WHAT IS THE HOME STAGING PROCESS?
Home staging is a bit of a mystery. Most people are well acquainted with the “before & after” shots on a home stager’s portfolio, but what is a home stager’s process? Let’s use an empty or vacant property as an example.
We check out the lay of the land…
I visit your home before you place your home on the market, take a walk-through of your home (this takes about 20 minutes), take some photos of each and every room, and chat with you about when you are looking to have your home staged.
We add it all up…
I return to my office and immediately upload the photos I’ve just taken. I’m a visual person; written notes aren’t that helpful to me. I study each before photo and start planning out what piece of furniture would look good where. I consider what type, size, and colour of artwork would compliment the space. I also estimate how many accessories I’ll need to fill the rooms. I then add up the cost of the furniture rental for pieces needed, the cost of renting artwork, and a lump sum for the cost of renting accessories. I determine the cost of moving the furniture, using highly skilled movers, and add in the cost of labour for actually staging the property. I then shoot a proposal to you within 24 hours (and more often than not within the same day) with the cost for a full service stage, so you know ahead of time exactly what the cost of staging will be.
You are thrilled with our reasonably priced proposal and would like to proceed…
We’re thrilled too! At this point, we need to protect you, our client, and ourselves. To do away with any misunderstandings, we then drop off, email or mail you a contract for your perusal and signature. We also sign this agreement, so we all know what’s involved. Upon signing the contract, we also require a 50% deposit for staging services, with the balance due the day of the stage.
The fun part!...
The planning stage is definitely one of my favourite parts of home staging. I look at the before photos again, and really, really study them. I make a detailed list of items I plan to use in your home. I choose a colour scheme that I will carry consistently throughout your home, determine a style, i.e. contemporary, modern, transitional, and double check that I have all this in my inventory. If I don’t have quite the right item, I write another list, my shopping list, and will drive around the city sourcing this item. I often sketch out a floor plan and try out various furniture layouts until I arrive upon the layout that best suits the room.
Time to pack up…
This is the time to pull out all my matching, plastic bins. Yes, the colour of the handles matches my business colours! I hand select and carefully wrap each and every accessory that will be placed in your home for sale. Fresh towels and linens are also packed, as well as greenery. The bins are loaded into my vehicle to be transported to your home.
The really fun part…
After all the planning, shopping, booking movers, and packing up, it’s time for the big day – it’s time to stage! I really love my job, and this is where I get the most excitement. To take all the mental planning and finally put it into 3D is indescribable. I almost always work with another fully certified staging professional to assist me. That way we can get the job done faster and smoother. Also, it’s pretty lonely staging by yourself! We supervise where the movers place the furniture. Once the main pieces are down, we strategically add all the accessories, professionally hang the artwork, and generally add the WOW factor to each room. We dress the beds, and steam all the linen, so there’s not a crease to be seen. We stand back and admire our work. I take “after” photos and have a look at them onsite. Sometimes the photos reveal small tweaks that need to be done.
The T.V. moment…
You’ve all seen those “reveals” on HGTV. The home owner comes back to see what you’ve accomplished, and are dumbfounded, in tears, shaking their head in amazement and basically overjoyed. Well guess what? That actually happens in real life! This is the culmination of all our hard work, and on a personal note, it sure pays off. Helping a client present their home to the best it can possibly look, and helping them move forward in their lives is a wonderful feeling that I wouldn’t trade for anything.
Although rather long-winded, I hope this clears up the process of home staging, and what’s involved. We look forward to hearing from you.
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