A Life Decluttered: Staging Our Home

We are in the midst of moving. The house sold, we are packing our belongings and moving downtown.

But prior to the house selling, we had to – wait for it – sell the house. My mom recalls selling houses when we were children: toys all about, a house as put together as it could be considering there were three small children living there. But, you know, she showed the house as it stood. No big deal. The house sold and away we went to our next abode. Gone are those days. Today selling your house means staging your house.

Before the real estate agent visited our home, I felt confident it was already as staged as it needed to be. My peacock feathers were spread. After all, don’t I wax poetical about an organized approach to the art of simple, stylish living? We are a minimalist household! All items have a place -- all items have a home, if you will. But it turns out even I had hurdles to jump to get the house up to code. A humbling experience always equals lessons learned. And after staging the house for several months, I now incorporate what I learned on a regular basis.

Now, let me remind everyone – we have no children. I can only imagine the circus act that goes into staging one’s home with little ones running about. And I commend all who have tackled such a feat.

Also, allow me a moment to talk storage units. We did not rent storage space to hide the excess of our household – we did not have excess because I’d already donated that years ago. As time progressed and one season rolled into another, I continued to pare down as certain items proved useless. Storage units are a waste of money, in my opinion. There! I said it! I’d much rather have that cash for travel or dining out, concerts or what have you. If you find yourself considering a storage unit when staging, I can’t encourage you enough to first consider decluttering.

Our steady stream of decluttering over the years allotted us empty closet space. I even had some empty storage containers in the garage (from back in the day when I used to buy stuff to store… stuff). So when I needed to hide our toiletries for every showing, they had a second home (on a closet shelf). When I needed to hide the pajamas and workout clothes that lived on the door hooks? Their second home became an empty container in the garage. This is a great example why we needn't stuff every inch of space with stuff. Families will grow, circumstances will change, you may very well sell your house one day and suddenly, that empty shelf will serve a very important purpose.

I tackled staging the home the same way I tackle other projects: I created systems. As mentioned above, everything had a place (or a new place, as it were). A text message told me that someone was stopping by that very day? No problem. I knew how long it took to tidy up, and I didn't waste any extra time re­-deciding where to hide a toothbrush. Automatic pilot. Who needs to waste extra brain space or add stress to their day because they have to stage their home? I stored the items that weren't good enough for staging, checked off the quick list of cleaning, then scooted out the door. The system never failed me.

Staging also helped me realize where I could declutter even more. After all, if I’m going to go to the trouble of making our home inviting to strangers, why wouldn't I incorporate the newfound knowledge into our own lifestyle? Case in point: countertops. I thought I lived with empty countertops, but when my real estate agent pointed to the dish soap and a few other items near the sink, I ate a piece of humble pie. These days, our dish soap and our paper towels have permanent homes, not at the edge of the sink, but rather underneath the sink. Not enough room down there? Consider decluttering it. Not into adding an extra step to your daily chores? Just think of it as a nice forward bend – we could always use more stretching, I say.

My toothbrush still lives at the edge of our bathroom sink, though. I’m not that excessive. A staging extremist is the opposite of serene.

What did you learn from staging your home? Share in the comments below!