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Who Caught The Premiere of THE STAGERS??

And if you did see it, were you as disappointed as I was?? I found this show to be more about "the Stagers" personalities and lives than actual staging and what goes on behind the scenes as well as the day of staging.

I especially found it unreal to see how CALM everyone was most times. I don't know about you but I am running around like a luny when I stage. Many of you might, but I certainly do not, have an art gallery that I can walk into and take art that is worth $7,000.00. If you have resources like this, I would love to know what you are doing.

Now I ask you this...when was the last time your staging assistant had time to go on 2 auditions during the actual staging of a home?? GOSH, I barely get time to pee. This is nuts and I really don't think the show is going to last.

Plus I found it to be boring. I think that so far GET IT SOLD and SELL THIS HOUSE are 2 of the best shows to exemplify the realities of staging EXCEPT for the fact that the crew's labor is not factored in.

When the show was over the transformations were beautiful and they did make good use of the space, but I wasn't hearing things like this is to show off the fireplace, this is to draw the buyers eye to that fabulous view, etc. At the end of the show they did show the list price, cost for staging, and the final sale price. When all was said and done the seller was down close to $100K. I guess on a $4.5 million house that is just a drop in the bucket. But the total cost for the staging was $40K and they did not do a breakdown of what that included. Was is a 3 mth rental, 6 month rental, etc.? Do you think that this show will help us in the long run?

Once again, I am concerned that this show may make clients with ordinary budgets feel that they cannot afford to hire a home stager for their property. I would love to hear what you all thought about it.

Thanks Phyllis Pafumi

Posted by Phyllis Pafumi-ReStyled to Sell Staging Homes NJ on 07/21/2008 07:55 AM

Comments (39)

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Originally posted at: Phyllis's Blog: Who Caught The Premiere of THE STAGERS??

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39 Comments on Who Caught The Premiere of THE STAGERS??

JUL

2008

Phyllis,

I watched it last night and was disappointed. I would love to see a staging show, using a typical house and a realistic budget, before and after. Some of the other shows that are on the air are not realistic to me since they don't include in the budget the cost of the carpenters and handymen. Let's have a staging show that will help persuade the public to follow the Realtors advice and hire a stager.

I agree with your review of the program. The show seemed focus on the personalities and less on the actual staging. I was not impressed and found it boring too. Also seems like they barely had time to squeeze a few "after" shots in at the end. Just my humble opinion.

I am pleased to hear that yu both have felt the same way. Richard I have always said that we deal with REAL PEOPLE, REAL BUDGETS, REAL HOUSES..I would LOVE to see a show like that. Heck I would love to be in a show like that.

This Saturday I am staging a home for an elderly couple. The realtor called me and said the don't want to "spend money", the house is dated and very cluttered. Because she has worked with me in the past, she asked that I come and PERFORM MY MAGIC. So yes, she has her son, his friend and some neighbors coming by to pitch in. We will declutter and remove "obstacles" that are hindering the buyers from seeing the potential of the home and I will "set up" the furniture in such a way to accentuate that. THIS IS OUR REALITY OF TODAY'S SELLERS.

Thanks so much guys for your comments, I hope more respond

Phyllis Pafumi

Phyllis - I didn't see it. I have a closet full of artwork - the are some lovely pieces in there but I didn't pay more than $30 for any one of them. :)

Phyllis, I did see it but was more or less prepared due to Charlene's post here on AR, because it aired in Canada 4 weeks ago. Too much personal drama I agree. Matthew (the star from this episode) also posted a comment on Charlene blog post and it was interesting. Charlene is also going to be interviewing him and is taking questions. Don't mean to steal this from you Phyllis but if anyone is interested search for Charlene Storozuk and read her blogs related to the show. It sounds like things may improve on the show with time.

Phylllis, OK, I taped it and will probably watch it tonight, then I will let you know.. This sounds like the first episode?? Thanks for sharing.. God bless,

Phyllis - I agree with you I was also disappointed. What drama and jealousy with Matthew - too many ego problems and not enough about the whys of staging.

I also heard they will have better episodes in the future that are more realistic. I will TEVO or DVR the rest.....10pm to 11pm is too late for this old stager.

Phyllis - I think you should give the show a chance. I have seen 3 episodes so far in Canada. For some reason, episode 2 was the one that aired first in the U.S. last night. It was my least favourite episode of the 3 so far (not that I thought it was bad). I really enjoyed episodes 1 and 3 more though. Tomorrow night, episode 4 is airing in Canada, I can't wait to see it. Watch for my review!

