Staging vs Decorating

I've had several people ask me what is the difference between staging a room and decorating a room.  To most people, there is no difference.  But, if you are considering selling your home, there are differences between staging and decorating.  There are people who are certified stagers and their services are invaluable for people who are selling their homes.


So, what's the difference?  Decorating a room or home lets the homeowner express their individual style (or the style of your decorator).  When you decorate, you may have unusual pieces of furniture and art, paint colors that are very bright or bold, and lots of family photos on display.  A decorated home should fit the personality of the homeowner.  Most importantly, we all live in our homes, and often our spaces may not always look like the pages from a magazine.

If you are thinking about putting your house on the market, have someone, who does not live in your home on a daily basis, to come over and provide an honest assessment of your space.  This person's perspective of your home will probably be different than yours.  Be open to their opinions and thoughts about your space.

Staging a home is all about editing.  What I mean by editing is removing or relocating items in a room to maximize the spaciousness or to make the room look less cluttered.  Here are a few general rules about editing your rooms:

• Remove family photos so that perspective homeowners can visualize themselves in your home and not focus on your family photos.  Also, I think this is a good thing to do for you and your family's safety.
• Remove any special pieces of furniture or art that you don't want anything to happen to while your house is being shown by a realtor.
• If you have gone a little crazy on paint colors for your rooms, now would be a good time to think about changing those colors to a more neutral tone.  A lot of people lack the imagination to visualize what your space could look like with a different color.
• Keep your accessories to a minimum.  You are trying to make your home look larger.  Sometimes accessories can weigh a room down.
• If your upholstered pieces of furniture are a little worn consider slip covers, purchasing new pieces to take to the new home, or rent furniture while your house is listed.
• You may need to remove some larger pieces of furniture to open up your space.  Sectional sofas are nice to lounge on, but they can often make a room look very small if the piece is too large for the space.  Consider breaking up the sectional or swapping it out for a standard sofa.
• Try to keep your home as neutral as possible.  It's okay to add pops of color with pillows and some accessories, but again, keep the accessories to a minimum