10 Questions for . . . Barb Schwarz, Professional Stager

In this installment of 10 Questions for . . . , Associate Editor Kimberly Janeway interviews Barb Schwarz, staging guru and CEO of Stagedhomes.com. Schwarz explains staging and how it helps to sell houses.

Who coined the phrase “home staging”?
I invented the industry 36 years ago. I had an interior design business and then went into real estate in the early ‘70s and was shocked at the way the houses looked. I started thinking about decorating houses to sell them. I used my theatre experience to set the scene. Staging is preparing your home so that the buyers can imagine living there with their own things. But most people have too much stuff and they don’t think to put it away. I’ve taught more than one million realtors and decorators about staging via my seminars.

But don’t potential buyers like a house that’s neat but lived in?
Just because you lived in a home one way isn’t the way you sell it. A home becomes a house, then a product to get top dollar. That’s why you do the staging—so the buyer doesn’t look at the stuff, but looks at the space.

What does a stager actually do?
First, I chat on phone with the potential client and then visit the home. I bring my credentials and pictures of my work. I take notes and photos and then I’ll write a proposal. I work on full homes, vacant homes. I have inventory for rent. Usually in lived-in homes you don’t have to buy or rent anything. Staging includes cleaning, packing up stuff, rearranging and moving furniture from one room to another, displaying art, and maybe even painting rooms.

Packing up stuff? What happens to the stuff?
The homeowners might have to get portable storage or box it up and put it in storage and get rid of it for now. Or they can have a garage sale or give things to charity.

Tell me more about staging. What are the steps?
1. Get it clean (stager arranges this or owner does it)
2. Make it clutter-free (seller or stager does it)
3. Use color wisely. Put soft colors, neutrals, on the walls and floors. This expands the size of the room. No red bedrooms, no purple. Put the punch in accessories.
4. Compromise. When you can, put the money in something that’s in poor condition, such as replacing a vinyl kitchen floor that’s in bad shape. But if the bathroom counter is pink, diffuse it and go retro by hanging black hand towels, putting up a new white shower curtain, and painting the walls white.
5. Creativity. Staging is not about spending money. I can stage homes with a ball of rope and a pair of clippers. Angle the bed so that it opens walls and makes the room look bigger. Use nice sheets and pull back the bedspread to show off the sheets.
6. Communication. What is each room communicating to the buyer? Do we have to change the message? Is the room calm, peaceful?
7. Commitment. The seller has to be committed and say they can do this and not be afraid of changes.

10 Questions for . . . Katherine Steiger, Professional Organizer

In this installment of 10 Questions for . . . , Senior Editor Daniel DiClerico talks to Katherine Steiger, a professional organizer whose company, Right Stuff Organizing, helps households in the Boston area combat clutter. Steiger shares her tricks of the trade and favorite sources and explains how to keep things organized with kids in the house.

What are the most common sources of clutter in the home?
Mail is one of the biggest causes of clutter. It's relentless, and people just don't know how to deal with it. The first thing is to get your name off the mailing lists by visiting the Direct Marketing Association Web site. That will put an end to unwanted catalogues. Also, don't subscribe to things that you don't read.

I encourage clients to deposit unwanted mail directly in the recycling bin. It can take some time to get off the mailing lists and cancel subscriptions, so this is a good stopgap. If the mail comes through a slot in the front door, keep the recycling bin right there. That might not be the most elegant solution, but if you're entertaining you can always move the bin temporarily. The important thing is to stop the pile up of papers.

In general, what does it take to live an organized life?
I often say to my clients, "Be ruthless." The general rule is if you haven't used something in a year, you're probably not going to ever use it. Maybe there's that one roasting pan you use for Thanksgiving that you do need—you don't want to spend $100 every year to buy a new one. But if you haven't touched the thing in 10 years, you're probably not the one hosting Thanksgiving. So you really need to be honest with yourself. It's the same with clothing. If you haven't worn an outfit for a whole cycle of seasons, get rid of it. Here's where charities help. People always feel better donating clothing than tossing it in the garbage. There's a charity called Dress for Success that prepares out-of-work women for job interviews, including giving them an outfit. Charities are one of the organizer's greatest tools. OnlineOrganizing.com has clearinghouse of organizations that makes it easy to donate just about anything.

