bushes and trees a little bit lower than
your window. So maybe that also helps too. So hence why we emphasize the exterior.
[Judy]
So once a home buyer pits in, they can put up their draperies for privacy, but yes, during showing,
skin your home ready to sell.
[Krisztina]
Open it up, bring in the light. Yes, bring in more light, the better. And then having mirrors that we bring
in to reflect some of that light as well.
And just makes the space look larger too. It really does. Make sure all the mic fixtures work.
Yes, working light bulb, working light bulb. You can turn on all the lights and warm lights. It definitely
bring in lamps, obviously agents or sellers put in light bulbs in the lamps.
Again, that is a benefit when you're working with your photographer as well. And warm lights. Yes,
warm light was so important.
[Judy]
You explain what you mean by that.
[Krisztina]
Warm lighting is much better. It creates kind of warm and environment, not so cold, especially at a
vacant house. And also works really well for photography too.
[Judy]
It's gonna be the yellow, gold, and blue glow. Yeah, not the blue toes. Blue toes, exactly, and that's
correct.
So we talked about how you mentioned property values and selling the home for more when a home
is staged. I knew a soldier in another state many years ago who lived and worked in one
neighborhood in particular. And her goal was every time a home sold, she was selling it for, she was
beating her own personal record of selling in price per square foot.
Increasing it, increasing it, increasing it, just by the value of her staging. So she was really personally,
single-handedly, impacting the property values in her neighborhood by making sure every home sold
for top dollar. Do you want to talk a little bit more about how staging does help us?
[Krisztina]
You want to increase the appeal, not lower the price point. What we want you to do is after that, it
basically is what you just said in a nutshell. And so that's what staging is all about.
So what's happening when we get close to the end of the year, a lot of people are hesitating right now
to stage. But I hate to tell you, but I think 2025 is going to be a very busy year for all of us. People
have been holding out.
We are past election. We are past everything else, interest rate, whatever. People need to move on
with their lives.
And so now, as I mentioned, a lot of people are hesitating, but we're already getting people calling in
to stage their homes. And then a year, they're ready to go. They need to sell.
They need to move on. And investors and builders need to flip houses. And there's a lot of buildings
still continuing on here in Atlanta, being that we're still a top 10 city to move into, which is exciting.

It's very exciting. It keeps the real estate market active, but I would prefer somebody stage a house,
the lower price. And the saving needs to happen, as you know, at the beginning of the listing, not after
the fact.
Unfortunately, we get some of those, but that's okay. You can take it off the market. You can change
agents if you want, whatever.
But from a marketing perspective, you need to at least refresh the listings if they've been on for a
while, especially, not getting any activity. And then go ahead and stage it. Have new photos taken and
get a new listing and up in there, because it's really another benefit of staging.
It's all about the photos. It's about telling the story of the house now. We've got, we're doing video
right now in this home.
And so you've got Instagram, TikTok, social media. Believe it or not, a lot of people go online, go look
at houses, and those videos can be very important and sell a home.
[Judy]
We really have been putting, coming out of the gate strong, having all the pictures, all the videos, the
house, a curb or teal, ready to go from day one. Yes, you're going to have the most eyes on the
listing. The first two weeks, yeah.
Exactly. Radical, very radical. Ease in.
That's up. Ease in to getting it. I think do it all.
Have it absolutely.
[Krisztina]
Video's been amazing. We staged the house, and as soon as they put up that video up on Instagram,
it was like 4,000 views later, football player that's going to be on the team here in Atlanta ended up
buying the house because maybe his wife or son or daughter saw it. The teenagers are pretty active
on the social media too, and they see a house, they go, mom, let's get this.
So it's kind of fascinating to see, but it is all about telling a story. It's the photos that are the most
important factor. It's what drives that buyer traffic to the property.
They want to go see it, and so hence the curb appeal of walking in. If it's exactly what they saw, then
they're going to love that it was more, of course, but again, a benefit of staging.
[Judy]
So let's talk kind of soon about the process, how we go about making staging happen, but before we
leave the notion of why it is valuable, can we talk a little bit about how it helps define spaces,
especially with the open concept homes that are popular now. People don't always, you mentioned
this earlier, know what side bed will fit in the room or exactly what position where in an open great
room.
[Krisztina]
But when it comes to staging, we try to show how to lay out a space at least one way, but also it's kind
of tricky because we're laying out the space to show, but also for photos as well, and then some
people are particular. They don't want, we won't want to hide the fireplace, for example, we want to
emphasize. So I would even, maybe it's even take away these two chairs and it would open it up
more.
But again, we also do queen size beds when we're staging master bedrooms. And sometimes we
know that a king size bed can fit, but at least it shows the buyers a way that they could fit their larger
bed, but also a queen size. So again, it's showing out in defining the rooms because now there's a lot
more flex spaces as well.

