Home Staging, as a concept, is catching on. When important real estate bodies recommend to home sellers that they consult a home stager, it can only mean that staging is on its way to becoming a staple for selling a property. As with all new concepts, also coming along are misconceptions.

The biggest one I see more and more, while out staging and consulting every day, is a "going too far". Completely clearing off all the horizontal surfaces is not staging. It's decluttering; it's preparing for staging; but it's not staging. Staging is demonstrating the lifestyle this particular property can support, in the most universally appealing way possible.

Once the surfaces are clean and clear, the real work of staging begins. You want to draw the buyer's eye left and right to all the best assets in each space. You do that by decorating in rhythm (1's,3's,5's or symmetrically) and by using color for dramatic effect. When you pick a strong accent color, you will want to play it three times - low, medium and high - so as to move the eye up to the ceiling, to the crown molding or to a window with a lovely view. This is particularly successful with a mantelpiece, for example. You might connect a color from the carpet, to some objets d'art on the mantel and then up to the artwork above.

In the kitchen, look for ways to add color, energy and lifestyle "tells". A trendy cookbook open on a stand, a fruit bowl of cheerful, vibrantly different colored fruits, a collection of 2 or 3 oil and vinegar bottles go a long way to warming up the space. Add in a ritzy coffe pot and some fancy soap at the sink, and you've got it "goin' on"!

Even in 4 and 5 star hotels, there's always stuff about. Not much of it, certainly, but always Things-To-Do magazines, tent cards about how to work the TV, WIFI etc. It's welcoming. It's warm. Helpful, even and comforting.