Staging - A Chance to Help

My most recent staging "job" is a pro-bono effort. Through mutual friends, a women who needs to sell her home fast (and has little spare funding) was referred to me. I am happy to help her get started down a new life path by working with her, her friends and family to get the home ready for sale.


I contrast this with my last staging effort which also involved a family that was looking to sell quickly. While these women shared a similar path, they had such different viewpoints when it came to getting things ready. It really drives home how we as stagers need to be neutral in every situation while still doing our best to meet the clients expectations.

My "quick-sell" client wanted as much work done as possible for as little money as possible. The house had been on the market a long time with no movement and I knew she was getting beat up financially, yet she did everything to make it harder than it had to be.

The day of the staging, her house was a mess, we had to work around a cleaning lady, her sleeping teenagers and her dogs. It took a few hours longer than necessary because of this and yet she still felt that I was charging too much. In many ways I felt that I had failed with this client.

But, in the end the house sold after the staging. I know what we did made the difference - we defined the spaces and removed a lot of the furniture and 80's feel to make the house look fresher. On that level it was a success.

So, it's with joy that I can help someone - no matter the circumstances. And I get to learn some lessons.

And that's a Chance to Help.