Pretty as a picture: is your home magazine-worthy? Insider tips.

Byline: Maggie Galehouse

Jun. 30--In the real world, kitchen counters are catch-alls for the detritus that life dishes out: food, keys, Tupperware, handbags, sunglasses, newspapers and so on.

But in glossy magazines that feature beautiful homes, kitchen counters are blissfully uncluttered. They know nothing of grocery bags or taco dinners in the works.

In ordinary houses, people don't always know how to display seashell collections or drape throws over sofas. Not so in magazine homes, where artfully arranged accessories pop up everywhere.

We all know that magazines have secret ways of staging the homes they feature. And wouldn't it be nice if once, just once, you were in on the secret? If you could make your own home magazine-worthy -- even if only for friends and family?

Susanna Showers Moldawer, a freelance magazine photo stylist and writer for national publications including Southern Accents and Coastal Living, knows all the tricks.

"Rarely can you walk into a home that's absolutely ready for a shoot," Moldawer says. "Usually a stylist has cleared away piles of papers on countertops, moved phones and sometimes computers to make the shot look cleaner. We have fresh flowers in simple arrangements in most rooms that don't look overdone or too staged. It's always nice to see books on bookshelves rather than too many frames or small accessories. For most houses, editing some items from tabletops can change the look."