Want to sell your home fast and for as much money as possible? Staging is the most powerful tool in your arsenal. Staging can highlight your home’s best features, downplay its weaknesses, and make your home as appealing as possible to buyers.

Here are five staging secrets you probably haven’t heard of that you can use to impress every buyer who walks through your front door.

FLOAT THE FURNITURE

Most people tend to push couches and other furniture against the walls of a room, but this makes the room feel stuck and creates empty, unused space. Instead, float furniture away from the walls to make the room seem larger and more open by creating a room within a room. If you have no room to float furniture away from the walls, at least choose furniture with visible legs for more visible floor space.

GO NATURAL

Did you know the air quality in most homes is worse than outdoor air? Keep your home from feeling stuffy or stale by adding fresh floral arrangements and live plants. Not only will plants freshen the air, they will also make buyers feel welcome and comfortable in your home.

SELL A LIFESTYLE

Consider what buyers in your area are looking for and how your home may appeal to potential buyers to sell a lifestyle. If your home seems good for entertaining, stage your dining room for a dinner party. If your staging budget is tight, you can use a Sur la Table coupon to save on high quality decor and cookware, which will help set the stage for the lifestyle you’re selling. You can also transform your master bathroom into a relaxing spa with fresh white towels and luxurious details if you have a steam shower or whirlpool tub.

DITCH THE CANDLES

Many sellers mistakenly believe that lighting candles or baking something in the oven is the best approach to make a home appealing to buyers. While some buyers may feel welcomed by the smell of cookies in the oven, others will wonder what odors you’re trying to cover. Instead, open your windows and let in fresh air. You can also sprinkle baking soda in the bottom of your trash cans to absorb any aromas.

USE COLOR

You can use well-placed focal elements to draw the eye to your home’s best features. Shades of yellow and red are called “advancing” colors because they draw in the eye while shades of green and blue are receding color. You can add green plants to dreary corners you want buyers to ignore and a bright yellow floral arrangement on your beautiful granite countertops.

While selling a home takes a lot of work, proper staging will go a long way toward getting you the best possible price for your home and getting it off the market quickly. For more ways to sell your home home fast, check out these 6 tried-and-true strategies or reach out to a First Team agent near you.

This guest post is written by Emma Sturgis, a freelance writer based in Boston, MA.