In this blog, I’m going to share with you my ultimate hack for how to style your home for living.
“A styled home is not about perfection – it’s about creating a feeling.”
When we sell our home, to get the most viewings and the highest price, we often “stage” it – preparing it so it looks its absolute best.
And that makes sense. After all, staging is designed to make a property more appealing to potential buyers by creating a space that feels fresh, calm and inviting.
But what if we flipped that idea on its head?
What if we started staging our homes – not for strangers – but for ourselves?
The truth is, many of us are living in homes that don’t feel quite right. Maybe they’re cluttered, disorganised, or simply tired. Over time, we stop seeing the little annoyances and imperfections, and we learn to put up with them or become blind to them. We tell ourselves we’ll sort it out one day, when life is less busy. We make do because it’s easier than doing something about it.
But here’s something I’ve learned over the years: we’re never that far away from creating a home we truly love – no matter where we live or what our budget looks like. With a little thought, a fresh perspective, and some clever use of space, we can start to make changes that truly reflect the way we want to live. And often, it doesn’t cost a penny.
We only live once, and life is too short to wish we lived somewhere else (when there’s actually no real reason to move). So, why not make the absolute best of what we already have?
I’ve seen so many people fall in love with their homes after they’ve done them up to sell. They paint the walls, fix broken things, add finishing touches – and suddenly, they see the beauty that was there all along. I remember this happening to us when we moved from our first home to our second. We worked so hard to make it perfect for someone else… and we couldn’t help but ask ourselves, why didn’t we do this while we were living here?
Why do we send ourselves the silent message that we’re not worth the effort, but the next buyer is?
Well, I want to say this loud and clear: you are worth it. You and your family deserve a home that feels calm, peaceful, and joyful. A home that works for you, not against you. One where you can relax, connect, and just be.
When I work with clients, I often see how overwhelmed they are at first. They’re not really living in their homes anymore. Clutter has taken over, routines have slipped, and they feel embarrassed to invite anyone in.
But as we work together to restore order and create space, something amazing happens. Their homes start to feel happy again – and so do they. A sense of peace, confidence and pride returns. Because when your space functions properly, everything else feels easier.
So let’s stop waiting for a For Sale sign to start making our homes feel special. You might be waiting forever.
Instead, let’s style your home for living – because you deserve to feel good in your space. Every. Single. Day.
How to style your home for living
So, what does a home stager actually do? When someone is preparing to sell their home, they often bring in a professional to make the space look its absolute best – fresh, spacious, welcoming, and appealing to buyers. The goal is to help people imagine themselves living there. But this time it’s all about helping YOU fall back in love with your home.
Let’s borrow a few of those tried and tested staging techniques the pros use and apply them to our own homes, to feel more calm, peace, and joy, every single day.
Here are my 12 practical tips to help you stage your home for living…
1. Look at your home with fresh eyes
This is where it all begins. When a home stager first visits a property, they do a walk-through, looking at everything with a fresh, impartial eye. They’re not emotionally attached to the stuff in the space, which makes it easier to spot what’s working and what needs attention.
Try doing the same in your home. Walk through each room as if you were seeing it for the first time. Notice what you love. Notice what feels tired, cluttered, or out of place. Take some notes. What areas make you feel good? What feels chaotic or neglected? What would you do differently if you were to start all over again? This gentle awareness is the first step toward change.
2. Declutter with purpose
Home stagers know that clutter is distracting. It’s not pleasant to look at, drawing attention away from a home’s best features and making spaces feel smaller and more chaotic. The first step is always to clear the decks, and it’s the same when you’re staging your home for living.
Minimalist and decluttering expert Joshua Becker suggests removing one-third of your possessions when working towards a simpler, clutter-free way of living. This may sound extreme, but it’s not as hard as you think.
The secret is to focus on keeping only the items that add positively to your life and give everything a home that makes sense. You’ll soon create a calmer, peaceful and more spacious home. Start with the areas you use most often and ask yourself:
Do I love this item?
Do I need it?
Do I use it regularly?
Does this support the life I want to live?
Let go of what’s weighing you down. Just because you loved something once, doesn’t mean you need to keep it forever. If you no longer need or want an item, don’t let guilt hold you back from letting it go. Thank it for its service and move on. You deserve clear surfaces, tidy cupboards, and room to breathe.
For more advice on how to declutter your home, see my blog HERE.
3. Create a sense of flow
When staging for sale, furniture is often rearranged to improve the flow and make rooms feel more spacious. But this technique shouldn’t just be for estate agents and property viewings – it’s for you, too.
Take a look at the layout of your home. Is anything blocking walkways or cupboard doors, or making the space feel cramped? Could moving or removing a piece of furniture change the whole feel of a room? Sometimes the smallest changes can have the biggest impact.
4. Let the light in
Light is one of the most powerful ways to change the feel of a space. Stagers will always open curtains, pull up blinds and use mirrors to reflect light and create a sense of openness.
At home, make the most of natural light wherever you can. Clean your windows, pull back heavy curtains, and consider placing a mirror opposite a window to bounce more light around. And for cosy evenings? A few warm table lamps or soft fairy lights can completely change the mood and create a lovely ambience.
5. Style your surfaces
In a staged home, you’ll notice that surfaces aren’t empty – but they’re not cluttered either. They’re thoughtfully curated. A beautiful tray with a candle, a book and a plant. A stack of folded towels in a bathroom. A nice lamp and picture frame on the bedside table.