And it's those flex spaces too. So in here, we've got a living, we've got open to a dining, but we also
have a wet bar and a big entry area as well as breakfast area. So this is all kind of looking into each
other and we have to get to the point where we define those spaces and bringing the furniture in
actually helps with that.
Also too, some people might think, oh, well, but the house looks big enough, you know, or the rooms
might be very small and the house is small and they don't want to bring furniture in. And they think the
furniture might make the house look smaller. When that's wrong, actually it makes the face look larger
if you bring furnishings into a smaller home.
So it's the opposite of what people might think.
[Judy]
I was with buyer alliance last weekend and they saw two homes with very similar floor plans and two
primary bedrooms, two primary suites. And the first one, you're like, oh, this bedroom is just too small.
It was completely a date.
The next time we went in and like, oh, this one that had a king side bed in it, this is the size bedroom
we're looking for. Those two bedrooms, exact same size, same size here.
[Krisztina]
It's a visual thing. And again, that's why I'm staging is a method to the madness, but it's a marketing
tool tactic and all is visual. Yeah, so.
[Judy]
Do you become real speaking to the return on the investment that people get? We've talked about
how it's gonna sell faster and for more money.
[Krisztina]
Yeah, it's tough to put a percentage on it. Yeah, I wish it was apples to apples because every
community is different. We're in a hot area of town right now at Brookhaven, Georgia.
So, things sell very quickly here for more money. I will say things were selling to 50,000, 100,000 over
the last couple of years, but that's not gonna happen anymore. Obviously, we're now coming into
more of the normalization of the market, which we have felt.
So, maybe a five to 10 or 15, it just depends again on the neighborhood. And of course, it's gonna be
faster, less days on market, more too.
[Judy]
So, we've explained to people some of the benefits of home staging. What is the process? They've
decided, all right, my agent, I wanna work with my real estate agent to get my home staged.
We call you, what happens? What's the process?
[Krisztina]
Typically, we can get kind of attempted to quote or we can send out one of our home stagers,
professional home stagers come out, they're all interior design background, and they come out, kind
of walk through the property and focusing on those main rooms. So, when people ask, well, how does
your quote process work and all that? We focus, let's start from the beginning, where you walk in, you
see a living, a dining, a kitchen, and then a primary bedroom and two bathrooms.
That's kind of what we call the base. And then breakfast, office, and family rooms and all that is extra
areas. It depends on what is on the main floor and what are we kind of looking at when we first walk
in.
And so, that's kind of what we focus on. And that stagers get to walk room by room and explain that.
And also, had she yet, they had an iPad or their phone with them and show pictures of the furnishings
that we would recommend to bring in because we have a couple of different packages.

[Judy]
So, what furnishing styles? Do you always do modern, simple style or does a different home call for a
different style?
[Krisztina]
Well, the trends now have leaning toward that simplistic contemporary modernish, but everybody's
idea of contemporary modern is different, as you know. I try to stay in the middle range. We call it
more of a transitional, but we can tweak the furnishings and the decor to make it look more
contemporary or look more mid-century or look more modern, so to speak.
When somebody does a modern home like this one, for example, we've actually done a little bit more
contemporary than this. I usually, this is pretty close to what you get, but I don't call it contemporary. I
call it soft contemporary.
Again, we want to appeal to a broader range and not make the buyers feel like they have to buy
specific furniture in order to live in the home. We wanna make it more, which I think these days, the
Asians have been asking more of. They used a staging company that brought in maybe super modern
furniture, but it was too stiff.
And so they call us in and go, we want something more warm and inviting, more softer approach.
That's what people are looking for, especially now the buyers, these are millennials, I should say, are
very particular. And they blow the bells and whistles of the lighting and the hardware and all the cool
trendy, but they're also looking for that warm, cozy feeling.
Can they entertain? Can they bring family? Because obviously we know the dining area is really the
kitchen island.
But these days, and the front living, the informal living rooms are more the office. And so, again, we
tried to have transitional style furniture, furniture that's flexible, that could go from one property to
another property, because we do condos, lofts, studios. I mean, we're living in the city of Atlanta, so it
ranges all the way up to a mountain house or a lake house too.
And so our furnishings have to be that flexible.
[Judy]
I was hosting an open house many years ago in a condo that had floor to ceiling windows, and one of
those beautiful views had been staged by, I don't know who I, it had this bright red huge chair as part
of the living room staging. And everyone who came into the open house commented on this chair,
instead of the views and the finishes and the beautiful countertops. What are your thoughts on that?
[Krisztina]
Well, hence, I, if you see, as we're standing, for those of you that are watching the video, yes, the
furnishings look very neutral. Again, you have to be careful with trends. This is kind of what I talk
about sometimes on podcasts with other, with the NAR and some other friends of mine.
I'm like, you just have to be really careful with those trends. Decor-wise, we can change up the trends.
I just don't like to get into the colored furniture and things like that.
Now, that being said, and color is obviously making a comeback. You might see some more painted
walls in different colors instead of black and white here soon. But again, you don't want to distract the
buyers.
We bring in color through artwork. You know, the more expensive luxury type items, the throws, the
animal skin rugs. Maybe there's a touch of color, a green in here.
The green is very popular right now here in Atlanta. And, you know, again, I always tell people, we
bring color in through the pillows, the rugs, the throws. And for us, artwork is a big deal.

