@apple_pie_order here are answers to your questions:

1- Will anyone be living here while the house is for sale? Yes

2- What is your budget range for staging? At this time, not counting the paint, we are only looking to spend $200-$500 on staging the bedrooms. If we get to spring and the home has still not sold, we will go all out with pro staging, pro photos, and list on the MLS. Right now the home is for sale off market.

3- Will you be painting the entire interior or just the bedrooms? Foyer, living room, and dining room have been freshly painted BM Albescent, kitchen and laundry freshly painted BM Palace White. Upstairs bedrooms will be painted to "match" the existing color so that we don't have to mess with the doors and trim too much. Main floor primary bedroom is primed and ready for paint, we just need to select color. Primary suite is separate/private from rest of main floor, accessed via its own little hallway.

4- Do the carpets need professional cleaning or are they in pretty good shape? Carpets were professionally cleaned less than a year ago. Don't think it will make any meaningful difference to repeat that now. They're vacuumed often and lightly used. The home is very clean in general, and the carpets are in good shape considering how OLD they are. I'm assuming whoever buys the home will replace all of the flooring.

@porkchop_z5b_MI - you mentioned the windows look dirty. There is a problem contributing to that appearance. They all have a UV protective film that I think is "going bad." I'm going to look into the correct way to clean the windows without further destroying the UV film...

Thanks for info, that is helpful. Here's a draft budget for bedding from Target, total $440.

4 pillows for each bed @ $15 per pair: $90

1 queen bed in bag for master bedroom on first floor: $150

2 double/full bed in bag for upstairs bedrooms @ $75 each: $150

Round mirror over chest of drawers: $50

Philosophical remarks on staging:

The things used for professional staging are all chosen to project an image of new, fashionable, and comfortable. For staging a nearly vacant house, it is very hard to achieve that look without buying new stuff. Professional stagers replace their furniture every three to five years to stay in fashion. That's why "vacant and empty" often looks better that bringing in random pieces of furniture older than, say, ten years and trying to make it look like an aspirational lifestyle.

Selling a vacant house means emphasizing good characteristics of the house that are permanent things like location, view, spaciousness, good floor plan, well-maintained, and so on.

The bedrooms look empty and sorry. You're not likely to change that without spending well more than is in your budget. You might try consignment stores, but I suspect an empty house will work better than what you have:

Pic#1: A bed with no headboard, an undersized bedside table, and no chairs. Not much color, either.

Bedroom #3: A small room with a bed shoved in a corner, a gray throw, brownish pillow that don't match, no room for a bedside table, the undersized bedside table is near the closet. The arrangement of the furniture makes the room look small and cramped. Maybe you want to make it a kids' room with a twin bed and some toys. Empty is better than showing that a bed only fits very awkwardly.

It's worth noting that if the house has 3 beds and is in a good school district, you'll get more interest in the summer. Families are less likely to move during the school year. While fall might be fine, but a private sale is going to be harder. If you do move to pro staging and MLS, you probably want to wait until Spring.

I'd look long and hard at the budget for the MLS and for pro-staging and think about how you are going to price the house. According to Zillow, vacant staging will cost $4K to $6K, which is a lot. Do a budget. Ask about how many viewings the real estate agents get. See how many you get.

For bedroom 3 I'm thinking of trying the bed with head under the window.

For a cheap headboard, use OSB or plywood and wrap them in material(can get from Walmart). Stand or attach the OSB/plywood to the wall. This might be better than using large pillows. For sure you need some kind of headboard.

Is there a furniture rental place in your area? Add pieces that you don’t have to own.

I don’t care if a house is empty or not, I can look past furniture and I can imagine my own belongings, but…what might be helpful for others is showing a queen size bed with nightstands, so they can get an idea of what the space actually is. Yeah vases look pretty in the photos but a vase on a dresser isn’t going to sell a house.

In bedroom #3 put the bed on the wall across from the door. Next to the door and under the window are both kind of awkward.

My SO is a realtor and often hosts open houses of other people's listings (that's common here).

