Are you ready for the holidays?  Do you love to decorate for Christmas?

I know many of you LOVE holiday design, so I've put together "7 Reasons You Should Add Holiday Design to Your Business"...

Let's face it...the holidays can be EXHAUSTING for most of us!  Between the gift shopping, parties, wrapping and vacation planning it's hard to carve out time to sift through our massive amounts of holiday decorations. Most people would love a service that works with them to dial in their holiday home while saving them time.

The very nature of holiday design is to save clients time by doing the design for them, so typically the folks who don't have that kind of time but do have the money are in a higher-end, income bracket.

What do this mean for the designer?  It means you've just created a wonderful referral source for multiple design projects!

The great thing about a offering a holiday design service is that those client's whom you did an excellent job for the previous year, will invariably have you come back every year!  That's right...you only need to cultivate a handful of client's to have regular, steady business every year.  In fact, a stager friend of mine says that she earns almost 15% of her business yearly on only a few, holiday design client's that LOVE her.

Sometimes I hear stager's complain that their staging business really dips during the holidays, so having a steady, holiday design clientele that keeps you busy, year after year, makes perfect sense!

Home Stagers and Designers have the uncanny ability to "see" interiors in creative ways and part of that skill-set goes toward Re-purposing items to their best showing. Why pack all of your current decor away before decorating for the holidays when you can easily to the gorgeous decor you already have and "holiday, bling it up!"

Not only is this kind of service highly referral based...it's easy to market using Facebook Ads, post cards and online directory key words...

HOT TIP!

Simply add the term "Holiday Design Services" to your Yelp listing and you're already ahead of the game!  Look how few providers come up in the entire San Diego area...

I've put together an hour long video training that walks you through the process, pricing and marketing of offering a Holiday Design service to your clients...

I love what these Santa Cruz home stagers did to this million dollar vacant listing!  This Santa Cruz Home Staging company, Pacific Home Design merchandised this space so well...I'm building an article off the work they did about staging trends I'm seeing in the industry...

4 Hot Staging Trends You Can't Ignore...

Before Staging

After - Pacific Home Design

After by Pacific Home Design

In a 2014 Staging Trends post, I named the color navy as a staging color trend you will see more of in the coming years and I'm happy to say that three years later...I'm not tired of it.  You can see how these Santa Cruz home stagers (Chrissy and Corrine) really tap into the design vibe of the city of Santa Cruz in that their staging design enhances the view and creates a "lounge like" feel.

​

Before...

After by Pacific Home Design

Part of the art of staging is "merchandising" the space.  The definition of merchandising is "displaying a product in such a way that it stimulates interest and entices customers to make a purchase."

The two photos above show this concept beautifully!

A buyer would go onto the deck and marvel at the view in the unstaged, empty deck photo BUT the buyer who goes onto the staged deck will sit in the chair and imagine spending sunsets with their partner over a glass of wine and teaching their children the constellations in the evenings...do you see the difference?

In my staging and design training, I call this building "Emotional Connection Points" in the home, so that buyers feel home in the each room...

Staging by Pacific Home Design

For the first time in the 2017 National Association of Realtors staging statistics they mention the importance of staging outdoor areas, so this is a trend we are going to see grow in the coming years!

Don't you hate how fast color trends seem to change?:) 

After staging by Pacific Home Design

Expect to see more white walls in the staging realm since this trends is growing.  Having said that, it takes extreme, design expertise to work with white walls since "white" needs lots of white furnishings and texture to work well.

Luckily the Santa Cruz home stager gals at Pacific Home Design had taken my Certified Color Expert (CCE) training course, so they knew the right way to work with white on the walls in this home!

More Gorgeous Photos from Their Staging Project...

After by Pacific Home Design

I never get tired of hearing "success" stories from people who "took the plunge" and decided to invest in our certification training AND themselves to become a stager!  This featured stager story is about starting a business semi-retired and doing the travel you love to do too!  There is no "one size fits all" in this business and in Week 1 of my training, I walk people through finding the business model that will fit their life style.