I'm an art background major, so we hand-selected a lot of the new art. We just placed another large
order of artwork that is kind of fun, has pops of color. Again, the reason being is that it's very attractive
on camera.
This is something that I just learned from the HGTV when we worked with the property rulers when
they came in town. They go for texture and color. Yeah, that's what you want.
Animal skin, the throws, the furry pillows, texture really pops on camera. Yeah, that's better than
furniture. And I don't want people focusing on the furniture.
We want them focusing on the features of the O. And that's what we're emphasizing. And a big benefit
of staging is really emphasizing the fireplace or the lovely lighting fixtures or the high ceilings in a
room.
And that's what you want to emphasize, and staging does that.
[Judy]
So talking more about that, when a homebuyer walks into a home, what do you want them to feel,
see, hear, experience?
[Krisztina]
You want them to come in, and of course you have to have that mirror or a nice light fixture or that
piece of art at the front door in the entry area because they like to see themselves sometimes, you
know. And they don't really see themselves. We're drawing them in, yeah.
And so you're creating almost like what I call walking paths because right now they're coming through
this home, they're coming through that front entry, seeing the really pretty office. But also they see the
dining, and then they go into the living. And nowadays, as I said, the exterior spaces are very
important now more than ever.
And especially here in Atlanta, we have seasons. And so this all opens up, this whole domain space,
believe it or not, in this home that we're standing in, there's bifolding glass doors that open all the way
up to the outdoor deck area. And that's a COVID thing because we all were hanging out outdoors
because we didn't go anywhere.
But nowadays, this is the new family living space, is the living area near the kitchen. And so we're
creating that walking path through here. And then of course, you know, staging most of the primary
bedrooms are upstairs.
So you keep going, you know, another nice piece of art maybe in the stairwell and keep going on up.
And then they're kind of like thinking, it gets their emotions starting, like, hmm, this looks interesting.
And it's, again, emphasizing that these are nice five-inch wood flooring.
There's a beautiful crystal fireplace in here. There's some really unique lighting in here. And you're not
looking at it now, but there's some really interesting color in the powder bath.
She's got a pop of wallpaper, which a wallpaper is making a comeback a little bit. So you might see
some pops of that on that fifth wall, which is the ceiling. So it's a wallpaper, not in the deck there.
Yes, so it's really creating kind of a lifestyle of how they might want to live. And right now we're in a
$2.8 million home, so this is very luxury kind of feeling, yes. But also family-oriented as well.
Definitely.
[Judy]
What, do you have any anecdotes or stories, just an example of a home that you've worked with that
just had really ended, worked out really well, and they brought you in and your services just made all
the difference?
[Krisztina]