Ginger - Thanks for the link :-)

Hi Phyllis

Unfortunately I missed it. I was too busy making artwork in my backyard for my new listing. I'll have to catch the next one.

Hi Phyllis,

I Tivo-ed it, and have yet to watch it. However, it's on again in it's normal time slot on Tuesday at 9:30pm. I've heard good and bad - the good that it highlights staging as a profession, the bad that they only stage high-end homes (which is like, what... 0.0002% of the market for most of us), and that the focus is more on the personalities than the staging.

I hope more stagers get to watch on Tuesday, and post comments.

Monica

Hi Phyllis,

I wrote a little review myself and honestly I liked it! I was pleasantly surprised because I was apprehensive. Yes there was drama but as always that makes for good TV. The budget I will probably never see in my lifetime but the process (in a half hour) was pretty right on.

One of the stagers on the show, Matthew Finlason added a good comment on my blog and made some things clear regarding the show and what actually gets aired. On another comment, someone mentioned that this really isn't about promoting the industry but entertainment value.

There will be more episodes showing all price points and I am waiting to see how it all comes out in the end.

I will give it more time, but I do hope they focus on all price points and the reality of existing vacant, occupied, and more price points for builders and developers. HGTV is going for entertainment, but with our market in Michigan and the barriers to promoting and selling Home Staging having a promo that states, "I'm a stager and I call the shots" doesn't play well in this market. How often do we hear that stagers are rude and hurt clients feelings (not that I buy that.) I think the competitive play between stagers is reality and I thought the segment on hanging the art in the bedroom was pretty darn funny. If you have ever worked in a group with other stagers you have lived this. How many times can an accessory be tweaked.

As far as Matthew he did acknowledge that Jay and he played well off of each other. I think HGTV does want characters and entertainers on this show. For some reason that seemed more important than staging. For real staging I agree , Get It Sold and Sell This House give the most realistic view point.

Phyllis,

Sorry to hear that you didn't relate to the show. You can imagine how difficult it is to condense a 50hour staging job into 23 minutes. Please check out my comments on the following blog: http://activerain.com/blogsview/601960/-The-Stagers-on

I think David Moon said it best:

Comment by David Moon - First Impressions :

I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode of "The Stagers" and appreciate that HGTV finally has a staging show based on the work of a real staging company (Dekora), where the cost of staging is based on the square footage, price point and location of the property being staged - unlike "Designed to Sell," which uses an arbitrary $2000 materials-only budget for every house and places no dollar value on the labor - not to mention that because the "Designed to Sell" teams include on-screen carpenters/contractors interacting with the homeowners, there's far more airtime given to home improvement projects than to actual staging.

It's terrific that stager extraordinaire Matthew Finlason has given us his insider's view of "The Stagers" - above and in response to Charlene's post about Episode 2 (which was actually the first episode broadcast in the U.S.): http://activerain.com/blogsview/584671/The-Stagers-Episode-2.

While Sunday night's episode might not reflect a "typical" staging assignment for many of us, it does reflect the reality of high-end staging by a large, well-established company with extensive resources. Rather than dismiss this as "unrealistic" - a reaction I've seen in several blogs about the show - I prefer to admire Dekora as an example of just how successful a staging company can become. And I know from my affiliation with First Impressions that there's a demand for staging in my area that runs the gamut from $150,000 condos to multi-million dollar resort homes. If I was offered $40,000 to stage a $4 million home, I'd first say "YES!" to the client and then call Melissa Marro to say "HELP!" And then we'd roll up our sleeves and get to work.

That said, Matthew's comments and the episode descriptions on the HGTV website make it clear that future episodes will also feature smaller houses at lower price points, and even owner-occupied staging.

Another point to keep in mind is that HGTV isn't airing "The Stagers" as a public service announcement for the staging industry. If it increases our visibility, that's great. But it's intended as entertainment for the general public, so when the show's producers edit many hours of footage into a half-hour episode, they're inevitably going to focus on moments of drama, conflict and humor.

____________________________

BTW: I'm an active Rain member so feel free let me know what you think. and no this isn't the PR dept.

Matthew Finlason: Featured Designer on THE STAGERS

Well, if you can find a homeseller who'll pay $40K to sell his house, I'll tell you exactly where you go to get all of that stuff. We have a variety of high-end rental sources around here in Jersey, Phyl, we don't use them because, frankly, we don't have to. We can get some splendid effects with AFR and a few extra bits.

