You’re a home stager? That must be so glamorous!
Posted on January 24, 2012 by melissamarro
I can already hear all of the current home stagers snickering at this saying because we hear it all the time.
Wow! I’ve seen that on TV, it looks so exciting and glamorous!”
Matthew Finlason from The Stagers
Being a home stager has been an inspiring and exciting profession. I’ve loved getting intimately involved with the real estate market, understanding it’s ups & downs, networking with both my real estate and staging peers, many of which have become good friends, and having the creative outlet of working with both my own inventory and the clients. The one thing I’ll say about this career though, it is anything but glamorous!
Matthew Finlason on The Stagers
On TV we’ve seen home stagers dressed in fine apparel, pointing their fingers to movers and assistants and then magically “ta-da” everything is in it’s place. Seldom do we get to see the nitty gritty work; you know, the marathon shopping, the schlepping, the lifting, carrying and hanging that starts early and ends late. Unfortunately we don’t get to hang around with hunky carpenters, or gorgeous hosts who can make anything look good.
No one mentions the hours we spend pulling our hair out trying to figure out the latest and greatest update to our email accounts, smart phones, wordpress sites, accounting programs, photo editing programs or newsletter accounts. They don’t show us tethered to our data plans as if they were life support systems – knowing that when it’s your company, you are never really ‘off’.
Matthew Finlason on The Stagers
Still – I couldn’t ask for a profession I would like more. While what we do isn’t glamorous, it is rewarding. It is fulfilling. It is creative. We do make a measurable, marketable difference – and that’s exciting!
You see, the smirk we stagers wear when someone says how ‘glamorous’ our work is, happens to be there because we know that while glamour is definitely not part of the job description – it is pretty cool. We are pretty lucky. We do think you should be a little envious of the fact that we get to make a living doing what we love…
This blog was written by Melissa Marro, one of the industries most noted professional home stagers, who now runs Staging & Redesign, a training company. PHOTOS were used with permission by Matthew Finlason, who offers an exlcusive Advanced Design & Marketing Course exclusively through SAR. To see more of Matthew’s photo diary of The Stagers, visit his website, MatthewFinlason.com.
Pin It
I’ll gladly have folks think Home Staging is glamorous! It keeps us top of mind & someone is always interested to learn more. Love your notes of that we make a measurable, marketable difference. Hard work pays off for our clients, Realtors & ourselves.
That Sheila E song “glamorous life” is playing in my head as I read this! Thank you for sharing just a glimpse into our world Melissa and it’s funny because before reading this I just sent a note to a client to “forgive my appearance” if they book a consult after a de staging this week, because we all know 6″ heels aren’t part of the wardrobe (at least when the TV camera’s aren’t around)
Smirking right along with ya ; ) Thanks for sharing!
I just had the pleasure of working the last couple of days with Jessica Pirone of Just Perfect Home Staging and More… Although it was exciting, fun and rewarding…. My muscles ache and my feet are killing me… And NOT because I was wearing 6″ heels! Although I’m not an official/certified stager like those that commented earlier, I TOTALLY had a smirk on my face as well! I think hands-on mentoring is truly the best way to appreciate all that is required of a home stager and the “glamour” behind it all
Jessica and the team at Just Perfect home staging & more is great! We couldn’t agree with you more about the hands-on mentoring aspect. It’s an important part of the process of learning the craft.