What is the Difference Between Home Staging and Interior Decorating?
Do It Yourself ~ DYI, Home Staging, Home Staging Tips, HopeDesigns.ca, Interior Decorating, Toronto
February 14, 2014
Appealing to Buyers Versus the Home Owner
Appealing to Buyers Versus the Home Owner
Whether you’re looking to place your home up for sale to attract the masses, or are simply looking to update the aesthetics of your home, you may have pondered both home staging and interior decorating. Is there really a difference between the two? After all, some of the design elements are quite similar, such as colour, scale and proportion. However, there truly is a difference, mainly in the target audience for which your redecoration is intended for.
In essence, the goal of interior decorating is to appease your own personal sense of taste and lifestyle. On the other hand, the goal of home staging is to appeal to the large majority of home buyers whose lifestyle and tastes don’t necessarily mesh with yours.
Let’s break it down a little further…
Appealing to Buyers Versus the Home Owner
Home Staging is geared specifically towards attracting as many buyers as possible. In order to do that, it’s important to remain as neutral as possible. Perhaps the home owner may like shaggy green rugs or bright orange walls, but the majority of buyers out there probably don’t. With home staging, using neutral colours and transitional furnishings is the best way to go in order to increase the chances of appeasing home buyer’s tastes. Putting together a design for a home buyer – whose taste you don’t know – involves setting the home up so that buyers can imagine themselves in it.
With Interior Decorating, all aspects of the decorating process are specifically intended for the home owner, who most definitely makes their tastes and needs known in detail. All aspects of the decorating process are directly focused on the needs and wants of the home owner, regardless of whether or not the design would be attractive to most home buyers out there.
Cost Difference
There is a big difference in the cost of home staging versus interior decorating. Those who are looking to update their home’s decor before putting it up for sale on the market will essentially look to recoup as much of their capital as possible. With home staging, a home is staged and set up in such a way that it looks clean, modern, neutral and stylish, without having to spend a great deal. Often a fresh coat of paint, strategically-placed furniture pieces and installation of new light fixtures and artwork will do the trick. Even if flooring has to be replaced, often the more affordable choices in materials will be looked at, rather than spending a good dollar on top-notch hardwood flooring.
With interior decorating, all the opposite is true. A home owner who is looking to satisfy their own senses and personal tastes will often have a much higher threshold for how much they are willing to spend, particularly if they have no intention of selling their property anytime in the near future. With interior decorating in Toronto, money is less of an issue, as a return of investment isn’t exactly the first thing on a home owner’s mind in this case. Essentially, a home owner who is looking to redecorate will look to finer materials and specific furnishings to create the space that they envision.
Where the Focus Lies
With Home Staging Toronto by Hope Designs, the best features of the home are highlighted in order to improve the salability of the property. On the same token, features that are less positive are downgraded and somewhat camouflaged. The features that are deemed either positive or negative are usually ones that are typically universal. An extra large kitchen or wide plank hardwood flooring are generally considered attractive features, while a tight bathroom or low ceilings are typically considered less appealing.Interior decorating simply focuses on what the home owner specifically wants. It’s considered more of a luxury than a necessity. Interior decorators help home owners define and enhance their own unique style, and will create a space that functions specifically for the way the home owner uses it.
Home staging and interior decorating are both concerned with enhancing the aesthetics of a space. It’s the intended market to which the senses are appeased that is the major difference between the two.
If you’re looking for some expert assistance in either realm, call Lori at Hope Designs to take over. Experienced in both home staging and interior decorating in Toronto and the GTA, Lori and her team place their focus on the intended market, be it you, the home owner, or the masses of home buyers out there on the prowl for a new house. Take the stress out of the redecorating or staging process and call Lori today at 647.496.5766, or visit their website at HopeDesigns.ca
Lori Howard of Hope Designs is a Certified Canadian Staging Professional serving Toronto and the GTA since 2007.