A $3.7 MM home I did this Spring just closed, where we added in some more expensive AFR stuff to the home existing bits and pieces, and then I added my own brocade covered Louis XIV chairs and a $2K painting of some pears down by some well-known NJ artist I've never heard of. I could have rented that stuff, but I felt like keeping the scratch in my own bank account for a change.

The talent Dekora has, and the one we all should learn, is how to SELL IN much bigger budgets for staging...if any of us think it's necessary in our markets...because we could all do that kind of thing with that much budget. I've even just remembered a girl in Westfield who wants to rent us custom window treatments for high end homes, Phyllis. Will have to dig up her email and send it to you.

That being said, the cow pouf was just wrong.

ok what is with the cow pouf? i have been hearing about it all day. I have to go find the show on dvr and then I will write back.

as for a 40k budget- I just did a 6.7 mil home and we purchased EVERYTHING for 19k. This included labor. Methinks I need to move to Canada!

Well I think mostly it was not that I disliked the show but I was disappointed because I expected too much. I was SOOOOO excited to actually see a show called THE STAGERS. Let's face it, two years ago no one knew what a STAGER was and now to see a show by that title was exciting and I had great anticipation to what the show was going to entail.

THE SHOW DID MAKE SOME VERY VALID POINTS:

1. When the client was insistent that the small table in the kitchen might show buyers that ONLY 4 could eat here, and instead Matthew's answer WAS PERFECT...No, this will have buyers can now walk around the space..SPACE IS WHAT STAGERS SELL. THIS WAS RIGHT ON. He stuck to his plan and that is tough to do when the client is paying and has second thoughts. BUT WE MUST STICK TO OUR PLAN and they have to respect our vision.

2. When the client showed up and the house was not finished, they handled it exactly as we do and should. It is most upsetting when the house is not together and we see the client walking around second guessing us

3. Items were picked to enhance some spaces and they were looking for a WOW factor in each of the rooms

These things were right on and I loved that Matthew loved the cow pouf and was going to make it work no matter what. We all have done that. Yes at times it was funny but I was just disappointed. Maybe my expectations were too high and now that I have read everyone's comments I will definitely be more open to the next show. Either way it is fantastic that staging is being highlighted as it is. I would love to see a staging on a $400K home using the clients own items.

Happy staging to all

Phyllis Pafumi

I dunno, I think the cow pouf should be a running gag, a signature piece of his that we all look for in every home! Just think of the splendidly anachronistic places he could stick the thing! It would be a hoot, and much more fun that "scoring one with, for, at, or on poor, long-suffering Jay!"

Yes, The "cowbana" was just wrong.

I fell in love with it and realized too late it was wrong. how many times have you brought in a "wrong" piece of furniture and had to MAKE it work due to budget, timelines, and the fact that the moving truck had left!!!!!

To me THATS staging - working with 3rd and 4th choices that don't work until we make them work. Its a talent that separates stagers from other designers. In future episodes there are what we call occupied enhancements and working with dated client furniture also requires that talent to pull it off.

Matthew Finlason

I think maybe you hit the nail on the head Phyllis. I expected very little and was very pleasantly surpised! I agree with everything that David Moon had to say - Bevin, Sue & I actually discussed it when we were preparing our warehouse today for a rather large un-staging job Wednesday. All around we thought Matthew's comments to the homeowner were spot on - particularly when discussing the breakfast room table and so on. I couldn't have been more pleased for the first episode!

I was disappointed that again we have a show with Millions of dollars home and huge.

It was mostly personalities than staging. Hopefully the other episodes will be more realistic.

Maybe I should star in a show for real down to earth sellers who are battling short sales and/or estates that have been neglected for years. My price range of home is from $150 to $400.

Would love to stage on for $40K and make some real money

That would be very funny to have the cow pouf appear in every show. It would be like the book WHERE'S WALDO. Viewers would have to call in with their answers on where the cow pouf was tonight. You are too funny Juliet. I still like the idea you had for a show. You with your refined accent and me with my Brooklyn accent...HEY MATTHEW do you need some co-hosts??

Seriously all kidding aside our hats off to you Matthew as you are bringing our craft to homes for all to see and we can only hope that STAGING will continue to be FOREMOST on the minds of sellers BEFORE they list their home for sale.

