I had to laugh at the Wannabbee Domestik Goddess site as she found a funny page about homes and how they’re decorated.  Titled Money Can Buy Stuff, But It Can’t Buy Good Taste, she laughs at an ugly house site she found that’s operated by Phoenix Realtor Leif Swanson.

For example, the following room could badly use a staging consultant.

It’s pretty hard to get rid of a pool table, but I would’ve at least invested $20 in a gallon of neutral paint.  Any of these colors will do!  After painting I’d move the fish tank completely OUT of the room because I don’t think pool sticks and fish tanks really go well together.

So new paint, get rid of fish tank - next … window treatments!  I love the bamboo blinds I’ve seenon so many home decorating shows.  What I’d love to find is some online software where I could load a photo of a room (like the one above), then change paint colors, click on items to delete, and turn other items.

The next best thing, though, is the Better Homes & Gardens web site where you can pick which room you want to add color to (whether walls, carpet, pillows, etc.) and try your hand at decorating.  Here’s a link to the color-a-room function.  For the record, the room I attempted to color ended up being wicked ugly.  I am not a decorator, that’s certain.

Atlanta staging expert Kathy Nielsen provides some before and after staging pictures on her blog. It gives you a great idea about how it looks nice before, but fabulous after.

If you think staging doesn’t count when you sell your home, think again.  If you can’t afford to hire a staging expert, at least watch a few of the many staging shows on television now, for example Designed to Sell.  You may walk away with some great ideas!