Just finished watching "The Stagers" on HGTV and wanted to give a quick review on what I must say was a pretty fair representation of what we do and go through as professional home stagers although for many of us, on a much smaller scale. I don't know how many of you work on properties in the price point of the home featured in tonight's premiere episode - almost $5 million!
Before watching I was apprehensive about how staging would be represented.
- Was this show going to be another show leaving our clients asking us why we couldn't do that for "under $1,000?"
- Was it going to be more about the "stuff" over the house?
- Were the stagers going to be drama queens/kings?
A little, but understandably in the home featured, it was worth a small fortune and the furnishings and decor needed to reflect that.
What I especially liked about it was the portrayal of the "stagers" as truly focused on what would work in the space- they didn't over do it and they well could have in this situation. Every room was tastefully done with a collaboration by two professional stagers (& an understanding, calm patient assistant) who had not met prior (although how do you work for the same company and not know each other was one question I had - is the company that huge? - it may be considering the warehouse and free reign in spending on art work showcased in the space). Also the uncertainty at times of what would actually work in the space once they got it all there was spot on so true. That was great! Showing them bouncing ideas off one another, setting the scene at the warehouse, talking, strategizing, feeling great when it all comes together - that is so staging!
Staging is fluid, not stagnant it goes with the flow and the "synergy" of the team working on the job. Things and plans can change.
I LOVED when the home owners came by (not that I like it when I'm working because I so understand how that's the WORST time to have them there!) It's hard to be questioned when we ourselves question our own work until we feel it's right - having a client second guess while in the middle of a job is often mind blowing. While not as drastic it's kind of like interrupting a surgeon in the middle of open heart surgery saying there's too much blood there, how can you see what you're doing?
In the end, as the transformation was revealed room by room and the final budget was shown, I was impressed that a true dollar figure was shown. For an almost $5 million dollar property the staging budget was just under 1% of the list price of the house. The house did not sell for the asking price (less)and the days on market were not mentioned.
As the home owner put it, the staging was to be the "icing on his cake" and Matthew and Jay whipped up a mighty sweet ending .
I'm looking forward to more episodes. My hope is that they'll also feature homes in all price points as well. While multi million dollar homes are great, there are so many other houses in all price points that deserve the same amount of attention.
Please feel free to share your take on it!
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