Well, there has been some interesting things because builders tend to do some trendy things and
then it might go in the wrong direction. And so there was a builder that had a completely black kitchen,
all black. Cabinets, hardware black, fast slash was all black.
And he had the beautiful flooring, just like in here, light color flooring. He had the crystal fireplace. He
had it all.
He's like, I don't understand what is going on. I got all the light fixtures. Everything looks fabulous.
What is wrong with my house? I heard you were highly recommended and I'm calling in a stager. I've
never done this before.
And this, actually in the home we're in, the builder has never ever had to use home stage before. This
is the first.
[Krisztina]
It's time. So they're a little nervous, they're anxious, and they don't know what to expect. And so my
stager, being an interior designer three years, walks in.
Beautiful house, but you know what the problem is? I hate to tell you. This kitchen.
Nobody, I mean, it's a beautiful kitchen, and it might be trending, but this is the problem, is your
kitchen is too dark. For Atlanta, it's too dark, and she's done lots of homes in the Brookhaven and all
over in the high-end areas. So, basically, they ended up changing out the backsplash, making it a
lighter color of the earring bone.
And we came in and brought in the stagy, and it looked ten times better. It was brighter. We
coordinated even the bar stools to go with a brighter color, and he was ecstatic.
Yeah, because the builder was just like, you know, if they want to get it off the books, they want to
move on to their next project. But he was like, okay, I get it now. You know, it's like some sellers, they
just don't see the vision.
And then we start to stage and bring in furniture, and then they go, this looks really good. Maybe I
don't even want to leave now. Yeah, they're like, I don't even know if I want to sell the house now.
[Judy]
Wait a minute, it's too late. We've already staged it.
It moved out. Some sellers can't see the vision, and some homebuyers cannot see the new vision. A
little bit of both.
Some people don't have the imagination that, you know, we think that they see.
[Krisztina]
So again, that's just a note to say, sometimes the trends don't always, not everybody goes for the
trends. You have to be careful. Again, you want to appeal to that broader range of buyers.
[Judy]
I've heard from many people too, do you? Yeah, I'll just leave it to themselves and their families living
here. Yeah, it's not everybody likes certain trends.
So we talked about your designer from Zen, you walk through the homes, you pick the particular, or
the home, you pick the particular rooms, what you think will benefit the most, or what's staying in your
bucket, you will. So if the home doesn't sell right away, how long does the staging, the first week, stay
in place? Well, I mean, we do a two-month staging option.
[Krisztina]
Some things sell pretty quickly, depends on the neighborhood. Up to three months. Three months is
typically a minimum, and we like to kind of do an all-inclusive fee.

Focusing on those main rooms, the living, dining, kitchen, primary bedroom, and we offer the two
different types of packages. So I say two different packages, meaning some staging companies may
have packages for $500,000 homes and under, maybe a package that's suited more for a higher
luxury like this home, you know, in the million range or plus. And so there is a little bit of a price
difference.
So I don't really go by the piece. I kind of do more, let's start with the base of rooms. And then if there
are any additional rooms, it'll be so much back on.
So that whole plus to flex space where we really want to help people.
[Judy]
Breakfast area, office space, flex space, family room, basement area, things like that. And what
happens to the furnishings once the home sells?
[Krisztina]
Once the home sells, we actually have a great tool online. We have an instant staging quote tool that
you might have seen already, but we have also a under contract notice tool on our website, and they
give us a 14-day notice to get on our schedule to remove the staging. And so we come in, ruin all the
furnishings.
We do utilize some nails on the walls for our wall hangings, but do a light sweep out the door, lock
everything back up and try to do it after the contingency period's possibly over, not remove it too soon.
Things can happen. Oh, yes.
Yeah. So we make it a very smooth process. Being 20 years, my husband and I are running a
business.
We kind of know the good, the bad, the ugly, and we've got it to a point where we make it super easy
for our clients.
[Judy]
So I know a big part of, as you've touched on, staging is making sure that you are drawing people's
eyes to the architectural features of a home and making sure they're noticing and falling in love with
the right things. Could you walk and talk with us through this home and show us some of the things
that you've done to that? Sure.
Yeah. So the builder has given us a beautiful home for you to stage. Can you just talk us through
some of the things you've done to draw people's eye and attention to what you want them to pay
attention to?
[Krisztina]
Sure. When you have a big open space like this in the kitchen, of course, we've got some beautiful
lighting here. One thing that the builder did ask, and actually his wife is a designer.
She's the one that picked out all these details, the lighting and everything as well. And and so she
requested that we bring in stools that didn't have a back on them, that she didn't want it to block any
of the beautiful I mean, it's an all white kitchen. We have our brushed gold here, hardware with the
lighting as well.
And then a little bit of light colored wood. The texture is really unique. Also, this is very popular.
I don't know if anybody's been to the show houses, but I go to the holiday show house, the spring
show houses in Atlanta. And so having this texture around the air vents in the kitchen is really big right
now. And so I love it because it just looks very clean.