But I'm with you Kate, maybe we should all move to Canada

Matthew, I love that you call occupied home stagings...OCCUPIED ENHANCEMENTS. This is actually the type of staging THAT I LOVE. I find it challenging and more rewarding. Sellers are always amazed that these are items that they already own that have been repurposed to make their space totally brand new.

Happy Staging Phyllis Pafumi

JUL

2008

Phyllis, I missed the premier but caught the second episode and granted that they do play it up for the camera it was nice to see at least a realistic staging cost detailed at the end of the show. As far as the Art. The Vancouver Art gallery loans artwork to designers, stagers, collectors -whomever wants to appreciate artwork. The rental is usually $100 per piece/per month. After watching the stagers I think I'll be heading down there myself. You could always check and see if your local art gallery would loan out art.~Emily, Celebrate Staging

YEAH! And the first episode there are two stagers, completely unrelated and doing the job in 5 days! Oh my, and the cost, yes $40,000 is a bit much and would make the average Joe wonder if they should even entertain the idea. My oh My, what will it take to get realism? (ps. welcome CP, glad to have you...)

Hi, Phyllis: Thanks for opening up the discussion. I tuned in but got very into channel-flipping, as the drama on Food Network Star had me much more interested! I agree with some of the comments...LOVE Juliet's idea about including the cowpouf (which i missed in the channel changing--will have to go back and see it on DVR) in every staging and Matthew's 'make-it-work' reality, as well as his humility in admitting it was wrong after all.

yes, there is great value for all of us in any show that gives us an opportunity to talk about and contrast and compare the reality of our own markets to the one shown on the shows. of course, i'd prefer that a market and reality much more similar to mine be shown...but then i haven't done the hustling that it takes to get a producer to make one here....so i tip my hat and say 'thanks, and congrats!' to those who have done so in their market!

Mark and I actually went to a friend's house for the Premiere Show- we arrived at 9:30 PM (they are very good friends) to watch the rest of Design Star, then The Stagers.

We loved the show BECAUSE: Matthew stuck up for himself and the reasons why stagers know what sells. He is not arrogant (or most of us would be), he is right.

That's what we hope this show will get across to viewers (homeowners/realtors) all over the planet!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU, MATTHEW! (Okay, and Jay, too!)

Continued success and blessings with this show!

~Leslie and Mark

PS. Where can we find a multi-million dollar home to stage....

Phyllis Im sorry I disagree ... I loved the show, it shows the crazyness nd how each job can be so different even if they are all vacants. I just went through Hell and back on a vacant we Staged last week. The seller is making me change the placemats, and other details just because it wasnt pleasing to his personal taste. Just like in the show when the owner wanted a bigger table in the kitchen nook!!! We are experts selling spaces . I just would like to see them do homes in the 500's to 2 million. Tosee realistic numbers,. I would love to charge 40K for a job!!! He obviously needed help! Lets give the show a try before we kill it !

Yikes I am not killing the show I don't mean to at all. I was just disappointed because I expected to much I guess. BUT I WISH THEM ALL GREAT SUCCESS. I have emailed Matthew to wish him the best and I DO look forward to seeing more episodes. As a matter of fact the second episode airs tonight and I will be planted by the TV.

Talk with you all later, Phyllis Pafumi

I loved the show! Not from a stager's point of view, but because it was entertaining. And that's what gets people to watch - the entertainment value. And if watching gets the words "home staging" in the public's mind then that's a great thing. I think people are smart enough to know that it's not going to cost them $40,000 to stage their $400,000 home.

My sister, who is not a stager and has no interest in staging called to tell me about it. She thinks Matthew is adorable and can't wait to see the next episode. I'm sure a lot of other viewers feel the same way. Hopefully "The Stagers" will bring home staging into the limelight and we will see more reporting on local and national news segments reaching an even broader audience. Meanwhile bring on the drama!

In defense of the "cow pouf"...

The much-maligned "cow pouf" from Episode 1 (US) / Episode 2 (Canada) is actually the $700 Mercer Ottoman by Bernhardt. It was featured on HGTV.com in their "Furniture Trends for 2007" as one of "8 showstoppers that caught our eye" at the High Point Furniture Market (http://www.hgtv.com/decorating/furniture-trends-for-2007/index.html). And here it is in all its glory as the centerpiece of Bernhardt's ad for their Langston sofa:

Hi Phyllis.....Thanks for posting about this show. It was interesting to read what everyone thought about it.

