Becoming a home stager doesn’t mean you have to get yourself into credit card debt stocking up on art, accessories, towels and bedding.
If you’ve been putting off your desire to learn home staging because you’re not prepared for these expenses, you should know you have other options.
When it comes to accessories, towels and bedding – those types of things – when I need to purchase them for a client, I use their money and everything ends up belonging to my clients.
This works very well. I get paid for my time to go shopping and I’m shopping with my clients’ money. The client gets to keep the receipts and the packaging, so when the house sells it’s up to them if they want to keep that stuff because it’s theirs. If they want to return items to get a different color to match their new home, or if they don’t want to keep any of it – that’s up to them.
Some home stagers like to build up their own stash of vases, candles and other accessories, but I deliberately decided not to do that. I don’t want the bother of storing those things and keeping track of them, so I approach it differently. Many homeowners love the fact that they have all this great new stuff to move to their new home.
When it comes to artwork, many furniture rental places rent art as well but it can be difficult to find appropriate art for home staging. The Staging Diva® Art Shop makes shopping for art effortless. Each piece was selected for home staging and galleries are organized by room. On top of that, when you choose your piece, you also pick your mat and frame and it’s shipped right to your door.
Home stagers, do you prefer to stock pile your own accessories or do you do what I do, purchasing them on behalf of your clients? Please share your process by leaving a comment below.
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Through the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has taught more than 4000 people around the world how to make money as home stagers.
[tags]home stagers, home staging accessories, learn home staging, home staging training, home staging art, staging diva[/tags]
Jayne – what a great resource! I will be keeping my eyes and ears open for something like that. Awesome find!
Staging To Sell
Home Staging . Interior Design & reDesign
231.690.0398
http://www.staging2sell.com
Jill R. Monczunski
President/Designer
Michigan USA
Jayne,
Thank you for sharing your discovery about the artists. We help them, and they help us. What a great idea!
I made a great discovery today as I was out talking to local artists. Because the economy in my area is just now feeling the full effect of the recession, many local artisans are stuck with quite a bit of inventory. They are excited about the opportunity to display some of their incredible paintings in staged vacant homes, and some businesses that I am doing redesign work for, just for the exposure and to get them out of the ‘garage’! I was so excited ….. these are beautiful pieces of art! They are doing this at their own risk, of course, but they believe this is a good opportunity for them. In higher end homes, these art works, when properly displayed, could turn into a sale for them and become a signature of my staging style. It was a GOOD day!
Thanks for writing such an easy-to-uendrtsand article on this topic.
Hi:
I thiink this a great idea, I didn’t realize they would give you their money to shop? Thank you as this has been a concern. I think everyone should save this article for future use and also, use the art shoppe when needed.
All great comments for a newbie to hear. Thank you for posting.
Cheryl
Debra,
The agent paid for all the inventory. He is totally sold on Home Staging and believes he can increase his Seller’s profit margins by making this investment. Therefore, he gets more listings which sell quickly and for more than the asking price. His business has increased by 70%, simply by offering the staging with the listing!
Brenda Tucker, Center Stage Interiors
You’re welcome Debra and thanks for the vote of confidence. My favorite bargain find is when I “rescue” a battered piece of wall art. Just last week I found a huge framed landscape picture at a store I frequent. The print was amazing, it was double matted and the glass was intact, but the frame was broken. I began to inspect the damage and came across the price tag… ONLY $7.00! That was all I needed to see! Leah to the rescue! I brought the piece home, took it apart, and fixed the frame with a few new joints, wood staples, and some bronzing paint cream. (I always have these things on hand for touch ups and repairs). Now I’ll probably be able to sell the refreshed piece for $100.00 or so! Even if I couldn’t have fixed the frame, I still would have made out on the purchase just for the print, double matting, and glass. I hang onto all kinds of spare parts and before you know it, I have everything I need to “build” a brand new piece of wall art! I just have the glass cut to size for a few dollars at my local glass shop. Just because something is broken it doesn’t mean it can’t be beautiful again, especially when it comes to artwork. Prints, mats, and frames are expensive, so if you can snag these parts for a few bucks I feel it’s totally worth it.
Thank you to all of you that have commented it is helpful to read about your experiences! With only one vacant home staging under my belt I found it quite interesting. Using The Staging Diva’s training and approach on not having an inventory. Finding that it sure costs more than you estimate and I suppose I will get better at that too. But did end up using some of my things since I ran out of money and the staging was not complete. Leah your ideas on having a small collection is something that would work for me. Really do like not having any expense so I will alway try to have the client pay for it.
I DO NOT keep an inventory of anything. Back in the day, I used a mirror from my basement for a vacant home that I was never going to use again. My furniture supplier also sells beautiful bedding – so I pick it out at the same time I am sourcing furniture and accessories. One stop shopping! Bath towels, kitchen accessories, and such I have to charge for (product AND shopping time). Personally, I KNOW ME!!! I am an interior designer and home stager. If I kept an inventory – there would be no space left in my own home!!!
STAGING TO SELL
Home Staging For Sellers . Interior Design . Interior reDesign
231.690.0398
Jill Monczunski
President/Designer
jill@staging2sell.com
http://www.staging2sell.com
Serving the State of Michigan USA
Jill, agree one stop shopping is the way to go! I know I don’t have the space in my own house for an inventory, and where do you stop? There’s always another great accent pillow or vase or whatever at a great price especially when you’re out and about in decor stores all the time. I can see how easily a shopping stager could end up with way too much stuff and way too many credit card debts.
