The use of rental furniture in Austin, TX can be viewed by some interior decorating experts as an indicator of marketing one’s home rather than a restriction of individuality. The reason for this is that, in general, rental furniture tends to be modern and minimal and designed to appeal to the widest range of people possible. Furniture that is bought for a home, on the other hand, usually spends more time within the home and tends to more reflective of the personality of the buyer.
In Austin, TX and elsewhere, home decorating and home staging may share characteristics and techniques, but they are vastly different concepts. In a nutshell, the difference lies within the planned outcome for the space. Decorating one’s home is an exercise in presenting the personality of its inhabitants. Staging one’s home, however, is a marketing tool designed to help potential home buyers project an image of themselves into the space that they may potentially buy. Staging is about appealing to a wide range of people; decorating is for the individual and his or her family only.
When you decorate your home, the object is to make your sanctuary reflect aspects of your tastes, your intellectual pursuits, and your passions. Your home, when you decorate it, is a reflection of YOU. It is your stage. When you enter someone’s home, you see the personality of those who live there in the furniture and belongings that reflect them and their life experiences.
Home staging very often involves the use of rental furniture because, as mentioned before, rental furniture is designed to appeal to a wide audience of people. Home staging has one very clear purpose: to market your home to as many people as possible. This involves removal of personal touches and individuality from the home and turning it into a showplace. The house should be presented as a product, not a possession belonging to someone else.
In general, when prospective buyers tour a home for sale, the presence of personal mementos and photos adds to discomfort. Not only does the prospective buyer have difficulty imagining living in someone else’s house, but the presence of personal things throughout the home likely contributes to discomfort. “I’m poking through someone else’s house! I’m intruding!” The object of staging and the use of rental furniture is to eliminate the personal style of the Austin, TX homeowner and make the house appeal to a wide audience and to ensure that the buyer is comfortable. An uncomfortable buyer equals no sale.