There are so many products out there geared toward organization. Are they useful?
People often think if they just buy the right stuff their lives will be perfect. You can spend $200 at the Container Store or Target, but if the products don't get used they haven't helped you. So first you have to figure out what you're going to be left with. Professional organizers use the acronym SPACE:

• Sort the stuff.
• Purge those items you no longer use.
• Assign the keepers a place.
• Pick a Container.
• Equalize—if one comes in, one goes out.

So you see, products are far along in the process. When the time comes, containers should be sized relative to what you have—little things in little containers and big things in bigger containers. And it's always better to use clear containers so that you can see what's inside.

How has the green movement affected home organization?
A big challenge I find is older homes that weren't designed to cope with modern recycling needs. Just figuring out a place where clients can keep a bin or basket is tricky. But there are a lot of retractable trashcans and recycling systems that can be tucked into a cabinet, solving the spatial problem. Sometimes products are the answer.

Another great green organizing resource is Freecycle. This community-based Web site allows you to give away items to or get them from other people in the network. Often you have something that you just don't need anymore and that isn't valuable enough to sell but may not fit within your local charity's donation guidelines. For instance, most charities don't take Legos and other toys for safety reasons. Freecycle is a way to keep them out of the landfill.

The kitchen is command central in many households. What are some tips for keeping one orderly?
The biggest step is getting rid of the stuff you don't use. We all have items crammed in the back of cabinets, the ice-cream or bread maker or the special late-night-TV slicer that we got as a gift 10 years ago. These items should not be taking cabinets space away from things you use every day. If you really do make ice cream once a year for the Labor Day picnic, that's fine. But move the maker to a shelf in the basement.

Once you've purged, you need to create centers of activity. That's a concept organizers use a lot, not just in kitchens. The goal is to create zones where you do the same kinds of activities. That might mean putting all your baking stuff together in a cabinet by the oven and keeping the things that you need for food prep by an island countertop. It's also important to create a landing pad in the kitchen, since it's usually the first and last point of entry for families. A dedicated spot for keys and cell phones will keep you from hunting around for them when you leave. It will also keep the counters clear. You can't let this prime real estate get cluttered with unnecessary stuff.

Women want a clutter-free home

What do women want?

That age-old question should be on the minds of builders, remodelers, and manufacturers of products for the home. Why? Because 91 percent of all new household purchases are made by or influenced by women, according to Paul Foresman, who earlier today at the International Builders’ Show delivered the “Her Home in 2015” seminar, which focused on the design and amenities that women will want—and expect—in their homes in the coming years.

The typical American woman is stressed, and builders/remodelers and manufacturers need to design spaces and products that will make her life easier and her home a haven from the madness, says Foresman, director of business development for Design Basics, a home-plan-design company and runs the quarterly publication Her Home.

Some other key points Foresman made during his presentation:

• Household messes cause stress, but cleaning is no walk in the park either. The solution? Provide women with products and spaces that are easier to clean, say showers without doors.

• Women want to eliminate clutter in the bathroom, kitchen, and garage. They’ll expect to see well-designed storage systems that can rein in the mess.

The simplest stress reducer I can imagine? Have everyone in the house put his or her stuff away without nagging. My colleagues and I agree that would alleviate a lot of tension.—Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman

Essential information: Read our report on closet and garage organizers to find the best products to unclutter your home.

Q&A: I'm agonizing over organizing. How can I get my home in order?

My No. 1 New Year’s resolution was to organize my home, including the garage. Any tips for managing the mess?

You’re not alone. Getting organized ranks high on resolution lists, up there with losing weight and spending more time with family and friends. The National Association of Professional Organizers even designates January as Get Organized Month. This drive to organize spells big business for manufacturers of de- and uncluttering products: The storage-and-organizing industry is a $6 billion business, and Americans will spend $8.6 billion on organizing products in 2011, according to the Freedonia Group, a business-research company.