Kathy "Kiki" McNair of Kiki Staging based in Folsom, CA wanted a business she could do while also retiring to her condo in Kona, Hawaii twice a year for 2-3 months.  This may sound like a tall order but believe it or not, the Department of Defense used to completely pay for our training for military spouses because it is such an ideal, portable business model when you incorporate both staging and redesign.

Before Kiki's Redesign

Kiki finished the training in April of 2017 and send me this email a mere 3 months later...

Kiki McNair

Audra, I thought it was high time that I let you know how my new business is doing.  I started the course on 2/21 while at the end of our 2 month stay in Hawaii.  My husband is retired and we are able to come to our condo twice a year for 2-3 months. Pretty great, right?

We are currently back on island for 2 more months and I hated to leave my new business!

After Kiki's Redesign

Before Kiki's Redesign

I also staged 2 homes and both sold within a month of listing. The homeowners and realtor were very happy with my work. One was completely empty and the other partially empty. I also did some consultations for redesign and color.

After Kiki's Redesign

I am so thrilled to have a new and fun business that I can even do in Hawaii.   An interior designer here contacted me to assist her with a job.

I am fortunate that I can work as much or as little as I want to!

Before Kiki's Redesign

After Kiki's Redesign

Another Happy Client!

You are welcome Kiki!  It's so wonderful to see how people make their business...their own.  Being semi-retired but having a business that you love is absolutely not work!  Just ask Kiki.

Now what will your story look like...

Could “ Home Staging" be a Career for You?

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Don’t miss this..!!

• 7 Key Questions to Ask Yourself
  
• What the Cost is to Starting this Business
  
• Do You Have the Personality for This Industry?
  
• How You Know If You Have the Design Talent?
  

Watch it Now »

New 2017 Home Staging Statistics Are In!

The "actual value" of home staging is hard to quantify because who has the crystal ball to know what the home would have gone for had it not been staged?  Having said that, I get emails daily from HSR Grads who stage homes that have been sitting only to have them receive multiple offers after they staged the home. 2017 home staging statistics are hard to come by but luckily a new survey has been done.

Click to Open Report

Statistical Changes from 2015

In 2015 the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) created a survey profile of home staging for the first time and the staging industry went wild!  Finally, staging which has become commonplace on HGTV was being acknowledged in a real way by NAR.  I'm so pleased to see that NAR has updated those statistics for 2017 and while not much has changed, here are some key differences in the report:

My mission has always been to "make hiring a professional home stager when selling a home an industry standard" and it's statistics like the ones below which help our industry EDUCATE, EDUCATE, EDUCATE the value of what we do!

Does Staging Increase the Home's Value?

Yep, agents are "getting it" and the "Seller's Agents" are really seeing that the homes that are staged are getting a better price than the un-staged homes.  While it's hard to quantify exactly how much more a seller is getting for their home, it's easy to say that improving upon a product usually nets you more.

Does Staging Effect the Buyer's Viewpoint?

The Buyer's Agent sees that taking their client's to homes that have been staged provides a more likely offer since the staging does effect the way the buyer views the home.

Do you have a home on a busy street, small lot or in a more undesirable area?  Check out this stat...

FREE Download of All Statistical Images for Your Use!

How Important is Each Room from a Staging Standpoint?

How important is staging every room of the home?  It turns out that each room has it's own value of importance according to these 2017 home staging statistics.  In fact, this is one reason why I train my students to do good, better, best type bids when it comes to staging a vacant home.  Providing options to clients in a way that fits their budget while maximizing return on investment is important and my HSR home staging certification training teaches this critical business concept.

Living Rooms and Master Bedrooms Top the Chart!

Staging the key areas in a vacant home which include the living areas, master bedroom, dining areas and kitchen are obviously an important factor to most buyers according to these 2017 home staging statistics!

I've long been saying that outdoor areas are trending in importance to the aesthetic and return on investment, so it was nice to see that this area of staging was right behind the kitchen in importance!

Who Pays for Staging?

A lot of times the agent feels like they should be the ones providing the staging service or paying for staging but this is simply not true.  The home seller benefits the most by having their home "move-in ready" and staged, so they should be the ones to pay for this critical service. 