We did a little bit of splash of green, obviously, just as a little bit of warmth. I did a little bowl with the
fruit in it. We usually do a little cookbook behind us here, cutting board, a little bit of cutting boards and
things, just keeping it clean and simple.
Did some place settings as well, which is pretty typical is what you would see in a model home type
setup. I just like to have a little place setting. It adds some character as well.
\\
And so I think it turned out really nice.
[Judy]
I like how you chose a really nice pop of color in one spot, and that's the picture in the kitchen eat-in
area just to draw people's eye to keep it going past the gorgeous light fixtures and the beautiful
counter. Hey, there's even more space over here.
[Krisztina]
Yes, there's lots of cabinet space in here. It's a very spacious kitchen. You could do entertaining, of
course, in this large home.
You could probably fit maybe another stool in here and make it five. But I try not to cram it in too
much. We've got a breakfast area that can seat at least six or even more if you wanted.
And then, of course, when we do living spaces, too, we like to kind of leave it open, having the
couches facing each other and not in front of the fireplace here so that it doesn't block. But also it's
great for the video photo guy so that he's not taking a picture of the back of a couch as well. But also
emphasizing now our fireplace is not lit right now, but if it would be, it is in the photos actually of this
home that's listed online.
And they ended up I did make a recommendation to possibly get a TV there because they're actually
when I came in to look at the house originally, there was nothing there. It was very blank. And so the
great thing about TV now, you can hook it up to your app or your phone or whatever and pop a little
fireplace scene up there if you wanted to or some holiday or whatever music or what's going on right
now.
There's just a bit of graphics to make it something visual. You could also even put on the volume and
have a little bit of music playing, too. This works really well if there's an agent wanting to have a
caravan, but also sellers that just want to add that little bit of special touch.
Maybe it's something an incentive that you throw in to sell with the house, which they probably will
end up probably doing instead of us putting a piece of art there. I didn't really want to do that because
this is kind of the living space family hangout. We could do a piece of art.
Somebody could do that. Or, you know, there's all that new art that looks like a TV, you know, that
hides a TV. But a little bit of decor still make it look spacious.
We did animal skin rug on the flooring here, too. Just to add a little bit of texture. You can do a lot of
layering rugs.
You can layer rugs on top of each other and give it some texture and then added a little bit of color
through the pillows, a little bit more green in here. It just seemed to be a color that was kind of a
theme, sort of. There is the powder bath here has green walls.
And so there was a little bit of that going on. And so we kind of continued that out into here in the
living space. Definitely the artwork is big.
Yeah, we definitely wanted to utilize some big pieces of art to make it look that luxe gallery almost
kind of feel, too.
[Judy]
I definitely like that. I love how you have a few items on the built ins on either side of the fireplace to
draw people's eye to those built ins that do stay here. They are built into the home.
[Krisztina]
Yeah, it's nice because sometimes builders don't even put anything there. They just leave it empty. So
if it's empty and there wouldn't be any of those cabinets in there, then you would have to put some
form of console tables of some nature and kind of fill in as well.

But it's nice that they went ahead and did the built ins there, which is a nice feature. Again, adding
value to the house. Once again, they did that.
And I think it's very important.
[Judy]
And by setting the items over there, you're featuring that, making sure people see it and are aware of
it.
[Krisztina]
Games, family, you know, all kinds of stuff.
[Judy]
Perfect spot for the game.
[Krisztina]
Thanks for family.
[Judy]
So that has that potential with this wall of doors. The indoor outdoor space is can become one on
pretty days, which we have a lot of.
[Krisztina]
That's my favorite part of the whole house, because I'm actually not from Georgia, from Florida. So I
love that all the way. Now, I don't know if you're going to be able to open it all there, but it does open
up and fold all the way out and would open up and create a big space again.
We have seasons here in Atlanta. So in spring, summertime, it'll be great for entertaining. Having the
kids out, they could do a barbecue outside or be by the fire and maybe even put another TV of some
nature outside potentially and have, you know, play some movies and things like that, too.
[Judy]
And you've kept the general vibe with the neutral colors and a few pops of green continuous
throughout this whole.
[Krisztina]
Yeah, actually, the the builder's wife did want to purchase some furnishings for outside. And so we
made some recommendations and she went and got all kinds of things and continued it right out
there, too, along with us. It was it's, again, a teamwork type thing.
You know, we just don't come in and kind of run the show. It's a team effort to work with a real estate
agent and possibly a builder or seller or owner because they know more about the house than we do.
But at the same time, we want to make sure that we're all on the same page and that we definitely
reflect how you're marketing the home target market price point area of town.
That's all really important. And that also has to be taken into consideration when staging a home.
[Judy]
Of course, you show us some things you intentionally did decisions you made in some other parts of
the home.
[Krisztina]
Yeah, I mean, the dining area, since we have this huge light piece, which is a conversation piece, it's
the what we call in the design business the jewelry, possibly of the room here. I didn't want to take
away from that. So we did a very soft, very easygoing kind of dining table chairs, nothing too fancy.
But I just wanted to do a nice. This is actually a brand new tray. That's like a bone type tray.
There's something very simplistic. I didn't want to even do any decor, no flowers, nothing there
because I didn't want to take away from the light fixture here and just kind of give it a piece of a nice
piece of art and also show the potential. We actually moved to console tables together there.
So that people could definitely do one all the way across. And then, of course, they have this beautiful
little wet bar set up here and the light fixtures and the tile background that they have. The backsplash
is my favorite part.
Yes, it's really unique because it's also, again, metallic. Metals are very still in which you reinforced
with them. Yeah.
So we bring in a little bit now. Actually, I think the builder might have brought in a couple of wine and
some beverage type things there. But we definitely brought in glasses.

