How I Became a Home Stager

My name is Kathy Vernon and I am a home stager. How did I become a home stager? Let me share this with you.

I have always loved spaces. Maybe it is  because I grew up in a large family. Sharing a room with my two sisters made me appreciate having my own space as an adult.

I have a favorite re-occurring dream in which I am discovering spaces or rooms in my home that I have never seen before. In the dream I wander from room to room marveling at small details. There is always a lot of color in these dreams. I am not sure everyone dreams in colors, but I certainly do and I quite enjoy it.

But back to my love of spaces. The thing I love most about spaces is making them my own. Another word for this would be nesting. I love creating spaces that feel inviting and homey. I have done that with all the homes I have lived in over the years. I have come to realize I even garden the same way. My gardens are full of meandering paths that direct the visitor from one area of interest to the next.

Well guess what! That is what staging is all about, creating environments that cause people to connect to spaces on an emotional level. Of course in the beginning I did this for myself and my family. When my children were teenagers their friends always commented on how our home "felt good to them". They felt at home. They were connecting on an emotional level. I didn't know it at the time, but I had a knack for creating environments that make people comfortable.

Now as a home stager I use that natural talent to help people sell their homes. It is very satisfying as a professional to be able to walk into a client's home and after a couple of hours be able to direct them on how to make their home most appealing to their target market. Keeping the warmth of the home while highlighting its best features is the key to home staging. My job is to make selling your home less stressful by helping you make it market ready, and that would be to make it "feel good" to your prospective buyers.