Costs

The Cheapest Ways to Stage a Home (That Still Work)

By the OC Home Staging teamUpdated October 3, 20262 min read

From least to most expensive: do it yourself with a stager's to-do list, stage an occupied home using your own furniture, or stage only the living area and primary bedroom of a vacant home. All three improve listing photos, which is where most buyers decide whether to visit.

1. A consultation and your own labor

A staging consultation is a 90-minute walkthrough that ends with a prioritized list: what to remove, what to move, what to paint, and how to set up each room for photos. You do the work. For a furnished home in decent shape, this alone can change the listing.

2. Occupied staging

With occupied staging we rearrange and edit your furniture and bring in a few items, such as a rug, bedding, lamps or art. Because we are adding to what you have, the cost is lower than furnishing from scratch.

3. Stage only the rooms that matter

For a vacant home, you do not need every room. In NAR's 2025 survey, buyers' agents named the living room (37%), primary bedroom (34%) and kitchen (23%) as the most important rooms to stage. Guest bedrooms came last at 7%.

A living room, dining area and primary bedroom package covers the first photos in most listings and costs a fraction of a whole-house install.

What not to cut

• Cleaning and decluttering. They cost little and every photo depends on them.
• Light. Open blinds, replace dead bulbs and use the same color temperature throughout.
• The first photo. Whatever room leads the listing should be the best-prepared room in the house.

What about virtual staging?

It is the lowest-cost option on paper, but it only helps online. We compare the two in Virtual Staging vs. Real Furniture.

Questions