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What does staging naked mean? (besides the obvious)

By
Home Stager with Hart & Associates Staging and Design

I have gotten several emails this past week from stagers asking what exactly "staging naked" means- besides the obvious!

Staging naked means that I do not align myself with one designation or consider one designation better than another. 

Staging naked means that I am not anti designation - if you have earned those letters use them in your marketing materials but realize that other designations exist.  We are all stagers regardless of the letters (or lack of letters) after our names.

Staging naked means I rely on my portfolio, experience and education to grow my business not my designation and putting other stagers down because they have not earned a certain designation.

Staging naked means that I value education to grow my business whether it is formal education in a class room setting or through networking and sharing on active rain and with others in the industry.

Staging naked means that I can create my own rules and standards and do not allow the creators of designations to tell me how to run my business.

If you are a naked stager what does it mean to you?

Staging it forward- naked......

 

Comments (18)

Yvonne Root
rooms b.y. root - Prescott, AZ
Home Stager - Northern Arizona

Kate, What staging naked means to me, besides the obvious.

Before I came back to the wacky, wonderful world of decor, I decided to go into a different service industry. I saw several courses offered to teach me how to do it. I took one course for the nominal fee of $500 and found that I hadn't learned an awful lot about what I wanted to do. I decided to up the anti. I paid $3500 for a 3 day course. Plus I paid to travel, stay in a hotel, and eat out (they paid for lunches and one dinner.) I learned more about that chosen field and came home ready to take on the world. After I fell flat on my face in that business I began to analyze what I had done wrong.

My final conclusion was I had spent a huge amount of my marketing funds for courses, travel, hotel and eating out. Since I'm auto-didactic anyway I chose to get my staging training at the book store and in front of the computer (which is paid for.) I'm still pouring funds into marketing. This time I have those funds available. 

None of my clients or REA have ever asked me where my spagetti is or even where I got my training. I did have a REA ask me yesterday why I chose to do this. That answer was easy. I LOVE IT.  

Jun 20, 2007 02:30 AM
Yvonne Root
rooms b.y. root - Prescott, AZ
Home Stager - Northern Arizona
Oops, Maybe I should have added this part. I did study interior design in college. I also worked as a Visual Display Manager in a small Sears store in Nebraska and I've owned a couple of Antique stores. My mom, grandmother and maternal aunts were all very talented in the design of their homes. My brother and I both have a talent for putting stuff in the right place. Do you think it is in the genes?
Jun 20, 2007 02:35 AM
Lucie Quigley
HOLT modern Home Staging - Halifax, NS
As long as someone does a great joband has a positive result then who cares about all those letter after a name. If you stage naked does that mean that you have S.N. after your name...LOL!
Jun 20, 2007 02:51 AM
Toronto's 2 Hounds Design: Decorating + Staging
2 Hounds Design + Home Staging - Toronto, ON

I wonder if I would get more business if I advertised as 'staging naked'?

I feel a blog coming on! Thanks for the inspiration!!

Jun 20, 2007 03:07 AM
Charissa Robinett
INTERIORS by Charissa LLC - Joplin, MO

Thanks for that eloquently worded definition of staging naked.  I am proud to be a Naked Stager!

Jun 20, 2007 03:29 AM
Toronto's 2 Hounds Design: Decorating + Staging
2 Hounds Design + Home Staging - Toronto, ON
Kimberly Uksik
Independent - Pickering, ON
Home Stager - Durham, Toronto, On.

Oh Boy you guys make me laugh..  I can see it now Attention home owners "stage naked"  I'll bet we would all get a lot more phone calls (but for the wrong reasons)

~Kimberly~

Jun 20, 2007 04:12 AM
Christine Craig
Designology Interior Design - Santa Barbara, CA
Allied ASID & NKBA
I think you said it all. Well said Kate. ;)
Jun 20, 2007 04:14 AM
Maureen Graziano
Third Eye Home Staging - West Islip, NY

Hi Kate - Just my opinion, however, I think we all stage naked. (thank God with clothes on) lol.  Seriously, what I mean is that all these "designations" and "certifications" don't mean a thing.  All they are is the end product of the "training" that an individual pays for.  I have yet to hear of anybody "failing" a staging training course, and thereby, not becoming "certified".  Also, because there is no license necessary to call oneself a stager, and no central regulating authority, etc., who exactly cares which "designation" one has??  These "certifications" are hardly worth the paper they are written on.  As for initials following one's name, again, they are of little importance.  The bottom line is that outside AR, I don't think anybody would have a clue about what they stand for. 

So, for people who worry about these titles, etc, it seems to me that these would be mainly the people who run these "training" companies.  In the real world, I think stagers will be hired by their portfolios and their abilities to market themselves, etc.

Anyway, in the end, may we all stage well, naked or not.  For those who feel more secure using "titles", etc. more power to you.  However, I think the work will speak for itself!!!

