When Aaron Kapp was finished, Spirit quickly sold her 10-year-old home for $25,000 over the market price.

"It's really hard to sell a two-bedroom house," Spirit said. "It had to be really exceptional. (Potential buyers) would have said, 'What a mess.' Instead, everybody walked in and said, 'Oh, this is so beautiful.' "

The concept of staging a house for resale is gaining in popularity even as Hawai'i's real estate market continues to favor sellers, who often have to do little to attract buyers.

Staging any home increases the value an average of 6.3 percent, according to California-based StagedHomes.com, which has trademarked the terms "stage," "staging" and "staged."

Staged homes also stay on the market an average of 13.9 days, versus unstaged homes that take 30.9 days to sell, according to StagedHomes.com.

"Staging is definitely not redecorating," said StagedHomes.com spokeswoman Shell Brodnax. "It is restructuring or decluttering and reorganizing the home so it flows better and is more appealing to the buyer. You're not selling your possessions. You're selling your home."

After her father-in-law died, Realtor Jan Broderick of Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties and her family cleared everything from his Manoa home to get it ready for sale. They tore off the old wallpaper, repainted the walls in inoffensive , neutral tones, sanded and refinished the stairs, had the windows and screens professionally cleaned and added live plants and flowers.

The siblings then brought back only 25 percent of the old furniture to give the home a clean, uncluttered look.

These were among the tips that Broderick learned during staging workshops in January put on by Martha Webb, the author of "Dress Your House for Success," for Coldwell Banker real estate agents.

Broderick has since listed the home for sale at $950,000 and showed it to potential buyers all last week.

"We just took something that was good and made it better," Broderick said. "We want the buyer to picture their things in the home and imagine themselves living there."

Real estate agent Karen Konz of Century 21 Homefinders comes from a family of interior decorators and signed up for a staging seminar last week put on by StagedHomes.com to give her an edge in Hawai'i's hot real estate market.

"You could sell anything in this market," Konz said. "But if you want to get top, top, top dollar, you have to make it look good. You certainly will get many more offers."

Konz has seen bicycles parked inside homes, sinks filled with dirty dishes and rooms crammed with furniture.

She once had to shove open the front door of a home and squeeze inside sideways because of all of the clutter. She also showed potential buyers a condominium that had all of its walls either painted black or covered in mirrors.

Buyers want to imagine their own things inside a potential home, not be overwhelmed by someone else's family photos and overstuffed furniture covering all of the available walls and floor space, Konz said.

"When you're taking clients into a home that is either cluttered with way too much furniture, or it's dark or not lit properly, it's difficult for them to picture themselves living there," Konz said. "They're concentrating so much on all of the clutter that they can't get their minds around the fact that it may actually be a decent-sized room."

There are three ways a real estate or interior design firm may charge for staging:

• An hourly charge for consultations.

• A flat fee that includes materials such as paint, plants, furniture, fabrics or whatever else may be needed.

• Cost-plus, meaning the owner is charged a slight markup for any purchases of furniture, accessories or fixtures.

Kapp, who in January founded STAGED-RIGHT in Hilo, got the idea to start his own staging business from his experience as a Realtor in Kona, where he was constantly confronted by dirty dishes, towels lying about, walls filled with family photos and clutter everywhere.

"Buyers are so distracted that they can't mentally move in," Kapp said.

He tells clients to remove as many possessions as they can and either store them or sell them. He also has them move every car off the property and completely clear carports.

Kapp especially wants clients to put away every personal item they can.

At Spirit's house, Kapp also took apart the rusted stove and the tired-looking overhead fan and sanded and repainted them. He sanded and restained damaged portions of the hardwood floors, washed the windows and repainted the walls.

Kapp instructed Spirit to remove all of her personal touches, such as the photos that covered her refrigerator

"He said, 'Don't even leave a water glass, toothbrush or hairbrush in sight,' " Spirit said.

When they were done, Spirit said, "the house looked bigger and neater and cleaner."

Although bold, colorful walls are a trend, author Webb prefers neutral colors when staging a home.

Too much fragrance is another no-no.

"I see people going too heavy on potpourri and candles," Webb said. "That makes the potential buyer think: 'What are they covering up?' Or maybe they're allergic to scent. No smell is better than too much."

Webb believes that few buyers can ignore art.

"They think what they see is what they get," so art should be neutral — or removed.

Eight long months passed for Ayman El-Dakhakhni with no serious buyers for his Diamond Head home.

He called Beth Chang of Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties, who brought in designer Diane Cleve of Cleve and Levin Inc., Architecture and Interior Design.

They added paint and plants and rearranged and removed furniture.

"Money was not necessary because he had beautiful things," Cleve said. "He just had way too many things and too much visual stimulation — too much art, too many artifacts and too much furniture."

When they were done, El-Dakhakhni's home sold 24 hours before it was even officially listed, with an offer close to the asking price.

"It was only small things," El-Dakhakhni said. "There was no major fixing. It just needed to be represented in the right way."