We do napkins. My luxury home stager is all about just a little bit of a splash of greenery and a nice
flower arrangement that's very simplistic and classy. Can you show us the pantry?
Do you stage a pantry? The pantry? Yeah.
I would tell you this powder bath is very unique. Now, again, green, very popular here in Atlanta.
There's that fifth wall.
She did a very pretty wallpaper. I will say wallpaper, as I mentioned, coming coming back just a touch.
Not really going to be in a lot all in the bathroom.
Again, if you are going to do an accent wall, wallpaper or a paint color as good as an accent, you can
get away with this in a powder bath, but probably not the primary bathroom. Yeah. So because it's just
a hint and it's a little bit customized.
You have to be careful when you do that. But I think it's OK. It's not like.
So we've got floor to ceiling emerald green walls.
[Judy]
Yeah, this half bath and the wallpaper has those peacocks.
[Krisztina]
Peacocks. Yes. Looks like in there.
And I love the lighting in here. It's really thin black lighting. And the mirror is really pretty, too.
And they have a little bit of under lighting in there as well. And you and your team brought in. We
didn't do too much.
Yeah, we love the texture. And then again, a nice piece of floral and then a couple of hand towels just
and then a little bit of the coloring of the blues that are in the wallpaper. We brought in and just a very
simple wall hanging there.
We don't really go overboard too much in the bathrooms. Keep it simple. Kind of hotel white bathroom
dressings is what we typically suggest.
Now, there's a lot of those other spaces. And so you always just want to give a hint. Obviously, this is
going to be the pantry area, maybe a cooking station area or prepping station area as well.
That's off the kitchen. Some of these are actually right in the kitchen. There is a lot more of these
types of areas and kitchenette type or wet bar type areas.
You're going to start to see more of these special specialized. And so a little bit of plates, a little bit of
bases, again, cutting board. It's really just to give a hint of obviously this is where somebody might be
have a nice organized plates and utensils and maybe the snacks for the kids and things like that in the
drawers.
I have a friend who's a professional organizer, so I've seen some photos of homes that she's done
and they're all organized with the waters and the snacks and everything in this. This would be what
would take place in this area as well.
[Judy]
These extra accessories show the depth of the cabinetry. How much room there is, it helps draw
people's eyes up. This is a very large space.
[Krisztina]
Yeah, it's a really big space. And again, keeping it neutral and clean. And I think it's it just gives a little
bit of a hint of hominess as well.
Definitely. Yeah. Should I go upstairs?
Sure. Office space set up here and the office space here, they kind of went with all white. And I really
didn't want to bring in too big of a rug because it would make the space look small.
I think so. I like the kind of animal skin. Obviously, you could fit a bigger desk in here.
You could do some built ins. This just kind of shows the potential of the room and being at the front of
the house. You obviously it could be a sitting area, a den area, but they wanted it set up as an office.
You could shut it off. It actually could be a bedroom, to be honest. It's got double doors and we have a
full bathroom in here and closet space.
So potentially it is a bedroom, but in some instances at the front bedroom or maybe a front living
space could be shown as an office space. Again, it's a flexible room. Just depends on, again, target
market, how how the agent or whoever wants to market the property.

