One of the most important aspects of home staging is depersonalizing a property. That’s because when you depersonalize a house, you help a potential buyer imagine themselves living there instead of wondering about the current owners and why they might be leaving.
For example, if you have a wall full of family photos in the hall, anyone there for a showing is going to be distracted looking at baby pictures and wedding photos and imagining the current owners’ lives spent in that home.
Let’s face it, people are nosy!
Share too much and they’ll be distracted by the personal details instead of taking in the space. Every minute spent gazing at the people in the wedding photos is a minute not spent looking at the home or imagining how they’ll have the whole family over there next Christmas.
Another reason to depersonalize a home is to help protect the homeowners. Displaying information like where a child plays soccer and their name (like on a trophy for example), or the family calendar so that anyone can see the normal comings and goings of the family, 
give predators and burglars enough information to cause a lot of harm.
It’s not always easy to strike the right balance between making a space depersonalized and making it feel warm and inviting.
In fact, I’ve visited many poorly staged homes that are so depersonalized they actually look like the burglars have already been there! You need to keep warm and inviting details that hint at what life can be like inside this home, without the personal items that turn off or distract buyers.
>There is a lot of information on this topic in the “Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide: Home staging tips, tricks and floor plans”
>For further help understanding what it means to de-personalize a space for the purpose of home staging, visit the Home Staging Glossary by Staging Diva.
Readers, what other depersonalizing tips and techniques do you use?
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Entrepreneur and Home Staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, knows how to make money as a home stager. Discover her secrets to business success in the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Besides the Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide, Gould has also authored a Color Guide, Twitter Guide and Portfolio Guide specifically for Home Stagers.
Great blog Debra! I like to tell people that when they’ve made the decision to sell their home, they must find a way to remove themselves emotionally from the physical house and let it BECOME SWITZERLAND!! Neutral territory… My emphasis on Feng Shui is actually geared to allow a potential buyer – in fact, the Ideal Buyer! – “SEE” themselves in this space. So every room has to welcome (or at least not repel people).
And I agree that depersonalizing is uber critical. And it absolutely shows me that a family is ready to move. Then I can work my magic!! Gosh, I LOVE my job…
All my best, Pat
Pat, I love your analogy that the house becomes “Switzerland”. And isn’t it awesome to be able to say “Gosh, I LOVE my job!” ? I love hearing that from my Graduates like you because then I know I’m on the right path. So few working people enjoy their jobs and that’s so sad when we’ve only got one life to live and most of it will be spent working. Thanks for writing!
Family photos are always one of the issues at Baby boomer’s houses. Just yesterday talked to a group of 70 plus ladies at local Community centre and most of them have been shocked to hear that pictures must be removed.
Vlada, thanks for sharing!
Debora,
I loved your comment about poorly staged homes where it looks like the burglar has already been there! I think it can be the tendancy for new stagers to over simplify. I have to confess that when I started staging 7 years ago I was guilty of that.
There’s a fine line between de-cluttering and sterilizing! Instead of stripping things bare it so important to leaves the house feeling warm and cozy and it’s so affirming to the homeowner when they see many of their own things still displayed.
Pat, your use of neutral “switzerland” is both a positive and fun strategy as you engage the sellers to motivate them into depersonalizing their home. I will be sure to apply that same strategy!
Lisa, thanks for reminding new stagers not to be too modest in staging to sell. It makes me think I need to trust my sense of creating those warm and welcoming rooms/homes. I think the challenge can sometimes be the things in a home that a home stager has to work with, and the resources of the seller.
Along this topic, I have heard real estate agents say that they encourage their home sellers to leave all of their personal photos up in the home because it makes the home appeal to a “family.” I don’t agree with this, but I do agree Lisa that we can find ways to help clients put away personal photos and items by offering to incorporate some of their favorite things as they show their home. Here it would be good counsel to home staging clients to remember that very special things can get carried off (stolen) by not-so-honest lookey-lews that come to see their home.
Pat – what a fun, positive way to get the idea across to clients about a “neutral” territory. I am going to borrow your idea and hope you won’t mind.
Lisa – thanks for the reminder that home staging can come across as too sterile and cause a room/home to feel detached. I like your idea of allowing a home seller to leave some of their special items on display in the home as it shows. It is probably a wise idea to caution home sellers about leaving anything too precious or irreplaceable for home showings in case a dishonest “lookey-lew” walks off with it.
I did hear a real estate agent, who does home staging, encourage a home seller to leave personal photos on the walls because it creates a sense of a family place when home buyers walk through. I don’t agree but it is good to mention it only because we as home stagers want to remember that home sellers are also getting advice from their RE agent. This is a perfect time to use Pat’s “neutral switzerland” strategy! 🙂
Ahhhhhwwwkk!! I did a double entry AGAIN! Forgive me all.