May 9, 2019 by Janet Siroto · Mind

How Staging a Home Can Make an Empty Nester Feel Like an Antique

If you’re selling your longtime home, you may find out that your sense of style hasn’t aged well. Janet Siroto confronts the situation.

Remind me why I live here …? was the thought that kept flashing in my mind as our kids grew up and graduated from the local suburban school system, and I sat in our pin-drop-quiet house. The latest tax bill, coupled with the commute and my and my husband’s dwindling sense of community, nudged me into action. We could sell the house and return to the city, we said. No biggie. People do it every day, right? A lot of our peers were downsizing, retiring, moving on—and just plain moving.

We decided to join their ranks. After 15 years in the house that saw everything from my children learning to read to recuperating from having their wisdom teeth out, it was time to hit the road. And by putting our house on the market, I encountered the whole "stage your house" thing, which is basically code for “OMG, your furniture is old, and so are you.”

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