Anyway, you would be surprised how many people have no concept of dimension of empty rooms and do not understand what will fit in a small to normal sized bedroom, and will often say things like "a bed won't even Fit in here" when clearly beds have to fit in a bedroom. So at the very least if a house is otherwise being shown empty or almost empty, the bedrooms have a "bed" often a staging bed of the largest reasonable size that will fit, with space for tables on each side if it is a queen or king especially.

With bedroom #3, with a full sized bed crammed into the corner next to the door or under the window it makes it seem like a larger bed won't fit anywhere else because of the awkward door placement (and window placement) --but it's a biggish room.

This is a King Sized bed.

Not that you would likely put a king sized bed across from the door so the foot is 18 inches from the doorswing (4' from the wall). But you could There is Plenty of room to put a full there or even a queen which is the same length, but narrower. Just to show that one fits with plenty of room on each side.

I will try the bed like that for bedroom 3 @palimpsest, thank you. I'm worried about the door swing being too close to foot of bed but only one way to find out how it is, I'll give it a try.

Today I got the bedside tables from mom's basement, to be used in bedroom 2. I need to find a pair of tall-ish lamps to go on them. Would like to find a pair for around $60 total...

I think I will put the Puppy art above the bed in bedroom 2.

Also today I bought this bedding for bedroom 2 -

I got a king size for the double bed so that hopefully it covers most of the frame. The black and white bedding in bedroom 1 is a stripe so I thought doing another stripe could be a way to tie the rooms together a little bit.

Totally agree with getting the more substantial bedsides out from the basement. They look like interesting pieces so I think will only add interest to the room they are in.
Second the suggestion to try thrift stores for any additions like lamps. You’d be surprised by what you can find, and they can go back once they have met their purpose

Since you mentioned that Bedroom #1 is primed only, I would paint that. In a white.

I would clean and leave them empty. You can virtually stage rooms for on line shoppers which is where people will find your home initially. Bedroom 3 looks too small with that bed. I might put in a twin and orientate it so it's under the window. That way a bedside lamp makes sense.

Bedroom #3 reads…too small for the bed. I would leave it empty OR put a twin and a desk in there. OR nothing at all. Empty will look larger than a full sized bed shoved into a corner.

I, too, feel that unstaged is fine and probably better than understaged. However, if you are committed to staging, I wondered if any purchases made could be used in your next home. One thought I had about bedroom #3 is to stage is as a pre-teen's room and have a twin bed run along the wall opposite the door and shown as a daybed. The bed would be placed parellel and against the long wall. Then I would add a desk and a dresser on either side of the door (the dresser on the closet side of the door). There is a lot of reasonably priced furniture listed on marketplace, so that would help keep costs down. Wishing you luck on your sale!

What is done in other homes for sale in your area in your price range? Look at your local MLS for clues.
I also think that empty and sparkling clean generally looks better than sparsely furnished.

Sparsely furnished looks sad.

I think it is helpful to have a lushly staged bed in each bedroom with fresh paint - I agree most folks think beds take up more space then they do - if it were me, I would go with simple low quality white sheets (no one will sleep on them) and a fluffy folded back duvet with Euro pillows and standard pillows

Bedroom 1 - I put the art up and added a couple large pillows.... Here's how it's looking now:

This below was my starting point when I created this discussion, so that you don't have to scroll all the way up to see it:

Still need to paint this room and I'm going to buy a mirror for above the dresser. I think a ~28" round mirror with thin black frame. Do I for sure need to add color in here? I know I'll need new switchplates. I should get some greenery for the vase(s). I guess ideally I should put another pillow on the bed?

Why bother to paint? Just leave it neutral.

Sorry, but it still looks bare. A cheap chair from Target might be good to help with the bareness.

You don't need anything in the vases.

@shirlpp right now it's just primer on the walls in bedroom 1. If you click to expand the photo below, you can see that the ceiling is freshly painted, with the ceiling paint coming down slightly onto the tops of the walls, and the rest of the walls are primer over blue paint. If you saw it in person you would agree it absolutely needs to be properly painted. I am inclined to go with a soft white paint for this room. Considering SW Alabaster, BM Cloud White, BM White Dove... or could do BM Simply White as that's the ceiling color.

Here's a version at Target. $109 in king size that will drape near the floor on a queen air mattress.

https://www.target.com/p/8pc-clipped-jacquard-stripe-comforter-bedding-set-threshold/-/A-79698837

Just this small mockup starts to fill the room.

