It looks good to me. everything is tasteful - no really loud colours/items. Nothing is crowded or cramped-looking, but you still have lots of seating. You are showing your real estate well - imho.

I would try to redo your Paint in a more neutral tone. I'd paint the walls a light greyish pale green or pale blue and slip cover your furnishings in white or cream. I would remove the slip covers in the dining room. I think you have too much furniture in the living room too. But you have arranged the room nicely. These colors are just somewhat outdated.

Your tables, lamps, and furniture don't really go together. Everything looks dated and tired. I would get some inexpensive tables and a pair of lamps in addition to lightening up the paint and slip covering the furniture as I recommended earlier. It is a nice space. You should not have trouble selling if it is priced right and things are freshened up a bit!

I would get a slipcover and some pillows on that sofa right away. The house looks great, but you have a lot of messy clutter... I would move the TV to another room until you have it sold

I would also remove the slipcovers from the dining chairs.

First, let me congratulate you for your insight. Staging a house for sale is a means of increasing the appeal of your house to potential buyers, because professional stagers consider the target market for your house before they make their recommendations.

If you are using the services of a realtor, hopefully they recommended staging your house or at least will co-operate with the process of preparing your house to attract buyers. Staging is about selling your house: it is not interior decorating for living. Buyers are not supposed to be focusing on your furnishings & decor: they are supposed to be focusing on the space & architectural details of each room.

Staging is about ensuring each room is clean, in good condition, and the furniture & decor make it clear to buyers the purpose of the room. It isn't always necessary to re-paint, replace furniture, etc. etc. as long as the furnishings in the room are in good condition & not dated.

From the pictures you have provided, the living room appears to be a generous size & an attractive style.

The focal point of this room is the fireplace, which at this time of year can be an important selling feature.

Priority for selling: Less is more. Remove the chairs in front of the shelving, along with the tables & lamps, the 2nd sofa, the TV on shelf, reduce the number of books and pieces of decor on shelves, remove the art work over mantel.

The furniture remaining should face the fireplace & create a cozy, inviting space while allowing the buyer to envision their furniture in the room.

If you have wall - to - wall carpeting, ensure it is steam cleaned before house is listed.

The windows are an architectural feature of the room. Remove the material draped across the top of windows.

If the TV has to stay, move the chair in front of it, and move it to the other side of the room, so it can be a reading chair & not block the shelves.

The art on the wall beside the window is too small for this wall. I would remove it. You don't need to replace it with any other piece as the windows are the main attraction on that side of the room.

If you will be staging your room on your own, FB Home has provided lots of ideas for you to try. I have found the best way to "see" a room from another's perspective is to take photos as I go. There have been times when I thought I had created just the right look, took a photo & realized it wasn't working for whatever reason & I would need to add or remove furniture or decor to get the right balance.

Finally, ensure the MLS photos are really good photos of each room & exterior of the house, as they provide potential buyers with the first view of your property. Review the listing as soon as it goes online. I am constantly amazed by the number of sellers who pay no attention to how their house appears to potential buyers all over the world on the world wide web.

Do you also have a family room where you watch TV? If so I would remove the television...let the " buyers" try to figure out where they could put one.

If I were you, I'd use all of FB Home's suggestions. Spot on.

As an agent, I would first say, "ask your agent." Because he/she knows who the most likely buyers are in your area. Secondly, I agree with most of what FB said, although I wouldn't add a rug under the glass table, I would remove that table altogether and leave as much open space in that room as possible, because you want buyers to walk into that room, stand in the middle of the room and take a moment to enjoy the height of the ceiling and the feeling of space it creates. I also would say remove everything from the around the window, and make sure it SHINES. Less, less, less is more! The less that you have in the house, the bigger it feels. Get to packing that stuff, because you are moving anyway. I work a lot with buyers, and I can tell you that more than anything, they want to walk into a home a home and it be clean, well kept, in good repair, un-cluttered, and priced right. I would not spend a bunch of money on décor for a home I was selling. Before I spent a dime, I would pay a designer/stager to come for a few hours and assist me in moving around what I already have and telling me what to pack up and move out.

Moved some furniture. Real estate agent did not ask us to make changes and he is the number 1 agent in our area.

I recently purchased a house with a similar color, windows (almost identical), ceiling and fireplace. I only have a few very minor suggestions. The picture over your fireplace is not in scale with the wall or fireplace. If you have a larger one or a larger mirror in the house, I'd swap it out. The curtains on the windows really disguise just how awesome and large the windows are. That could be a HUGE selling point and you're not really letting them shine. Take the curtains down. Doing so will also let the view from outdoors be one of the focal points of the house. This was a big deal to us when we purchased our house. It also makes your eye travel up and REALLY appreciate the full height of the ceilings. Another major selling point when we bought. Those two things (but mostly the curtains) should have a great impact when selling.

Murphytolley: big improvement! good for you taking the initiative. Carry on with removing more from shelves, etc. and you will have the room that buyers will be able to walk into easily, without feeling overwhelmed.

It's all about space & allowing buyers to feel the spaciousness of each room

As a new set of eyes coming in on this thread, I would take a few minutes and spray out the brass metal on the fireplace to black. It dates the room. Simple, cheap DYI ;) I am sure it will sell either way but commenting what stood out negative to me. Usually, I have a lot more negative LOL.

