I get a lot of people thinking that staging is is this easy decorating gig. It’s actually a lot less glamorous and involves hard work behind the scenes. So what happens between before and after pics? For one, there is a lot of planning and logistics involved…
When I book a job, I review my inventory (furniture and decor) to see what is available and how it would fit the property in question – both in terms of space and the potential buyer profile. I rely on Sortly for my inventory management and can easily reference and find everthing by image and location. I often sketch out my “list” to put on paper what’s inside my head and make sure I have everything and it all works well.
Sometimes, I am missing a piece that would pull off the whole design together – wheher it’s booked elswhere, or alternative is not quite right for the listing in question. This requires an emergency trip to find the right stuff – with no time to go through trade purchasing! Bins and furniture get pulled, packed and loaded. 🚛 It’s a full on moving process! Icy driveys, unfriendly dogs 🐕 unrelenting rain 🌧 impossibly narrow doorways 🚪 and unfriendly staircases are just some of the perils of the trade.
The intallation day is when it all comes together. Once everything is unloaded and positioned in the space, I adjust the layout and “dress” the whole house. Usually, the photographer is on my heels, to capture the listing in all its glory. 🛋 When everything is planned and managed well, the magic happens, and looking at those after pics, you wouldn’t know just what went into the whole process…
It’s a bit more than decorating with a few cushions 😜