I wouldn't buy any furniture nor place any art on the walls. Keep it bright and simple with neutral linens and make up the beds nicely.

Have you thought about virtual staging? I have noticed an increasing number of listings lately where the pictures show this. Many realtors use virtual staging software. That would save a lot of time and money on your part.

^ The home is for sale off market, so not on the MLS as a new listing with photos etc. If we don't sell off market by spring, we will list on the MLS. Would certainly consider virtual staging if we do end up listing, it's pretty common in our market. (But I really hope we can just sell off market asap.)

IMO, the overall condition and cleanliness of the home is most important. That's where I would spend my money. Main bedroom staging could be helpful, but I wouldn't worry about secondary bedrooms.

Bedroom 3 looks so much better with this new bed position. Hard to photograph, but in person this change has made a big difference. (Ignore the bedding, will get something nicer.)

Before:

Now:

This room is not suited for a double bed or larger. It would be much better with a day bed or not used as a bedroom at all. But given that we do need it to function as a bedroom while we still live here, and the bed we have is a double, this really seems to be the best spot for the bed. We tried it every place it could possibly go and this position is the best because the door swing does not feel cramped at all and there is good space all around the bed.

I like accomplishing an improvement for free!

Other than nicer bedding, anything else I should do for staging?

Glad you pulled the bedside from storage, it makes the room look more intentional. With your bedding, you can include an olive green throw or pillow slips to tie in the lamp base. Stick with the oversize for the drape over the sides.

Please clarify:

Are all three bedrooms going to be continuously lived in while the house is for sale? If so, I think you are going to need some more furniture such as chests of drawers, nightstands and lamps. Are those available to you for borrowing?

@apple_pie_order We live in this home and will live here until sale closes. We have everything we need. Would only add more for staging purposes. Both upstairs bedrooms are used for sleeping. No one sleeps in the main floor bedroom (bedroom 1) which is why it's just an air mattress on top of paint cans. I do store my clothes in the main floor primary suite (dresser in bedroom and walk-in closet.)

We have access to some additional items over at mom's house that we could borrow, but nothing great. I already brought the 2 nightstands over. I had initially planned to use both in bedroom 2, but have decided to instead use one in each of the upstairs bedrooms. There are some lamps we could borrow, but nothing that looks very nice. Also some mirrors.

Thanks for info. If you do choose to add lamps, you can try TJ Maxx or Home Goods in addition to thrift stores and local consignment shops. In my area, thrift shops often have lamps from the 1980's and 1990's such as bean pots with conical shades. In my area, TJ Maxx and Home Goods have fashionable selections, including markdowns. YMWV.

Add art or a plant on the other side of the window

It's not going well... I think I found mold on the nightstands. The underside. Cleaned with bleach and also cleaned with alcohol. (Just the unfinished underside wood.) Now have the nightstands on their sides with underside facing south windows to blast them with sunlight. But while I was looking at one of them baking in the sun after its bleach sponge-bath, I saw a tiny ghost bug like a mite or spider run out from a crevice. I smushed it, then a couple minutes later saw another one run out. Almost clear / translucent and almost microscopic. Could be freshly born spiders or could be some bizarre basement bug that lives in wood. I guess this is what I get for "shopping" in mom's basement.

The other problem is bedding for the upstairs double beds. King bedspreads are too big, queen too small, so I either need oversized queen or regular queen with a bedskirt. Need bedspreads that don't wrinkle because they'll be stored in laundry baskets and just thrown overtop the beds for showings. Too puffy and they become really annoying to store, but all staging advice obsesses about puffy puffy puffy bedding. Quilts or coverlets are what I'd prefer to do.

Yesterday I spent 6 hours looking for bedding and lamps at: Home Goods, Target, Walmart, Marshalls, Home Sense, Kohls, At Home, ReStore, (probably more I'm forgetting...) and then spent another several hours looking for bedding on Amazon. Didn't buy a single thing. It's scary looking on Amazon and seeing something that looks so great in the promotional image then you look at reviews and see customers' actual photos of the bedspread and it looks dreadful. Like when a fast food restaurant shows the burger in a commercial and you just know it'd look nothing like that if you ever ordered one.

