Home Staging for Living

Why is it that we seem to only get around to having our homes looking orderly and at their most loveliest, when we are purposing to sell and move on? Why is it that so often we only just get around to doing what is referred to as staging our homes, when we want to see to our home being sold? Why do we not actually stage our homes more so for living, rather than only when we are at the point of listing them for sale?

I have been going through the process of preparing our house to go on the market, and it has really got me thinking.

Why is it that the nicest of pillows and cushions suddenly only appear, all fluffed up and sitting just so, when there is a 'For Sale' sign soon to be set up out on the grass verge?

Why is it that the nicest of fluffiest towels get put out in the bathroom, or the sweetest of seasonal decor get displayed, often only when we are about to host an 'Open Home' or have Real Estate Listing photographs taken?

It seems a shame to only have everyone on board to keep all household surfaces looking decluttered, with ample space for everything, only when we are about to have a potential buyer come for a walk-through.

Why is it that the garden has only just got back in manageable order, or even landscaped and totally transformed, when there is a house sale about to occur?

Surely we have been robbing ourselves and our loved ones of having our homes truly at their best, if our homes only look well kept and well maintained during the short time we have them listed on the market?

Why, or why don't we see how much better it would be for all, to choose to stage, to set up and to dress our homes as best we possibly can, while we live in them!

This will be the second time my household will have prepared a property for sale.

I have been pondering, while in the throes of all the various preparations being undertaken, why it seems too often that we only just get everything the way we would have loved it, within any given house, to suddenly then move on!

I've been thinking about the art of staging a house to live in it, rather than simply staging a house to sell it.

Surely there is a place in the scheme of things for doing better home-making while we occupy a particular house and refer to it as home?!

Why can't it be a far more common practice to organise, to set up (and therefore stage) a house as beautifully as we possibly can, while we ourselves live in it, AND it is most definitely not listed for sale!

Why should we always only having things looking their upmost pleasant and orderly best merely to see our homes then be sold?

A house can be a home, with things that are both practical and beautiful in some measure at the same time surely?

There are sure to be ways of achieving this within one's set budget......... and taking the time and making the effort surely would be worth it???

Such have been some of my thoughts recently.

It does not need to cost and arm and a leg to add special touches to a room to make it look lovely and I have been seeing the results of this firsthand, as I got about preparing each space within our home for our anticipated home listing.

I have become increasingly aware over the last little while that a home can and should be staged for living, and not just be staged when it is time to sell it.

A house can be staged, set up or dressed to appear its best by being innovative and creative, as well as clever with one's time and resources, as they stand and pan out right now.

Those that live in any given house currently, can enjoy all the benefits of it being at its best both aestheticially and on the home maintenance front right now; TODAY!

It is a choice that we can make to stage, to dress our homes to make it appealing to a potential buyer, and its a choice with lots of great benefits to be had by ourselves, in current time also when it is most definitely not on the market or being prepared for sale.

A house CAN be visually pleasant and appealing on so many levels right now, while we ourselves call it home and live in it. This can be achieved, and a house can be 'home staged' with just a little extra effort being put in right now, for our own gain and for our own pleasure.

I am seeing firsthand that there really is a place for making one's current home a little more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, while we still go about our usual day to day routines within its very walls.

Towels can be folded in a manner that is both pleasing to the eye and also very practical.... A small bunch of flowers put out on a table in a vase..... a room's furniture layout can be set up to make a space appear larger.......we can use a colour palette that makes a room appear lighter and airer............It is those little extra touches that can make things around a home look more dressed, more staged and everything not just simply thrown together without care or thought.

Staging a home for living, rather than just staging a home to sell it.......There is definitely some great and significant value in it, and I would like to share some of the lessons I have been learning with you, in some further posts on this very topic soon.