In fact, now more than ever home seller's are contacting a professional home stager BEFORE getting an agent...

Did you know that by using certain paint colors in specific rooms of the home you can statistically increase it's value by almost $10,000 alone?! We have a "Paint Color Cheat Sheet" that shows you exactly how much...

I know this seems incredible but according to Zillow's Paint Color Analysis which looked at more than 32,000 photos from sold homes around the country...it's true.  "Homes with blue bathrooms alone typically sold for $5,440 more than expected" in this study!  We created a "Paint Color Cheat Sheet" according to this study, so your clients know which specific Benjamin Moore colors in each room of the home will garnish them them the most....

Paint color has a tremendous influence on the way a buyer views a home according to the Zillow study which calculated the increase in potential value per room depending on which "buyer preferred" paint color was used. 

"Color can be a powerful tool for attracting buyers to a home, especially in listing photos and videos," says Svenja Gudell, Zillow chief economist.  "Painting walls in fresh, natural looking colors, particularly in shades of blue and pale gray not only make a home feel larger, but also are neutral enough to help future buyers envision themselves living in the space.  Incorporating light blue in kitchens and bathrooms may pay off especially well as the color complements white counter-tops and cabinets, a growing trend in both rooms."

Personally, I think they are miscalculating in the sense that homes that usually have these gray and blue colors usually have white cabinets and marble counter tops which are REALLY HOT right now.  I never get tired of seeing photos like the one above which was done by HSR Grad Leia Ward of LTW Design a Greenwich, CT home stager.

Color evokes such a visceral response that I created a Certified Color Expert program, so people can navigate choosing color schemes for clients in the right way.  Color is not just about paint but about all the colors in the space, so it's important to work with what we cannot change in the space to find the perfect, complimentary color.

I love this video testimonial from Michelle Minch of Moving Mountain Designs who is also a RESA Stager of the Year and is killing it in the Los Angeles Area as a home stager! Michelle started out as an Interior Designer and took the HSR home staging certification training thinking she would add staging to her business...boy did she get more than she bargained for!

Here's 5 HUGE Reasons Why Every Interior Designer Should Be a Home Stager...

Who is an Interior Designer's business target market?  New home owners and people considering a remodel or design project.  Are these people easy to find?  Not really. 

The Home Stager on the other hand has a target market of Real Estate Agents who are very easy to find online (and off) and very easy to target.

Did I mention that having a handful of Real Estate Agents who use you on every listing they get means you are continually getting new business without having to lift a finger?

That's right, the HUGE business model benefit to working with agents is that this target market will actually do the marketing for you since they will need you multiple times.  The interior designer's target markets do not continually feed them new business.

Every GREAT staging job should turn into a new move-in design job when positioned correctly!  The home stager has the best opportunity at connecting with the home seller who very soon will be a new home owner and want help remodeling their new space.

This is one of the biggest reasons the HSR Certification Training program goes over BOTH the staging and design business models.  This HUGE advantage is what makes us different from other training companies because we understand that beautiful staging leads to new design business and we want you to be able to handle all of it!

Remember when no one was spending on "luxury items and services" during the down turn?  Guess what?  They were still spending on home staging because if they didn't professionally stage their home, it simply would not sell.

As the longest running, online staging and design training provider who has been through every economy I can safely tell you that staging is an "economy proof" business when positioned correctly.

Many of my HSR members have left the interior design industry and jumped in the home staging industry because they said it was just A LOT more fun! Design typically is a higher risk, higher capital, bigger stress profession that has a longer sales cycle whereas staging is an "in and out" profession where clients see huge results right away.

My X-Designer members tell me they like creatively working with what their client's have to make rooms beautiful rather than the tedium of completely redoing a client's space or measuring the exact cabinet size to fit a kitchen, etc....

There are many more benefits of adding staging to the Interior Design business model but those are just a few "biggies".

FREE Video on What it Takes to Be a Stager...

Could “ Home Staging" be a Career for You?

---

Don’t miss this..!!

