FAQs
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I constantly go see other stager's work, photograph it, take notes. It keeps my eye fress and my design sense on it's toes. And like most all good designers, I go through the better shelter magazines all the time - Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, etc., Pinterest, Houzz, everything.
- What advice would you give a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?
1. Hire a stager who's work you absolutely love and make sure your real estate agent feels the same way. Occasionally our personal taste in interior design may not be what the current buying public is also in love with. A good real estate agent will know for sure. Once you find your stager, turn them loose and let them do what they do best. Any kind of design work - including staging -requires real talent: sharp intuition, a keen eye for color, form, line, light and a strong sense of "relationship" of one thing to another. And in the case of staging, making any home - no matter how problematic - feel immediately comfortable, highly attractive and inviting. It's an art form. Hire a stager like you would hire or commission a painter for a great painting. Find the "painter" who's work you truly love, them let them do what they do so well. 2. Make sure you like the stager's personally and the way they and their associates conduct themselves. For some reason, stagers (and many interior designers) often times have a bit of an "attitude". If for any reason something in the staging needs to be changed or altered, you don't want that "attitude" to show up in your interaction with them. 3. Staging is meant - in my mind - to offer a highly attractive "suggestion" of how your home can look and feel and function. Each room should look about 2/3rds "done". A staging job that makes your rooms look 100% "done" is, to me, not good staging. Potential buyers are visiting your property to (1) assess the property first and foremost, NOT the staging, (2) potential buyers want to be able to feel THEMSELVES in the property - their things, their life. A 100% "done" house tends to inhibit that all important buyer experience. Staging and stagers often times stuff the house with TOO much furniture, too much "personality" - the personality of the stager. Or, at the other end of the spectrum, not enough or boring furniture, art and accessories so that the property lacks "life" and "energy". Neither is good staging. You should never walk into a staged home and notice the staging FIRST - good or bad - before noticing the property itself. The staging's / stager's primary job is to compliment and highlight the property to it's best advantage, not show off the staging. And it should definitely present a high quality "lifestyle" that can potentially be experienced in your property.