Staging By Carole: Two Dozen Roses, Iced Tea, and Remove, Remove, Remove.

HANCOCK PARK -- Realtor Carole Gillie of Prudential California Realty doesn't mess around. If she's going to sell your house, one of the first things she'll do is walk through it briskly -- and I mean fast -- ripping paper and leaving scraps of it on your furniture. The scraps all say the same thing: REMOVE.

"Most people have way too much furniture," she explains. "I take a lot of things out." Why? So buyers don't have to use their imagination to see what the house might look like. "Generally, most people don't have a great imagination," she says.

She's anti-clutter, anti-tchotchke, believes in fresh flowers (but not too many), a splash of color and keeping the lights on. Carole is not a "stager" -- she's a Realtor who stages homes and sells them. Fast. She once sold a home, from listing to closing, in four days.

For more on her philosophy of staging a house -- why fresh flowers go on the right-hand side of the front entrance, why iced tea is important, and the most important thing to do to the bathroom, read on below.

Flowers: For a 3-bedroom house, she buys two dozen American Beauty red and yellow roses. More would be overkill. Several go in each bathroom, and ten in a bowl placed to the right hand side of the front entrance. "When someone hits the front door, the first thing they should see is something alive, not dead." And why on the right-hand side? "Because most people are right-handed and that's where they look first."

Turn on the lights. "Even if it's a bright day, the rooms should be lit."

If there is a baby's room: "I usually put something nice smelling in there -- a scented candle. Sometimes I bring a small dehumidifier." Why? Parents forget that their babies' rooms sometimes smell like, well, babies.

If it's 97 degrees outside on the day of the Brokers' Open House (which it was today). "I'm going to make some iced tea for the brokers. Because it's refreshing, and even though I will be the one who refreshed them, what they'll remember is that the house was refreshing."

Sometimes plants don't make the cut. "Plants have to be thriving. Things have to be alive"

Little touches: Place a teak breakfast tray on the bed, and a colorful magazine on the breakfast tray. If a room is monochromatic, get a colored pillow to add some life.

How to dress a bathroom: A couple of fresh roses in a small vase. But first, most imortant (seriously): toilet seat and cover down.

Who pays for the staging? Carol pays. If she sells your house, she'll make it back in commission.

Keeping the seller's expectations realistic: At the Brokers' Open house, she asks each broker to make a confidential estimate of what the house will ultimately sell for, and write that number on a slip of paper. She puts all the slips into a bowl and presents that bowl to the seller.

About Carole Gillie: A statuesque 5-foot-11, speaks five languages, will knock you over with positive energy, has consistently ranked as one of the top-producing real estate agents in Los Angeles. Serves an excellent virgin margarita.

Click here to see her listing at 1139 Longwood Place near Hancock Park (3-bedroom, 2-bath, $1.099 million).
Or click here to see 3660 Amesbury Rd. in Los Feliz, a big and beautiful Spanish Revival listed for $3.695 million.

One more thing, she's discreet. Of 3660 Amesbury, she told me, "I just showed it to a very well-known actress." Oh. And who might the actress be? "If I told you I'd have to kill you."