I don't know why you getting mauled maybe your place is too much humidity in it needs a dehumidifier on or AC on and let me tell you about mold bleach doesn't take away all of it you must not use alcohol with bleach and I use vinegar it takes the smell away and kills 87% of the mold spores and maybe you need to get rid of the nightstands in the dumpster cuz you can't be selling a place it smells like mold I hope that helps you what I said you can do

I wouldn't go buying a lamp unless it's coming with me when I move especially spending money if you're in a cold area you must have the heat on low I had to sell my brother's house when he passed

Spiders live by wood and so do termites maybe you need to have the place sprayed or you buy the stuff and do it yourself

I am shopping lamps for lake cottage bedrooms and have gotten some terrific ones on Facebook marketplace - sometimes they are almost brand new, sometimes they just new a new fresh shade but I have not paid more than $10-20 per lamp (several of them will get $$$ lampshades from Pooky, which defeats the purpose of my bargain hunting but I love a good lampshade 🙈)

Since your home is for sale, time is of the essence. 4 days have passed since your first post. Consider calling a professional stager and externinator today to get this done. Good luck!

Here is a trick - use a blanket/quilt/coverlet tucked in around the mattress. You then can fold your duvets or comforters into thirds - and place it at the foot of your beds. It will make them look fluffy.

If you need to hide what is underneath the mattress, you can add an inexpensive bed skirt from Amazon to hide things. They have tailored ones that simply wrap around the bed vs. needing to lift the mattress in order to put on the bed skirt. The wraps or tailored bed skirts look a bit more updated than the full flowing ones that were popular awhile ago.

Also - you can purchase a cute sheet set if you want to further layer the bed (you then turn down the blanket/quilt/coverlet) about 1/2 of the way down and fold the top sheet down so it is showing below the pillows - but above the coverlet. To make it simple, you could just purchase all white sheet set.

The problem when looking on websites for bedding is that none of it looks like the photos of the beds that are posted by the retailer. This isn't just for Amazon ones - it's also the same for Pottery Barn and other places more expensive than Amazon.

The reason is because for the shoot (plus, in the store) the duvet covers are stuffed with TWO duvets - not one - in order to achieve the super fluffy/comfy look that everyone wants. Also, many times, there is more than one duvet on the bed.

I've purchased some linen duvet covers off of Amazon for my .lake house guest bedrooms. The ones I've purchased look just as nice as the one I bought at Restoration Hardware for the primary bedroom at the lake house. I doubt you want to spend as much on duvet cover.

You can then put a throw on the foot of the bed - just thrown across a corner - or add another light blanket (like a muslin one) folded and placed at the foot of your bed. However, I don't think you need to spend $ for staging.

Here is an example on how to make a bed look comfy - however, I think it looks "fluffier = more comfortable if you switch the quilt/coverlet and put it down first over the sheets + tuck it in around the bed (you don't have to tuck - but it looks "neater" that way). So, I switch the comforter/duvet and the quilt/coverlet from what is shown below:

You can purchase some inexpensive pillows if you need them - you will have two pillowcases + two shams to use at the top of your bed.

You could add another small accent pillow if you want (don't have to). Also, if you have accent pillows laying around (or know someone who does) - there are CHEAP covers that you can purchase to cover the older accent pillows (so you don't have to buy any new ones).

Here are just some quick searches on Amazon (I only purchase 100% European linen duvet covers and shams + 100% cotton nice percale sheets - but those are expensive). I've found alternatives that will look nice - however, since I don't use anything synthetic, I have no idea how they'd feel - but I figured you're looking for inexpensive ideas - not really nice bedding.

