Kasey Smith turned to TikTok for home staging advice after her family’s house struggled to attract buyers
Credit: Kasey Smith
NEED TO KNOW
- Kasey Smith turned to TikTok for home staging advice after her family’s house struggled to attract buyers
- Feedback from over 500,000 viewers led to significant changes, including repainting trim and rethinking room layouts
- Smith says the experience taught her the importance of staging to help buyers envision themselves in a home
When Kasey Smith's family home sat on the market without any offers, she started wondering whether she was overlooking something.
After multiple showings but no bites, the Colorado mom — who shares two daughters, ages 2 and 4, with her husband — decided to turn to an unlikely group of home staging experts: TikTok.
She posted a video inviting strangers to critique everything from the layout to the decor, hoping a few fresh perspectives might help her see the home through a buyer's eyes. Instead, the video took off, amassing more than 500,000 views and thousands of comments.
"I never thought the video would go viral," Smith, 32, tells PEOPLE exclusively. "Since I'm the person living in the home, I knew I was likely looking past things that others might see and boy was that right."
@kaseykayyyyy Welcome to my crib ✌🏻 this is my house showing ready and I’m feeling very proud of it, and open to gentle feedback on how I can make it better! #forsale #housetour #homedecor
♬ original sound – kasey | SAHM girl mom
For Smith, the home represents much more than just another listing.
She and her husband purchased the 1917 house after moving to Denver in 2021 with the goal of putting down roots and starting a family. Over the past four years, they've transformed the property into the home where they've welcomed their two daughters, tackling one renovation project after another along the way.
The updates included refinishing the hardwood floors, replacing most of the windows and every major appliance, installing central air conditioning and removing four layers of wallpaper that covered the living and dining rooms — including the ceiling.
Their biggest renovation came in 2022 while Smith was in her third trimester with their second daughter. The family temporarily moved in with Smith's mom for three months while contractors renovated the kitchen, laundry room, bathroom and primary closet, eventually bringing their newborn home there before returning to their own house.
"I love this house and the journey our family has been on while living in it," she says. "We have poured so much into it and we're sad to be leaving a place full of so many incredible memories."
Credit: Kasey Smith
That emotional attachment made asking thousands of strangers to critique it feel a little intimidating.
As the feedback poured in, Smith quickly realized she needed a way to organize it.
"I couldn't sleep the night I posted it—my mind was racing thinking of all the ideas," she says. "So I did what anyone would do—I made a spreadsheet!"
Credit: Kasey Smith
She combed through every comment, organizing each suggestion by how difficult it would be to implement, how much it would cost and how often it appeared.
Before long, several clear themes emerged.
"I truly thought I had removed so much of our day-to-day stuff and personal items, but people said do more!" she says.
The two biggest recommendations were repainting the chipped trim around the front door and completely rethinking the bedroom layout so the house would make more sense to potential buyers.
Although rearranging the rooms while still living in the house with two young children wasn't easy, Smith says it ultimately proved worthwhile.
"I was glad that the comments were mostly about things that I could actually fix without breaking the bank," she says. "People were kind and legitimately helpful."
"I absolutely think it was the right choice and I'm glad I followed the advice," she adds.
Credit: Kasey Smith
Smith also transformed the upstairs loft into a playroom, removed children's toys and books from the living room, boxed up even more family photos, cleared off countertops, removed towels and toiletries from the bathrooms and planted colorful flowers around the front porch and backyard patio.
The changes were significant enough that the family hired a photographer to take an entirely new set of listing photos.
"We had our photographer come in to reshoot the house to show the biggest change: the room layout," she says.
@kaseykayyyyy We heard all the feedback and we took a TON of it! Welcome to be Crib 2.0 #forsale #home #house #housetour
♬ original sound – kasey | SAHM girl mom
While they're still waiting for the right buyer, Smith says the experience completely changed how she thinks about staging a home.
"It pinpointed the fact that everyone is looking for something different in a home and you never know what is a deal breaker for someone," she says. "I also learned that staging is not about decoration, it's about placing just enough so the buyer can envision."
Credit: Kasey Smith
Looking back, she has no regrets about asking the internet for help.
"I am so glad I made the video," she says. "I think it pushed us in the direction of showing the best possible house. The comments were encouraging and helpful."
"Now I just wish one of the commenters would DM me and purchase," she jokes.
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