The show was a LOVE/HATE thing for me! I loved the staging part....and boy do I wish I could have a 40K staging budget. But I was disenchanted by one of the home stagers. It seemed like it was more about him (and his cow pouf) then about helping the client SELL the HOME!! I know everyone LOVES DRAMA in the TV world.....but in my opinion it took away from the Home Staging Industry.

Do you know if there will be different stagers every episode??

Well, David, thanks for the info and pic on the cow pouf. It looks perfect in this type of room and with this furniture. But it's not the type of furniture generically appealing to most buyers and I'm wondering what they were thinking when they ordered it in the first place.

As for staging budgets, as I said in a comment to Karen Otto's review, I often quote staging costs of about 1% of the list price which are often in the multi million dollar range since I serve the NYC and Hamptons markets. Though admittedly, none were at $40,000 for rented furniture and accessories for 6 months and my staging fee.

And as I also commented, I do my shopping for wine glasses in Home Goods not antique stores and they look lovely in all of the high end homes I do.

Yes I too was disappointed in this first show but as Matthew said in his response to Karen's review, the episodes get better as the producers gained more experience. So I'm willilng to give this show a chance.

The best thing for all of us is that it gives the general public more exposure to our business. As Phyllis said, a year and a half ago no one heard of staging (which is why I named my company "Designed" to Appeal rather than "Staged" to Appeal at that time).

I did not see episode 1, however tonight I will be planted on my comfy couch at 9:30 to watch episode 2! I have to see what all the BUZZ is about!! Also, I LOVE the cow pouf, but not for staging :)

I enjoyed the show, and I loved Matthew. I found him to be very natural and quite "real" as opposed to some of the other stagers on tv that are so over the top. I look forward to future episodes and the attention they will bring to our industry.

JUL

2008

Ok so I just finished watching the Tuesday evening show. I felt stressed out just watching him (Mathew) be so stressed out, I almost turned it off after 12 minutes but decided to finish the show. At the end everything looked beautiful, however he had a $6000 budget, HELLO!! $6 grand can get you a long way even in a million or two dollar home. In the end it won't be a priority show for me, it's not realistic to everyday Stagers!

JoLynn, I believe the total staging costs were $20,000 (about 1% of the home's value) but I must have missed the part of the $6000 budget. Was that for accessories only? Furniture rental? If it includes furniture rental, $6000 won't get you a long way in a home like that. Even furnishing just the main rooms like foyer, living room, dining room, kitchen nook and master bedroom can easily cost $1200 to $1500 per month (and that's based on 6 month rental rates - 3 month rentas are usually higher).

Donna, Yes the show I watched last night has a $6000 budget, I believe it was the 2nd show aired.. see Phyllis's recent blog http://activerain.com/blogsview/605145/THE-STAGERS-Redeemed-in

JUL

2008

Phyllis, with all due respect, your comment above "When all was said and done the seller was down close to $100K" makes absoultely NO sense at all. Are you expecting every home to sell above the asking price? Are you familiar with housing prices in the market where the show is filmed? How do you know whether the home was reasonably priced to begin with? Have you noticed that most homes, even in Canada, are no longer selling above the list price! This comment really makes all your others carry a lot less weight in my view. Sorry.

I would like to clarify my comment Seller down by $100K. I meant no harm I was just stating a FACT..

The cost for staging was $40K and then the house sold for less than asking. I DO NOT expect every house to sell above list, I WOULD BE CRAZY to think that especially in this market. I have said this time and time again..there is something to be said about the beauty of communicating by email BUT the tone in which something is read is most likely always misconstrued.

If you read the other comments to this post as well as the other post I wrote with regard to THE STAGERS you will see that most people were concerned with the REAL NUMBERS in the end for the staging. I am sorry if you misunderstood.

I have personally emailed Matthew myself apologizing if this post was miscontrued and congratulated him on the success of the show as the next 2 episodes were really great.

Happy Staging, Phyllis Pafumi

JUL

2008

Thanks for clarifying Phyllis. My comments are also with the best intentions. They key thing is that the owner isn't necessarily "down" at all. You have to factor the cost to purchase the home, how much they spent renovating (if that happened), how long they carried/financed the home etc. For example, if they purchased the home for $2.5 million then invested $500,000 in renovations/staging and sold for $4 million then they're certainly ahead even if they didn't achieve 100%+ of their original asking price. To say they're "down" on the transaction as it relates to how much they spent on staging is simply not true just because they didn't achieve their full asking price.

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