You could do a white and tan bedding combo - it comes with two pillow shams:

Olive green is pretty popular now - you could do this with the rest of the bedding being white - or add olive green striped sheets (they have them in the sheet set I show below)

Here is another quilt/coverlet that is pretty inexpensive:

Here are all the colors the above quilt is available in - however, some colors are less expensive (like the bluish grey):

Herer is an inexpensive sheet set - it comes in many colors - however, the white set is quite a bit less than the other colors I pulled up when I was looking:

Here is the queen size - it has a coupon = it is about $9.00 less = around $20 for the set:

Here is a very popular alternative down duvet:

Here it is in a queen size:

Here it is on a customer's bed (in a review) - it comes in different colors - but I'd do white:

This person hasn't put it inside of a duvet cover - apparently, there are many people who don't (I have goose down duvets -so, I always have it inside of a cover - however, these are probably easy to wash):

If you look at the customer's photos, many of them look pretty unappealing. However, there are a few photos that have been posted by customers who clearly know how to make a bed. That makes all the difference! Also, putting your duvet or comforter in the dryer for a bit will "fluff" it up - always do that before seeing what it looks like on your bed.

I am sure that there are inexpensive duvet covers - I've seen some for around $18-20. You can also use the comforter that you've bought and treat it the same as a duvet (folding it into thirds at the foot of your bed).

Here is a youtube video that shows how to make a PB looking bed. She does a few things differently + adds more items. Also - the ones she lists from Amazon are more expensive than the ones I've listed above - but it provides you with a "how to" video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJzCTApQyss

I'm sure that there are more "how to" videos - this was just one I watched quickly - and it had the basics - so, I decided to post it for you.

You spent 6 hours looking for bedding and lamps? Are you going to use these items in your new home?

You're adding so much stress to your life and now you have mold and bugs to deal with. Stop the madness :)

National Association of REALTORS® report "2025 Profile of Home Staging" 37% of buyers' agents reported that staging the living room was found to be most important, followed by the primary bedroom (34%) and the kitchen (23%).

Spiders! Mold! You have my sympathy. Also sympathies on the colossal frustration of shopping and finding nothing. Online reviewers who post photos of the actual items are key to finding out what things are really like.

I forgot about the bed skirts:

This one is the most expensive one (price is for a king):

This one below comes in several colors - the king size is about $12.

Here is one more style - $16 for a king - they have a few other colors (queen might be available in white your area - there are different distribution centers - it is available in other colors):

Here is a duvet cover made by the same company who sells the alternative down comforter insert I posted in my first post:

The king size is $23. It comes in many different colors:

White is easy - all white bedding (or maybe a different color coverlet or sheet set) provides a clean look for the bedrooms.

There is another white duvet cover that was listed right next to the above one - it was a few dollars less than the Bedsure ones. The company selling those also has down alternative duvets -

Here is an alternative way of using the duvet - it looks nice when you have an upholstered headboard + side and foot boards. However, it doesn't look the same when you don't have that type of bed. However, the photo kind of shows how I tuck in my coverlet - so, I thought I'd post it.

You could use the duvet like in the above photo - if you have a folded coverlet that is used at the foot of your bed.

OR - make it easy - and just empty the bedrooms!

When I needed staging bedding the last time, after spending hours online looking for the perfect thing, I finally went to Macy's and picked out a poofy bed in bag set in their clearance section. At that point, I was happy to find "pretty good" and abandon my ideas about perfect. The other bedrooms' bedding came from Target, picked out in person from what was actually on the shelves. Fresh, colorful, well priced, and on trend. It's not like we have to live with the staging bedding for the next ten years.

I agree about the madness. Going to stores is a good idea, however, the stock is limited.

Look online at the stores you visited in person for bedding.

This table is 40.00 from Target and would look fine in your bedroom(s).

You're way overthinking this.

Paint the rooms white.

Don't spend unnecessary money. The buyers will likely rip out the carpet and paint the rooms anyway.

Have a realtor come in and assess what has to be done. Dollars to donuts - you will have to spend some of that $200-$500 dollars on side tables and lamps.

Since it's FSBO - you want to put your best foot foward to appeal to a buyer.

Still a work in progress but here's how the bedrooms looked for our first showing today:

Bedroom 1 (still deciding if I can use that little shelf thing somewhere.)

When you enter the room, the mirror reflects the view:

I know the bedding is too flat and the throw blanket is too small :/

Bedroom 2 is still a mess, having a hard time with this room. Probably needs 2 side tables with matching lamps.

Bedroom 3 is darling in person, hard to capture how cute with my phone camera.

May add the horse art above bed:

Reminder of how each room started out:

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 3