My New Outside Blog

What I Learned about Home Staging in Vegas Won't Stay in Vegas!

I have recently gotten home from Las Vegas (after getting delayed at airports for 29+ hours) and,although I should be completely exhausted, I am, in fact,unbelievably exhilarated. The Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) Conference that I attended was inspiring,exciting ,informational and fun.

What more could a room full of some of the best stagers in the business want ???

How about a picture with the adorable and charismatic Mathew Finlason from the show The Stagers.

And my new friend from California , Kathy Burke of Sensational Home Staging is flanking Mathew on the left. Mathew was as gracious as could be and engaged all of us in his presentation about :Upping the Ante with Lifestyle Merchandising:A Paradigm Shift".

The premise of his speech was that television has raised the expectations of consumers when it comes to staging. We are all familiar with HGTV. But for those of us who want to bring our business to a new level, we should be thinking about "Target Staging" where we dial in a specific Buyer.

Normally we stage to a demographic. For instance, I did a model home in Seekonk Ma that was geared to a young family with children and I tried to think in terms of a youthful design aesthetic. So I took the lead from the architectural features that the builders had chosen, with its sleek modern lines, chocoloate brown cabinets,glass tile backsplash -and added pops of color throughout the home,lively and fun for a growing family.

But what Mathew is saying is that we should think about designing by first creating a very specific Buyer profile. For instance, I could have taken this same home and decided that the house consisted of 2 hard working parents that worked full time and took turns carting their 7 year old daughter to dance class that she was passionate about and their 6 year old son who loved the Red Sox and baseball.

Each of the parents loved to unwind in different ways.The Mom got up at 5am and did yoga and the Dad loved to have his friends over to watch football and golf.

I could elaborate further but you can see the possibilities. Maybe I could have a lovely yoga mat with books on meditating placed strategically. I could decorate  the children's rooms with things that they specificaly like and the Dad's man cave would be suited to him.

Although I think that I captured a specific young girl in this picture, Mathew has inspired me to delve further and to be ultra specific. This is what will set us apart in our business.

Other bits of inspiration that Mathew passed along were: Neutralize-don't Sterilize and to "add the unexpected in your design". Buyers, he says, are suffering from neutral fatique.....create their dream!

So what I have learned in Vegas is coming home with me to Massachusetts and Rhode Island where  I am going to make it a goal to make the homes that Interiors by Marianne Cherico  stages and decorates to be the ones that Buyers and owners will love to be in!

Thanks for the inspiration, Mathew!!! Let's raise the bar!!!

And a special thanks to Shell and her team for all their hard work making the RESA conference so wonderful and to Maureen Bray, Sally Weatherly and Cathy Lee for always helping and inspiring me on Active Rain....I have been so blessed by you and your generosity of spirit!