I do the staging accessory thing a little different then most. When I’m out and about shopping for my own home, I always take a stroll through the store’s clearance aisle to find treasures to stock my staging inventory. Even my husband and daughter know that whenever we’re shopping, no matter where it may be, mom is going to take a quick lap around the store to see if she can find some goodies. I have one wall of large cabinets in my garage that is specifically for my staging inventory. When it’s full that’s it… no more bargain hunting. I only allow myself this one area to store my inventory. This keeps me from buying too much and spending too much. Then when a client needs some accents to finish off their staging, I gather up a collection of these items and sell them to my client at a profit. This saves me the time of shopping all over for a client because I already have a stash of accessories on hand for sale. When my cabinet gets low, I again keep my eyes open for more treasures to replenish my coffers. Since I’m able to bring my clients the things they need so quickly, they rarely bat an eye when they need to spend some money on the items I don’t have on hand. I simply say to them… “I went through my inventory and pulled all these items that would work perfectly for our staging, but I don’t have a bedspread on hand right now, so I suggest we take advantage of the great sale going on this week at JCPenney. Would you like me to shop for you? I’d be happy to pick something up that you could surely use in the future. All I need is a cash advance and I’ll head to the store this afternoon.” This approach has worked pretty well for me. It’s like instant gratification for my clients, and no rental woes for me.
Leah, thanks for sharing your story. What a great way to handle the whole thing!
Good question, Debbie. In the DC market, where staging is just really becoming the norm, I find I do better by being able to stage, stage completely, and do it quickly. I store a modicum of plants, pillows, bedding, artwork, lamps, and little furniture, all of which I have come upon at substantial savings over time. At the beginning I had my vacant customers buy everything, but it is more profitable for me both financially and in time and energy savings to keep an inventory at the ready. I never thought I ever say it, but I actually got tired of shopping! Temporarily, you understand.
Well, this is a very subjective subject, isn’t it?!! I would agree with Debra that shopping for accessories to stage occupied homes should be done with the clients money. However, it’s hard enough to get people to pay just for home staging, let alone more accessories.
But, in a vacant home, I think you DO have to provide the goods. Whether you rent it all or have some of your own is a decision you have to make. Some people will be ok with providing some of their own stuff but most just want it done and don’t wan’t the bother. In these cases, I buy items, then add it to my home staging inventory or take them back if the return time hasn’t expired.
I keep a small inventory of items to use in staging vacant homes. But it seems like it’s always necessary to buy something for each different home. So, I wish it worked out that my clients paid for these items, then also paid me for the time shopping, but it doesn’t usually work that way for me.
Debra, if you are selling art to home stagers to use in their businesss, isn’t that contradicting what you said?
Debbie, I do sell art to stagers to stage their homes at stagingdivaartshop.com. However, I don’t think that contradicts what I said. If you can rent great stuff locally, do that. If you can’t and you need help finding staging friendly pieces, I can supply it thru the Staging Diva Art Shop. And, if you do it right, you can earn extra income from the profits you make re-renting the same art pieces over and over again.
The downside is you’re making an investment in your own inventory, something I personally try to avoid if I can rent from elsewhere and still earn a profit using the techniques I share in the Staging Diva Training Program.
My best client, A Realtor, had me buy several thousand dollars worth of art and accessories for him. When he gets a vacant listing,I use his things. When the listing sells, we move everything to the next one.
When staging an occupied home, I use the homeowners things. I’m always amazed at the treasures you can find if you look hard enough. It’s all about creativity.
Happy staging!
Brenda, what you don’t explain is whether the agent paid for these items or asked you to pay for them. Would really love to know!
I’ve often recommended that builders and contractors who do spec homes invest in their own staging inventory that they can move from house to house. Then all they need is my creative eye to pick it out for them and then to figure out the optimal arrangement in each home.
I agree, that it’s amazing what treasures you can find in an owner occupied home. Sometimes this is almost more fun since each place is so different and the creative challenge of how to re-arrange what’s there and figure out what pieces don’t belong is always interesting.
I keep my own inventory but ONLY use it for vacant stagings. I NEVER put my accessories in a home occupied by its owners. In that case, I get paid for shopping and buy things with their money.
I feel that owners of vacant properties like the fact that they can rent both furniture (which includes artwork) and accessories, even if the cost of the accessory rental is the same as if they purchased it (see last paragraph). It’s their perception that matters most. They don’t want to be saddled with a bunch of bedding, towels, knickknacks etc that may not go with their current home or their next home. Items often can’t be returned after several months.
Also, I like to accumulate just the right items as I see them from various sources (some online and some in stores), therefore my shopping fee would be extraordinarily high. Having said that, to all of you just starting out, Debra is right. Do NOT spend money on accessories, but wait until you get your first job and get paid at least partially up front for the rental. Then at least you have some money to spend that’s not yours.
I typically recoup the cost of the accessories purchased (from inexpensive places such as TJ Maxx, Home Goods, etc) in a 6 month rental. Then the next time I rent them, it’s all profit.
I too also follow the rule of using a client’s money to buy them accessories. This is especialy true when the homeowners are living in the house. You really don’t want the hassle of having your accessories or items being used and then returned to you in subpar condition.
However, and this is a big point, my work comes mostly from vacancy staging. Whether the homeowner has relocated or a construction company wants me to stage their model homes, I always use my own inventory, not by choice but by necessity. So I say, keep your costs low but realize that each situation must be taken care of appropriately.
Keep the word out – Staging rocks!!
Debra,
I follow your advice and keep myself out of financial hot water! I love accessories in particular and pretty much everything that goes into accessorizing a room. Scale and proportion are so critical that what looks great in one room will be too large or too small in another, or the color won’t be one that really brings out a room.
Since less is definitely more in staging a room, each item is very important. In staging we create a look, and a feel.
Generally no one likes old and dated houses. A few accessories can bring life to a dated room and give it interest. That’s why I use the client’s money and shop for what their house is lacking.