To be a successful stager, sometimes you have to use psychology. I had to use it on my last staging client. Here is how it went down:
I ordered furniture and artwork for a newly remodeled home, located five minutes from where I live. I told the warehouse people I wanted tans and browns for the living room because I would probably use ORANGE (and maybe green) as my accent color. The word orange is capitalized for a reason.
I received an email the morning of the delivery telling me that two ORANGE chairs were on the truck. In case I didn't like them, they sent two brown chairs, too.
In the case of this staging, because it was so close to my own home, I decided to wait and get the appropriate accessories after the furniture was delivered. The truck arrived, and they started carrying furniture in. The driver asked me if I wanted to look in the truck and choose the chairs. I told him I really couldn't tell, and would he please bring the ORANGE chairs in. He did, and I loved them! They were absolutely perfect for the room!
I spent the next half hour in my basement choosing the right accessories and packing them up. As I grabbed my phone, I noticed I had missed a call. The client left me a message saying she had just "stopped by the house", and she hated the ORANGE chairs and they would HAVE to be replaced.
I called her back and asked her if she was referring to the TERRA COTTA chairs in the living room. She hesitated and said yes. I then asked her to trust me, and if she still hated them after I was completely finished with the staging, I would gladly replace them.
Here are the before and after photos:
Where I live, if you use the word ORANGE people think of this:
So I would NEVER stage with ORANGE!!! I only stage with TERRA COTTA.
The next day, the client called again. "You were right" she said, "it looks beautiful."
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