But while plastic bins and drawer dividers can be part of an organizing strategy, buying them is not the starting point. “I try to steer my clients away from buying products, at least in the beginning,” says NAPO president and Boston-based organizer Standolyn Robertson. Instead, she gets homeowners to figure out how they want to use a space. In a garage, that might mean creating space for a small plant-potting station—“not to mention the $80,000 worth of cars that are currently parked out on the driveway,” says Robertson.

Once you’ve figured out what function a space will serve, it’s time to purge and purge again, as our colleagues at ShopSmart note in their March 2008 issue. Debra Proctor, an organizer based in Raleigh, North Carolina, stresses the importance of sorting. She has clients take everything out of a given space and sort it into three piles: essentials, useful stuff that they’re not crazy about, and items that no longer serve any purpose. She has them sort through the useful pile again until only the bare necessities are left.

The next step involves getting rid of unwanted items. Some of the cast-asides will merit a date with the dustbin. But keep them out of the landfill, if possible, by observing local recycling laws. For example, rather than toss paint cans out with the household garbage, take them to your local household-hazardous-waste station. Learn more about dealing with leftover paint here and disposing of other household materials. And visit our Electronics Reuse & Recycling Center.

For items that are still in decent shape, find charities that will take them off your hands for free. Some organizations will even come to your home and haul away the goods—and you might even earn a tax deduction in the process. Click on each category below to find an organization that will take your items.

Appliances    Automobiles    Books    Building Supplies    Cell Phones    Computers    Electronics    Exercise Equipment    Furniture 

Other options for getting rid of your stuff include Freecycle and Craigslist. Remember, your trash might be someone else’s treasure.

Once you’ve parsed, purged, and passed along, you’re ready to find a home for the stuff you’ll be keeping. “Placement is important,” says Robertson, emphasizing that you should keep objects near where you’ll use them. In other words, don’t store DVDs in a separate room from where your home theater is.

The execution stage is the time to make any purchases that will help keep things in their proper place. We’ve tested pro-installed and DIY systems for closets and garages. Some of the DIY systems delivered nightmarish results—wobbly parts, confusing instructions, indifferent customer service—while others were as good as professionally installed systems for a lot less money and required only your time and basic tools.—Daniel DiClerico

Essential information: Share your ideas with or get advice from other readers in our new home-organizing forum.

Q&A: Are closet and garage organizers a good deal?

Friends and family tell me I live in fantasyland because I’m obsessed with turning my pigsty into a model of order. I’ve seen some closet- and garage-organizing systems that cost up to $2,000. Are they worth it?—Sloppy in Seattle

The dream of orderly closets and a clutter-free home is compelling. But in our tests of install-it-yourself systems, we found that many are poorly designed, made of shoddy materials, and a nightmare to install. The good news is, others matched professionally installed systems for a small fraction of the cost. Before you invest your time, money, and patience, consider these tips:

Look online first. After checking our closet and garage organizer Ratings (available to subscribers) for the best systems, visit manufacturers’ Web sites to see the accessories that are available—the offerings change over time. Add-ons such as shoe storage and extra drawers might make the difference in what you buy.

Decide how handy you are. If the sight of a screwdriver makes your head spin, you might want one of the highly rated professionally installed units we tested. But be prepared for a sales pitch, subtle or otherwise. If you’re comfortable using a drill, screwdriver, and level, you can do the work yourself. The three closet organizers and three garage organizers with top scores typically fit together well, had clear assembly instructions, and required little or no cutting.

Match the material to the use. Avoid garage products that use cardboard or unsealed particleboard where exposure to the elements or normal use can weaken or damage the material. Wire shelves let air circulate but can leave lines in sweaters and delicate fabrics. So look for closet systems with solid shelves or thin boards you can put over the wire.

Consider Einstein’s Three Rules of Work. “Out of clutter find simplicity. From discord find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” I’m not sure what that means, but an expensive and perhaps difficult-to-install closet system isn’t the only way to achieve the dream of an organized home. Maybe you just have too much stuff.—Helen A.S. Popkin