To Set the Stage

Backstage with Debra

From Bland to Grand
Catherine Menard

Digging Out From Under What's Unimportant
Jill Kleinerman

Save These Dates & Talk To Me

Hurricane Sandy Brings New Career
Blaise Furiato

7 Tips for an Instant Home Staging Portfolio

From Bland to Grand: Redesign Project

Catherine Menard of Toronto's Groovy Chick Redesign and Home Staging shares this transformation of a grand, but previously bland, stairway in a new home (see inset photo). Instead of opting for the typical collection of framed family photos or a large painting, she designed, built and installed an arched mirror and the wainscoting you can see in the main photo. She also added wall sconces. Now, the stairway makes a statement when you enter the home thanks to Catherine's redesign of this interior. "I was unsure of how to get started with my home staging business. Through the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, I learned a lot about the business as well as website SEO. Joining the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers was the next step to getting my company noticed." Catherine was a long-time graphic designer before recently switching to home staging. > Read more about her career change to home staging.

Photos: Catherine Menard, Groovy Chick Redesign and Home Staging (Toronto)

> If you'd like to see one of your projects featured and get some free publicity for your home staging business, don't forget to Share Your Staging Story with me so I can write about you! > Need help getting excellent home staging portfolio shots?

Digging Out From Under What's Unimportant

It's crazy how we let so much unimportant stuff distract us from getting on with what we really care about. I'm just as guilty of it, though having two surgeries within 3 months this year did improve my focus considerably! Thankfully I'm all healed now and very grateful it all turned out as well as it did. Reading a blog post by one of my mentors recently, I thought he set up the idea of focussing on what matters so well and wanted to share it with you:

"If you were trapped underground and only had 24 hours worth of oxygen you wouldn't check your Twitter feed or chat with friends or spend a little 'me time' in front of the TV. You'd dig and dig and dig the entire time. Apply the same level of importance and urgency to what you want to accomplish and your schedule will instantly clear. Finding the time to do something is always a matter of how badly you want to do it." (Jeff Hayden) This made me think about Staging Diva Graduate Jill Kleinerman of Graceful Redesigns in Columbus Ohio. A breast cancer survivor, she is only too aware of how precious her life is and the importance of not putting off her lifelong dreams. > Read Jill's story of how quickly her home staging business came together.

Save These August Dates and Talk to Me Live

When one door closes, another opens as Blaise Furiato of Blasie N Designs LLC in Neptune (NJ) experienced. She writes:

"When I was downsized during Hurricane Sandy I saw this as an opportunity to begin my own business as a home stager. This career change has allowed me to re-discover my original love of designing homes and create a job that I love.

My dear father told me, if I where to find a job that I truly loved, I would never work a day in my life. It's so true. The Staging Diva Program gave me the tools to run the 'back of the house' of my staging business with confidence."

> Learn how you can get your home staging business started too.

7 Tips for an Instant Home Staging Portfolio

If you've been putting off creating your home staging portfolio (or improving the one you already have), these 7 tips will help you get it done within a weekend. Plus you won't even have to leave your house to find a location.

1. Your own house probably looks pretty staged already.

You don't have to live in an expensive home to make it worthy of photographing for your portfolio. Most of your future clients probably live in very average homes and you want your portfolio to include photos they can relate to. With some quicky tidying up and cleaning you likely have "after" shots all around you in your own home. It's not that hard to take things apart to shoot your "before."

2. Pay attention to the art, furniture placement and accessories.

Once you're out in your client's homes, you'll be surprised at how much help they really need. When you're creating your starter portfolio in your own home, the trickiest part is making your "before" shots look bad enough. Don't keep everything the same in both shots, force yourself to move furniture and accessories into the wrong spots (because that's what you'll find in the "real" world when you're in homes that don't have a stager living there).

3. Bathrooms — an easy home staging transformation.

When I became a home stager I discovered how few people had nice shower curtains with matching towels. For your before shot you could have just a shower liner hanging, mismatched towels, a lot of clutter on the counter and maybe an off-size mirror. These are things you can fix in a bathroom pretty easily. You can also add artwork or fresh flowers for your after shot.

> Read the rest of this story here.

> Check out the table of contents of the Ultimate Home Staging Portfolio Guide