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Generic furnishings are safer when staging a home on the market.

But when everything is generic, ho hum takes over. In the staged home, mass marketed furnishings are safe because the manufacturer or the store have already researched to discover what the market wants, or theyve actually created that market.

Once your home is staged to appeal to the masses, its safe to add a few exclamation points. Do this by adding some unique furnishings.

Maybe it’s a hand-decorated dresser or an exotic bedspread you brought back from Mexico.

Maybe it’s a Windsor chair painted red instead of the customary black.

Maybe it’s a gallery wall of dog portraits, or a driftwood-framed mirror.

Ask yourself, "What do I have that no one else has?"

If you have doubts about some of your home staging being too quirky or distracting, limit these touches to just that -- finishing touches. Its best if the basic infrastructure that conveys with the house -- walls, doors, fixtures, appliances, and built-ins -- stay with current fashions. Home buyers do not want to paint over your chartreuse walls and replace all those cute unmatched doorknobs.    

“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.” -- Gore Vidal

Picture a sleek chrome and glass table surrounded by shabby chic chairs.

Or a fluffy rug in front of your leather sofa.

Or Lucite lamps on an antique wooden desk.

When you pair old with new, or ornate with simple, or black with white, or formal with informal, you’ve created style! Just the way a gal dressing herself in a bomber jacket and sequined top does, combining seemingly disparate elements brings style.

If you don’t trust your eye to do these kinds of combinations, copy something you’ve seen a decorator do online or in a shelter magazine’s editorial pages. No need to reinvent the wheel.

Here’s one path to high style that’s easy. Just clear out the clutter.

Get rid of the small stuff.

Decorate with large items. That includes upholstered pieces you want to sink into, pillows at least 24 inches square, drapery panels more than twice the width of the window, oversized table lamps on well-proportioned tabletops, man-sized art, and supersized floral arrangements. Nothing ditzy! 

If you find clearing out clutter robs you of essentials, like remotes, reading material, cooking supplies and toiletries, cluster them into containers or tuck them into cabinets, ottomans, handsome wooden boxes, or covered baskets. You can do this!

“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”  -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I am a great believer in the “fooling around” approach to decorating.

What fooling around looks like is: you spend a hour trying different furniture arrangements in your bedroom, for example. You might switch out the pair of lamps for two in the living room, then stand back and study the result. You might test substituting a bookshelf for a nightstand. You might try the bed placed diagonally in the room. You might reverse the duvet cover for a different pattern.

There is plenty of experimenting you can do that doesn’t require spending money or making irreversible decorating decisions. Jump in!

Trust your eye to tell you what works. Maybe live with it for a few days. Tweak it some more. Have fun.

Youll find more advice like this in my $4.99 eBooks about decorating and staging your own home. I offer three -- DIY Home Staging, No-Sew Window Treatments, and Furniture Arranging -- all immediately downloadable.