• 7 Key Questions to Ask Yourself
  
• What the Cost is to Starting this Business
  
• Do You Have the Personality for This Industry?
  
• How You Know If You Have the Design Talent?
  

Watch it Now »

My Office Remodel - 5 Design Lessons Learned

Have you ever known that you have to do something with a space but feel a bit stumped?

I shouldn't have shown you the "after photo" so soon because once you scroll and see the before photos, you will see why this room was the bane of my home's existence! I did NOT want this ugly room as my office but since my kids were sharing a bedroom and turning into teenagers...it was time to remodel. Keep in mind, these photos were taken with my camera and not a professional.

Here are five lessons I learned from my office remodel...

1. You Cannot Make a Dark Space Lighter with Paint!

Office BEFORE

This room inside of my house was a constant, nagging irritation to me because I had no idea what to do with it! First off, it's SUPER dark and gets very little natural light. In fact, there is just the one little window that emits no light and the doorway in which I am standing to take the photo is the only light source...soon to become a door. In the past, we attempted to paint the room my favorite brightening color from the Benjamin Moore Affinity Deck called Jicama but it looked drab in this space...thus lesson #1.

Office AFTER

To combat the darkness, I added lots of artificial lighting in all of it's forms, lots of bling from the mirrored desk, mirrored frames, table and gold lamp in order to brighten it up. The key to dark spaces is to embrace them with paint and rely on artificial lighting to do the rest. Embraced the darkness I did with Benjamin Moore's Historical Collection, Newburyport Blue HC-155 which is the ignored color next to the very popular Hale Navy. It's a warmer navy than Hale Navy without looking too blueberryish like Van Deusen Blue.

2. You Have to Splurge When You LOVE Something Sometimes:)

BEFORE

The window seat was begging for something and since you already know that I am a HUGE pillow lover, I felt it was time for me to splurge on some of my favorite Schumacher fabrics even though I have kids and animals that have NO respect for my furnishings...alas!

Splurging is hard for me since I am very practical but splurge I did on each one of these pillow (even though I got them wholesale), knowing they would probably have a lifespan of a year in my house.

3. You Have to be Practical When It Comes to Your Comfort

My office chair is the ugliest thing ever and I'm sure you noticed it right away my stager/designer readers! But here's the thing, I have to sit there for many hours everyday and do my job, so I have to be comfortable. Have you ever looked at rooms in magazines and asked yourself whether you would FEEL comfortable there? We are staging and designing for real people in real situations, so comfort and practicality does matter.

The little brown, leather chair is a comfortable, recliner that I do use quite often at night to watch the TV in this room...who can ever agree with their husband on TV viewing preferences?

4. You Have to Get Personal

I'm one of the few staging trainers who believes your "lived in" home should NOT look staged. I have family photos everywhere in my home, as well as kids artwork and awards on display. Even in my new office you can see that I have a wall of my boys artwork and a mirror-framed, wall of my latest family photos taken on the beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

5. Adding ANY Kind of Architectural Element Will Boost the Space

I was on a limited budget but wanted shelves for my MANY books and cabinets to hide my ugly, office "stuff". Here's another tip, make sure you are crystal clear on exactly how you want those cabinets built! I was armed with photos of both the mill work and cabinet I wanted, so this was easy and boy does it make a difference!

6. Animals LOVE Animal Skin Rugs Even If They Are Fake

I have spent the last four months going through every inch of our 21-Day Home Staging Certification Training and migrating it to a cutting edge, online training system.  Every form, guide, page, link and resource or our staging certification program has been updated to reflect our changing staging, design and real estate industries.  I'm so proud of this new training area which members are RAVING about.

If you are shopping for staging and design training, then watch this video and compare it to anything else you've seen...I promise you will LOVE it!

Last Week's Raves...

I never get tired of hearing people's "stories"...

In fact, every time someone signs up for my home staging certification program, I interview them to get a picture of what their background is and what their hopes and goals are for their business.   I am always so inspired and humbled by the responses I get!  Here are just a few that I've gotten in the last month:

"I've been rearranging rooms since I was a child, so I can't wait to finally follow my dream of design and make money at it!"

