Prinicples of Staging for the Homeowner that is NOT Selling

I am often asked to stage homes in the Charlotte NC metro area and I have been thinking about the differences between staging and design. I have decided that we all need to apply staging principles from time to time to keep our homes fresh. When I stage homes, I go in with a completely different approach to the home than I do when I am going in on a design consultation. In designing a home, it’s often about what we want to add to a space. In staging it’s all about ommiting, or taking away from the design. When a home is for sale, buyers are looking at whether or not the home feels spacious and if they can imagine themselves living there. My job is two fold. First, to make the home look as large as possible. This is accomplished through the editing process. Second, to remove enough of the homeowner’s personality that the buyer can envision themselves in the space. As homeowners not selling our homes, it is good to walk through occassionally, and look at our space through the eyes of a buyer. We will see things that we might not realize until we notice them on purpose.


When I am trying to show off a home’s floor plan, several things are taken into consideration. Often, we re-arrange the seating area to create better traffic flow and show off the space. How we live, positioning the chair to watch t.v. or pushing the couch up against the wall so the floor is open for the kids to play, doesn’t always work in selling the home. I often have to prepare clients for a few months of discomfort in order for them to get top dollar for their house. Once the furniture is placed properly, we get stuff up off the floor. Baskets, magazine holders, stereo speakers, and the like, fill up the visual square footage. The more floor you can see, the larger the space appears. We even replace solid coffee tables for glass ones from time to time, so that the visual impact is lessened. In staging a home, removing clutter is paramount to success! Often, when we live in a space, we get used to the pile of junk on the corner of the kitchen counter or the stack of magazines on the floor by the reading chair. From time to time, check you floor space and make sure that your home isn’t getting too crowded. The same holds true for kitchen counters, crowded bookcases and home office areas.

When it comes to de-personalizing a home, we take away some, not all, personal photo’s and things of a more personal nature. I have toned down collections of all kinds from NASCAR to Pez dispensers, religious icons to heavy metal posters! This principle can apply to our own homes. Are our collections tastefully displayed, with impact, but not over the top? Are we sporting so many photo’s of the kids that folks don’t know where to look first? It is smart to edit your personal items every now and again because we become comfortable with things until we don’t realize our home is under a blanket of our “stuff”!

Very few folks live in a “model” home. I, for one, would love to, but, sadly with three kids and four critters, it’s just not happening. However, from time to time, I walk through the house to really look for what could be edited. Try it, you’ll be surprised at what you see and the changes that it will cause you to make. You might not want to sell your home, but sometimes the extra breathing room we create by editing our belongings, makes all the difference.