The way you live in a home and the way you sell it are two different things, says home-staging guru Barb Schwarz in her book "Home Staging: The Winning Way to Sell Your House for More Money." Here are some home-staging tips to help you while your home is being marketed.

Staging is not decorating. Decorating is personalizing a space, where staging is "depersonalizing" it. Staging is not about displaying a favorite color rug or ruffles someone loves. It's about selling the house. Remember, if buyers are seeing a messy house, you are throwing away money.

If you can smell it, you can't sell it.  Do a sniff test and understand that odors you might be used to have to be eliminated.  Have an outsider come in and do the sniff test with you.

Clutter equates to stress. One of the biggest challenges to home staging is clutter.  It's just as important to get rid of excess "stuff" as it is to clean your house.  Clutter interferes with the potential homebuyers' ability to mentally move into the house. They can't imagine their own furniture in a room if it's cluttered.

Consider painting the interior of the house. You might like the designer colors and/or wallpaper, but homebuyers want the house to have a cohesive, simple color scheme. Drastic color changes from room to room can actually startle potential homebuyers.

For more information or to view Barb Schwarz's CD, give me a call at 702-360-8165 or e-mail me at Mary@MaryW.com.  I would be happy to loan it to you for a day.