"My mother was my design inspiration and when she passed away last year, I knew I had to pursue this"

"My goal is to create a staging empire!"

"I got bored of being retired and wanted to do something I loved and that would make my children proud"

"I'm a real estate agent who has always LOVED design, so my goal is to dial in my own listings, as well as help other agents stage theirs"

"I have had an Interior Design business for over ten years and wanted to incorporate home staging as an additional service"

"I hate my full time job and feel stuck...my goal is to work hard, learn like crazy and do staging and design full time!"

At the RESA Convention last month, Tori Toth was kind enough to take some of my HSR grads aside and interview them to get their stories...you will love what they have to say!

Over the next few months, I'm excited to share some more homestager stories along with their before-and-after photos.   You will be in "awe" of their transformations!

We had so much fun in Las Vegas last month at the RESA Convention last month!   We had amazing speakers (Sabrina Soto), the coolest group of vendors (Ashley Furniture, Cort, Surya, Paragon), the largest attendance of home stagers of any Convention and the most competitive awards grouping I've ever seen!  Our industry is hot and when we get together...amazing things happen. 

Here are just a few of the many highlights from that event...

We filled the bar with over 50 HSR peeps, so I had to take a selfie:)

Who doesn't love a good happy hour?  Before the Convention began, I treated all my HSR Members, Grads and Staging Mentors to free drinks at the Center Bar in the casino and it was a great way for stagers to meet, network and connect before the big event.

I got to thank my amazing members for inspiring me every day!

For the third time I've been privileged to win the "RESA Most Innovative Product and Service of the Year Award"!  I was blown away since the competition this year was fierce and there were so many great finalists.

I'm very proud of this training because I believe Color Consultations are becoming more essential and I'm excited to help stagers and designers create a market for this service (much like I did when staging was brand new).

I also spoke on the subject of choosing "Ideal Color Schemes" and am doing a FREE live webinar on color, so sign-up by clicking on the image below if you LOVE color.

Just a few of the many HSR staging winners!

Victoria (www.VictoriaStaging.com), Audra Slinkey, Emily and Yvette (www.orchidinteriorsllc.com), Arti (www.studiortdesign.com), Cynthia (www.transitionshomestagingtulsa.com), Monica (www.preferredstaging.com), and Laurie (www.roomswithimpact.com)

In every category there were many HSR Grad award winning finalists!  The body of work was better than I've ever seen in the history of staging awards!  Over the next few months, I'm going to be sharing these incredible photos on this blog and on the NAR staging blog. 

Seeing is believing, and when you see these incredibly talented stagers work their magic...it will give you goosebumps!

HSR Alumni Kristine (www.elitestagingandredesign.com) and Birgit (www.birgitanich.com)

Orlando won the Kathy Neilson Award for everything he does for the staging industry!

I shared a bit about Orlando (www.thehomestagingguy.com) in a prior blog post about "How to Get a Staging Job", because he is also one of my wonderful staging mentors, is State President of RESA for Florida and regularly jumps into my live, training webinars in the HSR Members Area to motivate and comment...I love this guy!

Don't you love a good story?  Sabrina Soto was an incredible speaker and we had an hour long "chat" question and answer session that inspired, illuminated and motivated all of us.  She's as down to earth as you would think, very kind, genuine and had some excellent insights on trends in the industry.  She even gave us a little "HGTV gossip":).

Hurray, I even got to take a picture with her!

Look at this good looking group of HSR Grads & Staging Mentors!

My staging and design certification training is online, so while I get to talk and email HSR members daily...I don't get to see them in person (unless they come to a San Diego RESA event).  The RESA Convention allowed us to pre-party, celebrate the industry and get to know each other better.

 The Staging Industry is FILLED with the most AMAZING group of people!

I was so blessed to have both my sisters fly out and support me at the convention!

My REAL Sisters got to meet my "Staging Sisters"... How cool is that?!

Corrine, Suzanne and Me

So...save up your pennies and make sure to attend next years, RESA Convention with me if you are a home stager! 

If you're not a home stager but thinking about it, then watch my free video about the industry, "Is Staging for You?"