Forgot to say, I love the window view!!

Lovely room. If I were to buy this house I'd remove the drapes immediately. If you don't want to remove them all, at least remove the center one.

great job with your rearrangement and de-cluttering! i think one reason you are getting comments about your draperies is they don't hang well. if you are reluctant to remove the centre treatment--drape the side panels over the the tops of the side windows to see how much cleaner it looks; then you will feel comfortable with removing them:)
the second reason is the treatment is dated: when i went to design school in 1994 these were the rage! you have nice woodwork detail in the room--clearing off the window would enhance that.
simplify the 'chatzskis' on the bookcase (remove:) ); no personal pictures in this room; and do some alternating stacking on the books: some vertical, some horizontal and don't line up one shelf end to end--leave some space for a 'weight' [sculpture., bookend etc. i'm sure your house will sell quickly so even a low-light plant -like grape-leaf ivy- would look good on the bookcase.

I understand all the comments on the drapes. My biggest issue is that I am not sure how much damage I will find in the walls and trim when I remove the drapes and roman shades. This could result in needing to paint the entire wall and trim.

hmmmm, maybe that is what a potential buyer is thinking...

Looking much better. Style the bookcases with 1/3 books, 1/3 decor and 1/3 open space. Keep the decor items large, simple and not too personal.. Agree the sailboat must go, as it is too style specific.. Consider a lighter, vertical piece of art over the mantel. I'd remove the tiny table by the red chair and the gold and wood footstool. Agree with suggestion to paint the brass on the FP with heat proof black paint. The drapes are dated but you do need the softness they add, so I wouldn't worry about them. Let the new owners figure out what they want. They may love them, dated or not!

I would add some height to your mantle with some candlesticks of different sizes on one side of your clock and a vase with some natural twigs on the other side. Good luck!

I think most of the suggestions above are great. Remove a 1/3 of everything, get rid of the drapes, etc. However, I must while heatedly disagree on creating a smell with vanilla or apple pie, or anything for that matter. It's very dated advice in my opinion, and can turn off buyers who are sensitive to smell, and make them think you are covering up a bad odor. Just go for a simple fresh clean smell.

Stupid phone autocorrected my sentence. It should read; I wholeheartedly disagree on vanilla or apple pie smells.

Thanks for everyone's comments. Had pictures taken of the house today and both the professional real estate photographer and agent loved it. We will see what happens next.

I think Cindy and Sharon are right on the money. I followed a general rule of "don't add...take away". Good luck!

Remember ,if you can do more then just remove stuff, and add some emotional connection pieces to each room, make it look more like a model home you will not only get the price you want but more! If you live in a hot market, then no worries, but before you drop the price, Have a Professional Stagger in and keep your money!

I'm an agent and produce and host a monthly TV home show. I would definitely remove the drapes. They spoil the line of those lovely windows. Keep a low bowl of FRESH flowers or fruit on the glass table.

Remove foot stool, ottoman & winged chair. Rest looks great!

I agree with most comments. Remove curtains at windows. Change art work over fireplace and a lovely vase of fresh flowers will lift your lovely room.

I agree with that!

I would put the gold love seat in storage and put the two chairs on the window wall with a table and lml between them. Then the sofa on the opposite side of the fireplace facing them. I would take the TV out of the room if you can stand it until the house is sold. The TV blocks half of those beautiful built-in cabinets now. Otherwise if there room on the entry wall for a small console with the TV on it. This would give you two focal points i the room...the TV and the fireplace. I can't tell, but a nice area rug in front of the fireplace between the chairs and the sofa would be nice also. Center your glass coffee table between the chairs and sofa and don't place anything tall on it so it won't block the view of the fireplace when you enter the room.

This room has good good bones. I say remove most of the seating to open it up. Leave only one chair with the couch. A few dated things to change. The fireplace gold change to black. Its a special paint that can handle heat (my friend just did her fireplace looks great). Change the picture over the fireplace to fit scale and more updated.

Get rid of those drapes! they are depressing and inappropriate for those lovely windows.

I haven't read all the posts above but I did notice you moved the love seat to the window. It looks dwarfed in comparison with that large, lovely window ... it needs to look balanced and the furniture needs to look proportional to the room. I'd try putting the couch there and then place the two chairs opposite with the coffee table in the middle; or vice versa. Put the small love seat in storage, it's too small compared to what else you have and all the furniture makes things look cluttered ... make the room look bigger, show off the fireplace from the living and dining rooms and make it look expansive. Clear out the TV and get an area rug that has a darker field color for under the coffee table to anchor the room.

Hire a professional stager in your area. It will be worth the money and will get you top dollar for your home. Staging can be VERY affordable.

Listed our home on September 16. Sold it for a full price offer on Friday. Hopefully we will have no hiccups with buyer financing or inspections. Thanked for all your ideas. I used several of them.

it looks good ,you could do things a little different in the bookcase . let me see if I can find an example

some books could be put on a pile

Congratulations!!!

Yay! Hopefully others benefit from this thread. Main takeaways: neutral colors and as little "personal" taste as possible. Universal appeal where others can visualize themselves in the space is key.