You can do the same in your own home. Choose a few areas to add some everyday styling touches, but keep it intentional. A styled surface should make you smile when you walk past it, not add to your mental load.
6. Add life with real plants or flowers
A home stager might place a vase of fresh flowers or a healthy green plant in a room to bring it to life. You don’t need to spend a fortune – even a small supermarket bouquet or a cutting in a jam jar can add warmth and colour.
Plants add greenery, texture, and a sense of calm. They show the space is lived in, cared for, and loved.
Faux flowers and plants can offer the same look if they’re realistic, but they don’t bring the same natural, air-purifying benefits. They also need looking after – a dusty faux plant isn’t a good look and will still need a bit of maintenance over time. It’s true you can’t kill a fake plant, but a faded dust-gatherer can look just as bad as a dead one!
Remember, you’re staging your home for living – that means caring for faux plants and flowers long term, just like any other piece of decor.
Here are the best air-purifying plants for your bedroom.
7. Tackle minor projects (and maybe a major project too!)
If you were selling your home tomorrow, you’d probably make it a priority to fix the dripping tap, creaky door or touch up the scuffed paint. So, what are you waiting for? Why not do those things now – for you?
Those little annoyances that you’ve been putting up with? They quietly send the message that your comfort isn’t important. But it is. Take an hour or two this weekend and make a list of simple fixes. You’ll feel the difference immediately.
While we’re on the subject of fixing the little things, if there are any major projects you’ve always wanted to do, why not get started on them right away? Don’t delay doing something that could really enhance your home, living space and life.
8. Give every room a clear purpose
Buyers need to see how each space functions. A stager will often create zones to set the scene – a cosy reading nook, an inviting dining space, a calm bedroom for relaxing in – this way, it’s easy to imagine a lovely life unfolding there.
At home, think about how you want to use your spaces. Could you turn that cluttered corner into a reading spot? Could your dining table be cleared and reset with placemats and candles instead of paperwork and laundry? Make it easy to live the way you dream of living.
9. Personalise
When a professional home stager prepares a home for sale, one of the first things they’ll do is remove personal photos. The goal is to de-personalise the space so potential buyers can imagine themselves living there.
But when you’re staging your home for you, you can do the exact opposite.
Remove generic decor and add personalised photos and mementoes. Keep the things that make you smile. Display the family photos, the artwork your child made, the mementoes that carry meaning. These are what turn a house into a home. The only rule is this: make sure your space isn’t so full of stuff that it overwhelms you.
10. Reduce visual ‘noise’ and create calm
A quick word on knick-knacks, wall art and in particular, word art: try to keep it simple and intentional. Think about everything your eye can see and the things your mind has to take in when you walk into a room. If your brain is always processing lots of colours, patterns, words, and objects, it can start to feel noisy – even if you don’t realise it.
If you find it hard to relax in certain areas of your home, ask yourself: Is the visual noise too loud in here? Sometimes, the solution isn’t adding something new or different – it’s removing something. This applies to everything in the room – patterns in cushions, curtains, and rugs, books, vases, picture frames, and small decorative pieces too. Declutter the surfaces, countertops, tabletops and shelves. Simplify the space until it feels calm. Let your walls breathe. Let your mind relax.
11. Clean thoroughly – especially the bathrooms!
“The objective of cleaning is not just to clean, but to feel happiness living within that environment.”
Marie Kondo
When a home stager prepares a property for sale, they make sure it’s clean from top to bottom. Every surface sparkles, the air smells fresh, and the bathrooms are spotless. Why? Because a clean home not only looks better, it feels better too. It creates that sense of calm and order we’re all craving.
But you don’t have to be selling your house to enjoy those benefits. A good deep clean can completely transform how your home feels to live in. And here’s a little secret – it’s so much easier to clean when you’re not constantly shifting piles of stuff.
Less clutter means quicker cleaning. Fewer surfaces to dust, fewer things to move around. Once your home is clearer and you’re living with less, you’ll find the cleaning routines so much more manageable. It’s a win-win.
Many of us dream of having a clean and tidy home we can truly relax in, but struggle to achieve it. Often, the real issue isn’t time or energy, it’s the volume of stuff we’re trying to manage. So give your home a refresh, especially those bathrooms, and enjoy how much more peaceful and pleasant your space feels.
If you’re looking for a simple cleaning system for your home, take a look at my book, Zone Cleaning – The Ultimate Guide.
12. Create kerb appeal
Home stagers know that first impressions matter, which is why they focus on the first thing people see when they visit the property – the garden, front door, and entryway.
Think tidy, inviting, and well-kept: lawns mowed, borders trimmed, patios swept, weeds pulled. Toys and clutter tucked away. Fences painted and a couple of potted plants to lift the space.
But this isn’t just for selling, do it for you. I’m not saying hide toys while your kids are playing, but do pop them away at the end of the day.
Your home should be one you’re proud to come back to – the one people admire, the one you drive past and think, Wow… I live there!
It might take a bit of effort to get it looking that way, but once you’ve built it into your routine, it’s easy to maintain – and so worth it. A welcoming entrance sets the tone before you even step through the door, and often it only costs a little time.
Make your home work for YOU
You don’t need a show home or an Instagram-perfect space. You just need a home that feels good to you – a place to rest, recharge, and simply be yourself.
This is exactly what I help my clients create. Many come to me feeling overwhelmed and disconnected from their homes. But as we begin to declutter and restore order, their space and their sense of ease start to return.
They feel lighter, happier, and proud of their home again.
You deserve that, too.
So why wait until you’re moving house to create a home you love? The time is now.