If you are in any way interested in becoming a home stager or interior redesigner, there’s a good possibility that you are constantly redecorating your home and/or working on a new home improvement project.
When you have a natural talent for decorating, the urge to decorate is always there.
Whether or not you have any intention of redecorating any part of your home in the near future, I suggest you start photographing anything you don’t like right now, even if you’re only in the early staging of dreaming about starting your own home staging business. Whenever you’re in a room or a corner in your home (the basement, attic, laundry room, spare bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, home office, junk room) that makes you cringe, take a picture.
The reason I suggest taking your before shots right now (even before deciding when to redecorate) is because if you’re one of those people with a natural urge to decorate, at some point you’ll be suddenly inspired and you’ll dive right into the project only to realize later that you never photographed things before hand.
Once the transformation is complete, it’s hard to remember just how bad things were before.
Plus it’s impossible to recreate it for a “before” shot! When you’ve got a terrific “after” shot, you’ll really wish you had documented the transformation. If not for an actual home staging or interior redesign portfolio, but even for your own satisfaction. Let’s face it we all like to marvel at our own talents!
Several years ago, I had a kitchen with the ugliest wall paper border. I lived with it for an entire year. Then one day I stepped out of the shower and opened the bathroom door to let out some steam. This gave me a great view of the kitchen and that awful wallpaper. Suddenly I couldn’t take it anymore! I threw on my bathrobe, dragged a chair across the kitchen and there I was tearing off the border. There were no thoughts of stopping to take a photo, I just went at my unplanned kitchen redecorating project and an important home staging portfolio opportunity was lost!
I bet there are at least three areas of your house right now that you could transform for a small amount of money. If you’ve been recruited to help a friend or neighbor redecorate a room in their home, take your camera with you and be sure to capture the change that takes place.
Step by step guide to taking the best before and after shots
There’s no need to wait until you learn home staging and start your own business to start putting together your portfolio.
This is one step to starting your business that you can be working on now. For tips on taking your before and after photos, read these past articles for some great advice:
- Part 1 – Photography Tips for Home Stagers
- Part 2 – Digital Camera Basics
- Part 3 – Home Staging Photos: Attention to detail
- Part 4 – How to find a strong story for your staging photos
For even more help putting together your home staging portfolio, check out the Staging Diva Ultimate Portfolio Guide: Winning Clients With The Perfect Home Staging Portfolio.
Home stagers, how long before you started your home staging business did you start taking your before pictures? Do you ever forget to take your before shots until after you have already finished a home staging project?
Please share by leaving a comment below.
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love while helping others at the same time.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Such good advice! I always have the camera at hand for those “before” pictures. When I had the home inspector in to look at my last house before buying I was busy taking pictures as I knew I would be changing many, many things in this “fixer” of a house. You are also right Debra, the “after” shots bring a great sense of pride for the transformations, especially when you do the work yourself.
Great idea! Due to foreclosure on the previous house we were renting, we recently moved into another rental house a few months ago, We knew this would be temporary until we found a home of our to buy; but we didn’t expect it to happen so soon – a few weeks after moving in, we were shocked to be notified that this house was also in foreclosure (the landlord never informed us of this). So we didn’t even bother unpacking and have been living out of boxes, bags, and bins for the past few months. I’m going to make sure we take photos of the clutter now because once we start moving out in a few weeks, the transformation will be dramatic. We plan to stage it for portfolio photos before moving everything out. I haven’t yet started my staging business, but once we are in our new home, getting the business off the ground will be a priority. Thanks for all your awesome advice, Debra!
I decided to start my business this year and this very thing still gives me goose bumps! I still can’t explain why I have before pictures from over 3 years ago…before turning something I love to do into an actual business was even on my radar! This served as further confirmation for me:-) And yes, missing a “before” shot is a missed opportunity. An “after” shot shows a beautiful space, but showing a transformation from “before” to “after” is POWERFUL!
You are so right Debra. I have redone rooms in my house and then realized I hadn’t taken a “before” picture just to compare it with the “after”. You can describe how the room looked before, but they say a picture is worth a thousand words!
I still enter a home (staged over 100 in the past 2 years) and after I’m finished I realise I had forgotten the before photos for a portfolio update!
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