What’s the Difference Between Home Staging and Interior Design?
I love it when this happens – we do such a good job staging and updating the home that the homeowner jokes that they want to stay instead of sell. My response is always, thanks! But that’s what redesign is for. Staging and design are similar in that they both are aimed at enhancing the appearance of a house. While we work with homeowners at every stage of the way, here’s the difference in staging vs. design:
Audience
Would we install that fabulous Schumacher gold wallpaper before listing your house? No! We would recommend paint colors that appeal to as many buyers as possible. Intended audience is one of the most important distinctions between home staging and interior design. Home staging is meant to establish a connection with a general audience. Interior design looks to individual style.
Decision Maker
When you have been living in your home for years, it is difficult to see what needs to be done to get the home sale ready. A professional home stager studies the market trends tailors the design to meet the underlying market needs. We’ll tell you what furniture to put into storage to open up the space for better flow. An interior designer works to the homeowner’s personal preferences and final decisions. In a redesign, you tell us what pieces you love and we incorporate them into the design plan. A home stager makes the final decisions so that the homeowner can detach and get ready for the next chapter.
Focus
Why would we recommend staging the 4th bedroom as an office? When we stage, we are merchandising the property as a commodity for sale. This requires professional experience in design and layouts, understanding market conditions, and incorporating current trends that appeal to the target buyer. The goal of home staging is the quick and profitable sale of the home. Interior design incorporates specific functional and lifestyle needs with the goal of creating comfortable and beautiful spaces tailored to the particular needs of the homeowner.
Speed
Need a sofa? Home staging - no problem, we’ll have that installed and styled with the rest of the home and ready for photos within a week. Interior design - well, the one you love is backordered for 2 years, currently on a freight ship stuck outside a dock somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
Real estate staging takes significantly less time than interior design. By the time we enter the home for a consultation, the process is in motion. We have already gathered the information required to get started. We have our own inventory of accessories and quick access to furnishings needed to create an inviting space that appeals to target buyers. We have refined our systems and processes to make it easy to accommodate most home sellers’ listing timeline.
The interior design process involves a decision-making process that requires homeowner approval for each detail along the way. When working on a redesign project, we research and shop for furnishings and finishes based on homeowner-approved design plans, wait for ordered items to arrive, inspect for quality, resolve any discrepancies, and prepare for the final installation day, often months after the plan has been blessed.
Basically, we stage quickly to prepare the property for sale, and redesign taking our time to make a house a home.
Cost
Love the chairs we used to stage your home? Great! You can purchase them. The cost for staging is less than interior design because you are renting the furniture on a monthly basis, plus the service fee for professional staging and styling. With interior design, you are purchasing furnishings and finishes, and there is a design fee for us to create your design plans, layouts, fixtures and finishes specifications, and project management.
Our professional home staging services are aimed at getting you the largest return on your investment. Our staged homes get an average of at least over $5K from listing price, lately we’ve seen homes going for $20-$25K over list, outselling unstaged comps. 700% ROI? Yes, please!
For redesign projects, we offer options to get you where you want to be, on budget. Want a beautifully designed room with shoppable links? Look at Shop the Style Rooms. Moving into a new home and need help with incorporating existing pieces with new? We are launching Welcome Home Design for our new home owners.
Interior design vs. home staging: Which one do you need?
In the end, when your ultimate goal is selling your house fast and for the most amount of money, you need to hire a professional home stager. We’re happy to help you design your dream home AFTER you sell.
Let’s Talk
We’re here to help wherever you are on the homeowner journey. Schedule a quick call here.
About The Author
Sarah Bowman is the founder and lead designer at Sarah Bowman Spaces, a professional staging firm serving Metro Atlanta and surrounding areas (Smyrna, Marietta, Sandy Springs, Alpharetta, Roswell, Dunwoody, Buckhead, Brookhaven, and Decatur). She is dedicated to streamlining the interior design and staging process for realtors, homeowners, investors, and model home builders—to attract motivated buyers and sell homes quickly.