[Judy]
You're showing people it's it's most likely used.
[Krisztina]
Yes, most likely use. That's a good that's a good way to word it.
[Judy]
Yeah. Cool. Now we're in the primary suite.
What are some of the intentional choices that you made in here to really show off this space?
[Krisztina]
Sure. Again, this, believe it or not, is actually a king bed. It's very rare that we did.
But we put two twins together and made it a king. I think that because of the price point of the house, I
really wanted to go overboard a little bit with the staging here and show off the spaciousness of this
room. Obviously, this is the primary bedroom you want it to show off.
And they have this beautiful accent wall. This is really big, even in the show houses that I went to, the
holiday show house, they had this beautiful accent wall in the master bedroom. So, again, even
though we have textured molding on this wall, you can put artwork on there.
We usually get permission from the owner of the property to make sure that's OK, that we can put
some hole in their artwork. Again, just really brings the room together. The swirls, which I love, it's
very similar to the light fixture in here.
It's got some swirl. I like bringing in and kind of just draping the throw across in the bedroom and onto
an ottoman of some nature. You could put chairs here as well.
We kind of put the chairs off to the side here. It's a really pretty as we now we're higher up. And so in
the springtime, this is really going to be pretty right now.
There's not a lot of leaves on the tree, but it'll all fill in. And this will even be a prettier view. So, again,
it's kind of nice that there are no draperies and wall hangings, because now you're seeing that there
were a little higher up and there is a beautiful area here in Brookhaven.
Lots of vegetation around and the spaces of the room. You could do a couch here. You could do a lot
more things here.
There's also this kind of little nook here where they could put another TV. It's kind of unique. You could
display whatever, you know, artwork or maybe decorative items or collective that somebody might
have or own.
And I love the shelving in here. So the room has a lot of potential as far as other things that you could
add to it if you wanted to and bring in your own large. And you have a good sized TV if you wanted to
do that as well.
And you can add more plenty of room to add more furniture. We just kind of show one way to how to
lay out. Obviously, the accent wall is where the bed should go.
Again, that is a purpose of the builder there. I like the fact you can open up the windows, too, which is
kind of nice. Again, we do a mirror above a dresser to bring in light from outside and just reflect a little
bit of that vegetation that's out there.
There's still some green trees out there. So it kind of reflects back in and again, shows off the luxury
features of the home.
[Judy]
You're definitely reinforcing that this is a luxury home.
[Krisztina]
A luxury space.
[Judy]
And you've definitely shown the scale. This is a very large room, very high ceilings in the furnishing
show that it can accommodate a king size bed room for a seating area. But at the same time, you are
not blocking any of you or any of that light, which you talked about was so important.
And I love how your the art you chosen does you chose does reinforce this light fixture that, of course,
does stay and convey with the home. And that's so unique and so pretty. Very smart.
[Krisztina]
I think it worked out really well.

[Judy]
We've moved into the primary en suite bathroom. This is a beautiful bathroom. I see this trend.
I'm starting to see of these. What is this? A bathtub in the shower room?
Is this what you would call it?
[Krisztina]
Yes. They're expanding. They're getting bigger.
And the tub is very popular in all different shapes, sizes, colors.
[Judy]
My five year old would have so much fun in that bathtub kicking and splashing in bubbles and just
being able to let the water go everywhere. I would love to see him play in there.
[Krisztina]
There's a great magazine that I get called Kitchen and Bath Trends magazine, and I love reading
through it because it does show off. There is a huge conference they have in Las Vegas, which is
KBIS conference, which is kitchen and bath for designers that come to you. And it's so cool to kind of
see some of the neat features.
Now, again, you'll notice in here there is the brushed brass kind of look. It's not gold. It's the brushed
brass.
And so, again, when we do some staging and big bathrooms like this, I mean, you could go
overboard. I could bring in a lot more stuff. But to me, I just was like, I don't even want to touch
anything in here because it's just so pretty.
We keep it simple. Hotel, white bathroom dressings, just as if you're at a spa hotel. That's how I kind
of like to stage the bathrooms.
I mean, I just didn't want to really take away from just looking at this beautiful vertical tile. The lighting
is gorgeous. And of course, the mirrors, it's just so detailed.
I didn't even want to bring anything really in to distract from that. We just did a little touch of something
is really, again, the staging in a bathroom here is more for the photos. But we did bring in a beautiful
piece of art that is reflected in the mirror and kind of has the goals that are in the bathroom here and
put a little bench just to give an idea of there's so much that you can do with the space.
You could do a huge another for type rug in here if you wanted to. But it's just so detailed and unique
in the flooring, the tile, the coloring. I mean, they did go all out.
And so sometimes you don't want to what we call overstage. We kind of make it very simplistic. And I
like clean lines.
And again, just give it a little bit of an elegant touch. And that hotel like feeling.
[Judy]
So reinforcing the elegance of the luxury that goes with the rest of the theme of the home and the
texture. That's so inviting.
[Krisztina]
Yeah.
[Judy]
Inviting people to come move in.
[Krisztina]
I know. And it's one of those things where sellers are like, well, when they get quotes, I see them
checkmarking everything. I'm like, Mr. Seller, don't worry, you don't need to stage the whole entire
house. You just need to stage, again, those main areas that are very important. And these days it is
living. And to be honest, the living, the kitchen and the primary bedroom is the big one.
The dining is still questionable, but it's still there. Maybe it'll make a comeback because those kitchen
aisles are getting larger, as we know. But the bathrooms are getting larger.
They're becoming more lux. Again, I think that's just a millennial type influence there. They're wanting
all the bells and whistles once again.
[Judy]

