Virtual staging guide
Virtual staging for rental listings
A rental listing is selling a year of someone's life, not a show home. Staging that looks expensive works against the rent; staging that looks liveable lets the tenant imagine the furniture already there.
Neutral, durable, ordinary
- Mid-tone timber and grey fabric rather than bouclé, marble or brass.
- Furniture a tenant would recognise from a shop floor, not from a design magazine.
- One rug per room and no layered textiles; the image should look maintainable.
Show the practical layout
- Place pieces where the tenant will actually put them, including the awkward corner.
- Leave a clear route from door to window; rental viewers read clutter as a small flat.
- Include whatever storage is in the room — a staged wardrobe reads as a bonus.
Where it fails
- Over-styling a modest flat, which makes the rent look unjustified.
- Empty rooms with a single hero chair, which reads as a property nobody has lived in.
- Staging a furnished rental with furniture that is not in the inventory — say what is included in the copy.
Related
/for/airbnb · Minimal · Cost per listing
Staging keeps the walls, windows and camera angle of your photograph; only the furnishing is added. Upload the room and the frame comes back at the resolution you sent.