Interior Design v Home Staging - The Difference

Styling: RAHS | Image Credit: Honey Atkinson

So, you may be wondering - what exactly is the difference between interior design and home staging? Both have to do with designing the interior of homes, so surely there can’t be that much of a difference?

As a matter of fact, they are, in practice, distinctively different!

Think of it like this: what would you do differently if you were styling your space to stay or styling your space to leave. They would be different approaches, right? Exactly! 

Let’s dive a bit deeper:  

Styling to Stay vs. Styling to Leave

There’s a big difference between building a sanctuary in which you can live your life long term, and creating the space potential buyers need to imagine their own.

Staging is temporary design that highlights the best features of your property, helping your buyers conjure that feeling of home.  It happens lightning fast, with a fixed purpose in mind, to get results from the market asap.

Interior design is a much more in depth process. This space is where you will live your life, grow your family, and create memories. The aesthetic, down to the smallest detail, should be deeply personal, and reflect the goals you have for your own space.

Personal style vs. Neutral style

While styling your home is an incredibly personal process, staging your home is all about the buyer. When you live in a home, it aligns perfectly to your way of life - to your preferences and to your goals. But when you’re selling a property, the focus must shift towards creating the ultimate atmosphere for potential buyers to explore.

The importance, then, lies in highlighting the possibilities of your space while keeping it neutral. That means sticking to more conservative colour schemes, and keeping only the essential furnishings to create a feeling of space. The space also needs to be objective, so removing personal items like photos, coloured carpets and feature walls also makes a huge difference in the eyes of your buyers.

Design for the Homeowner vs. Design for the Buyer

Image Credit: Honey Atkinson

The main difference between interior design for homeowners and staging for buyers is who the designer has in mind when bringing a space to life.

For interior design, it’s all about the home owners. They get personal and they get deep when it comes to understanding what they want and need from a space:

Who are they? What are their colour preferences? What functional needs do they have for their home?

Home stagers, on the other hand, are all about the buyers. Their focus is on analysing their target audience, anticipate their desires, and create a space that reflects their needs Their answers come from the real estate market and psychographics of the potential buyers as a whole, as opposed to catering to individual needs.

In the end…

Great design evokes powerful emotion - whether you’re leaving your long time home behind, or encouraging the next owners to create their own memories there. Removing your personal touch from a space can be challenging, but when you have the buyer in mind you’ll soon see the property through their eyes - full of possibilities!