In any market, the goal is to find the perfect buyer for your home. That perfect buyer is more than someone who can afford the house. It's a family who will really love living there and who makes the deal go smoothly. You don't want your buyer to merely get the house, you want them to totally "get" the house. This makes a seller feel good about letting go, moving on and generous in the process. It's the win-win I keep harping on about, that I think all transactions should and can be.

To enable a family to "get" your house, they need to understand the lifestyle your home supports. The job of the seller, stager and realtor is to illustrate that lifestyle as clearly, authentically and transparently as possible. How to begin?

There are 6 fundamental activites we expect to do in our homes. If you provide for each of these, you have demonstrated how a person can thrive at the property. Here they are:

1. Eat
2. Cleanse
3. Sleep
4. Play
5. Work
6. Relax

You need a place for everyone in the family to do all of these things comfortably. Even if there's only one bathroom in a 4 bedroom house, you will need to illustrate how that can work. Lots of towel hooks. A note in the listing about the excellent boiler that provides "x" amount of hot water for "y" amount of time, for example.

If the target buyer for your 2 bedroom is a couple, you have a lot more options for places they can sit and eat. If, on the other hand, it's an old 7 bedroom on 3 floors, the chances are your target buyer is a bigger family. Where are they supposed to get fed? Decorate the dining room with every day-type stuff and show how easily and comfortably that would work. Use decor to show function.

Modern buyers want to have more options for play and relaxation. Don't forget outside spaces. A hammock in a quiet corner, even in the side yard, goes a long way to extend the square footage of a home.

Six fundamentals - cover them all for your target buyer - and the perfect buyer will be eternally grateful!

As to smaller, what stagers call vignettes, like a pair of glasses on an open book... it's hokey, but it is the easiest way to say "reading nook".