 

Jun 20, 2007 07:00 AM
Anonymous
Patricia Ebrahimi Show-Smart Home Staging & Color Consultant
Oh, I'm dyslexic and thought I read and you meant stage vacant, which I do...Stage Vacant Houses, not stage with a vacant mind. It gets complicated if I think too much.  Now, let's see, staging naked, yes, I do that too, I think.  Lost one job because I wasn't an ASP, but the ASP who won it lost her shirt on the job in my opinion, so you could say she staged naked, couldn't you?  I have an advanced degree from Georgetown University.  This expensive fact has NEVER paid me back, but I have stacks of student evaluations from 25 years of teaching college that are priceless.  It's results that count, always and forever.
Jun 20, 2007 10:42 AM
#10
Karen Dembsky
Peachtree Home Staging LLC, Home Staging in Atlanta, GA - Peachtree City, GA
Atlanta Home Staging
Talent's the key and I love it when someone like you have, points that out!  Thx, Kate!
Jun 20, 2007 11:26 AM
Phyllis Pafumi
ReStyled to Sell Home Staging New Jersey - Old Bridge, NJ
ReStyled to Sell Staging Homes NJ

To all Naked Stagers out there, upward and onward. Keep telling it like it is Kate

Phyllis Pafumi

Jun 29, 2007 03:37 PM
Lanre-"THE REAL ESTATE FARMER" Folayan
Samson Properties - Bowie, MD
I don't make promises.I deliver results.SOLD HOMES

Oh! That's what naked staging mean. For a minute there,I though Naked Staging was exactly what I thought it was. Professional stagers staging without their ----. You know what I am about to say,do I really have to finish this sentence? Great blog.

Mar 14, 2008 03:03 PM
Tori Lynn Wallitsch
Prudential Ambassador / Ross Designs, LLC - Omaha, NE

OMG -- I didn't realize that I am a NAKED STAGER!!!!  I was just pulling some thoughts together to write a blog about certified vs. non-certified when I stumbles across your post.  This is something I have significant thoughts and feelings about and am happy to see a like-minded post. 

However, I don't think I will advertise myself as OMAHA'S NAKED HOME STAGER.  I can only imagine the callls I would get and the disappointed looks after arriving at the client's house.

Apr 12, 2008 02:33 AM
Michelle Molinari
FEATURE THIS... Real Estate Staging & Interior Decor - Lafayette, LA
Feature This Real, Estate Staging & Curb Appeal Concepts

I'm fully clothed, but I still hope you nudists don't mind my post.

I'm a CSP. I didn't want or plan to be. 

See, we have a family design business. We do all sorts of crazy stuff, stuff that most interior designers have no clue how to do. We shock and astound our clients with our creativity and resourcefulness. Not that we are all that... it's just that we love to design, and even when we had a lull in our business, we decorated ANYWAY, and on tiny budgets.

So along comes HGTV, and suddenly, what we have always done is suddenly glamorous. We used to do it whenever we had time, and wherever there was a need. Taking ugly crap away, adding pleasing color, creating a purpose and an emotional response was now called "STAGING", if it was specific to the real estate market.

We had no idea. We just did it, because we are result-junkies and we like to affect positive changes.

So one day, I say to Mother Dearest, "I think we should add staging to our business cards, because I haven't seen a single solution on that T.V. show that we haven't implemented at some point and time."

She says Ok. So, now we are stagers.

One day get an itch to send one of us to Staging School. Just in case we don't know what all I think we know. I work part-time, so I figure it's not gonna be me. But weird things happen, and Me and my sister wind up enrolled. Great. Mom wiggled out!

It's been a few months and I am SO GLAD I WENT! It's not that I learned how to stage, per se. I didn't do anything on my final exam house than I haven't done before. 

It's the conviction I feel about staging, the absolute certainty that what I can do for people is of incredible worth, and worthy of incredible pay.

I recieved tools and confidence galore from Christine Rae. I know how to do this for you, I know how to sell this to you, I know you are gonna love me for it! I feel like a ba-billion bucks and no one can take it away from me. I can't get discourage, because that unsure part of my personality just gave up the ghost!

Was that worth $4000 for both me and Sue to feel so unified, empowered, and inspired?

I'd have paid twice that if I knew what all I was going to get for my money. I can't wait to send my mom to get certified. She needs a little adjusting.

I just don't know if she can handle it. STAGING SCHOOL WAS VERY HARD! Christine Rae didn't tolerate potty breaks, off-topic chitty chat, or luxurious, 30 minute lunches. It was 10 hours a day, two hours commuting time, and three hours of homewirk.  I was hungry! I was tired! My hygeine declined! It was very tough, and I am not exaggerating one bit. It was total boot-camp.

Christine had a lot to teach, and only 30 hours to do it in. And besides, sleep is for the weak.  

 

Apr 13, 2008 04:19 PM
Lea-Ann Virnig
Lea-Ann's Home Beautiful Staging and Design LLC - San Antonio, TX
Home Beautiful: San Antonionulls Premier , Home Staging Company
I'm NAKED with you Kate...I think!?  Although I do mention my training on my about me page, I don't use any initials after my name or on my business cards, etc.  I think ones portfolio, personality and integrity is what speaks for their abilities.
Apr 13, 2008 07:14 PM
Tosha Tate-Dickson
Finair Management Group Inc. - South Holland, IL

I'm naked and proud of it! I don't have anything against certifications/designations, I just don't feel I need them to validate my talent and passion for design.

Great post!

 

May 22, 2008 04:44 AM
Heather Fitzgerald
REALTY WORLD-Harbert Company, Inc. - Greenwood, IN
REALTOR Greenwood Indiana Real Estate

Good for you, a designation does not define someone, hard work and results do.

Apr 19, 2009 12:40 PM