Kimberly Wester sold her home in 2005 and opened the door to a new career.

To ready the home for sale, she'd followed a to-do list that included ridding it of excess furnishings and sentimental bric a brac. The home sold in two weeks.

"The agent said it was because of what I'd done," said Wester, who started her Details Staging and Redesign business not long afterward.

Preparing a home for the market was a tradition in Wester's family.

"But it's basically what everyone has to do -- take a step back from the house and take themselves out of the picture," Wester said. "Make it more appealing to the general public."

Wester, of Valparaiso, works with homeowners, builders and real estate investors to give homes an edge over competitors.

As the housing market slows and "For Sale" signs multiply, her skills are increasingly in demand, she said.

"People are realizing they have a lot of competition," she said. "If buyers are unhappy with what they see, they'll just turn around and go to the next place."

The home staging business has seen a boom of its own in recent years, with numerous Web sites offering advice and close to 40 staging companies in existence nationwide.

Kathryn Konke, also of Valparaiso, had been working as a painting contractor when her design skills caught the eye of local Realtor Lynda Anderson of Boulder Bay Realty.

"Lynda had my house on the market," Konke said. "She saw the way I decorated it and asked if I would be willing to do something like that for her company."

Konke's About the House has developed a client list of about 30 regular customers, with business spreading mostly by word of mouth, she said.

Konke comes in with a fresh eye, seeing things the way potential homebuyers see them.

"The people that are interested in buying a home need to be able to see themselves in it," Konke said.

She advises sellers to "depersonalize, remove pictures, make it more available for anyone to live there."

Furniture placement is key, Konke said.

"If you have a fireplace, make that fireplace a focal point," she said. "In a sales situation, it's important to maximize the things that are important."

Wester provides her clients with a prioritized list.

"I tell them what will be most effective," she said.

For homes with large amounts of wallpaper, she ask the owner to consider removing it and painting with a neutral color, but not white.

"White is not a good choice," Wester said. "White is very cold. "When you're trying to create a warm, welcoming atmosphere, you're not going to get that with white."

Using home stagers works, Boulder Bay's Lynda Anderson said.

The homes that I've had staged sell in a shorter amount of time, if they're priced right," Anderson said.

When home sales were booming a few years ago, sellers hired stagers to get the optimum price for their homes, said Wester.

"Now they're just trying to get them sold."