So final thing I like to tell people is to remember to prepack your valuables. Which people think about
their jewelry, cash, firearms or things they know to pack up, put away. People don't always think about
alcohol.
Fancy wine may be something they want to put away and prepack, except for the occasional decanter
that's part of staging is fine. But also I suggest putting knives away in the kitchen and prescription
medication, making sure in an occupied home you're going to have people coming through. That's
something people don't think about.
Go ahead and put that not in the medicine cabinet, not on the counter. Try to pack that away.
[Krisztina]
Valuables, putting away, you know, high end valuables is definitely suggested, especially when you
get around different holidays and things like that, too. And when it gets a little darker out, making sure
lighting is on as well or any sensor type lights. You know, I always suggest if they're going to be living
there somewhat, but not really all the time there, then making sure there's some timers on the lights
as well.
And, you know, putting a timer on a light, maybe in one living, maybe one in a bedroom, maybe the
light is on underneath of a microwave or sink of some nature. Just do it shows a little bit that
somebody is there to kind of deter from anything, especially when dealing with vacant houses, too.
That is even more significant.
They're making sure that alarms are on and doors are all locked and things like that, too, is a very
you've spent all the time.
[Judy]
Right. Yes. You spend all the time to prepack, neutralize, get your home looking really good.
You're going to do the best you can to keep it as clean as you can. But we understand you're still
living there. And of course, once those photos are taken, that's critical.
Let everything be perfect, if you will. But once people are coming through, having showings, it's
different. It's OK if they're so sitting out by the sink.
What final tips do you have? The lighting, having some lights on timers, being able to turn lights on.
What other final tips do you have for when it comes down to showings to make the home show really
well?
[Krisztina]
Um, you know, just obviously during the day when it's really pretty, that time of the day is probably
best. Evening showings could be a little tough, but sometimes the house looks gorgeous at night as
well. I love to see the photos that show the house during the day and at night and also to those
exterior spaces as well.
I think they're very important here in Atlanta. Sometimes they're even really pretty at night, especially
if it's in a townhome that has a top roof, you know, balcony type rooftop deck of some type. Those are
great and really pretty to look at in the day, but also at night, especially about the city skyline here in
Atlanta.
And again, it just boils down to it's really going to be about the photos. In the end, we're doing more
storytelling, there's social media these days. And so video, video, video, I'm sorry, but it's just the most
important.
Absolutely. And you just want to make sure that, you know, cords are hidden and the little toys and
things like that are also hidden. And just making it as perfect, obviously, as show ready.
Imagine it being a model home, basically, is kind of the goal.
[Judy]
For the photos.
[Krisztina]
That's the goal for the photos. Yeah, for sure. Where can people find you?
Yeah, so No Vacancy Home Staging has a website, novacancy-atl.com. We also have a second new
domain name website at stagingatlanta.com, which is coming out as we'll be celebrating 20 years
staging homes in Atlanta.
[Judy]

We're excited. Yeah, congratulations. Thank you.
Thanks for joining us today. Thank you. This was so fun.
Yes.

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How to Stage a Vacant Home for a Faster, Higher-Value Sale

Show Notes

Expert Insights with Krisztina Bell, Founder of No Vacancy Home Staging

🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why vacant homes absolutely need staging

• Budget-friendly updates that give huge returns

• How staging creates emotional connection and perceived space

• What really happens behind the scenes with a staging team

• How staging supercharges photography and video

• Why lighting, lighter colors, and defined zones matter

• The impact of staging on appraisals and price per square foot

• 2025 staging trends and evolving buyer expectations

• How to prep a vacant home for safe, successful showings

💡 Why This Matters for Home Sellers

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