*** Top Design Blog Series from a Stager’s Point of View
So ever since they started the commercial for Top Design on Bravo, I have been anticipating the show excitedly. So finally 11pm rolled around on Wednesday, I gleed like a silly child (or think Mr. Burns doing his finger thing and say "ex-cel-lent!")
Unfortunately I was SO disappointed by the first episode. Despite Todd O's boyish good look (yes, I just said boyish good look), he was incredibly awkward at reading off his q cards, much like his uneven orange tan. Everything was also choppy. The show just did not flow well. I was also disappointed at the little “process” they had shown. Mostly they focused on human drama instead of putting the room together. The judges just didn't wow me at all with their personalities, or the lack of humanity. I definitely do not agree with Jonathan Adler’s assessment “I am always looking for a client open up her purse a little bit more.” How is that serving our clients? I strongly do not believe expensive means good, especially at the expense of clients. I think it’s time for Adler to walk in normal people’s ground for a moment.
However, I do agree with Adler’s assessment on Michael that he needs to learn how to paint. I think in any profession, whether you are just selling a product or performing services, you should get acquainted with other products/services related to your craft. And just because you may be in a delegating position, i.e. interior designer, stagers, what have you, doesn’t mean you can order or boss people around and just wait around for people to do it for you.
My mother taught me that very well. She was a dentist before retiring. As a dentist, you need technicians to craft the molds, etc. to make sure those new pearly whites would look great for clients. But sometimes technicians didn’t perform the way my mother asked them to, and she learned how to re-do it herself. Similarly, I as a stager, can just rent furniture from Brook or Cort, which will actually make my life a whole lot easier since I just need to direct movers where things go and sellers will absorb al the costs. However, it’s not necessary the best solution for my clients. It’s definitely not cost-effective for the sellers. It also certainly lacks flexibility with length of the contract and pricing.
Even though Todd’s hosting style of fake orange tan and monotone had failed me horribly, he did say something right. When he tried to comfort the eliminated designers, he said “interior design is subjective,” which is very true. This is the number one distinction between interior design and staging. With staging, everything is objective. With staging, we are trying to appeal to as many buyers as possible, so we must come up with a design that is classic and universal.
I recently was contacted to see if I have ever staged an Eichler before and if I have furniture that is specifically for Eichler since his home for sale is an original Eichler. I find this to be quite a catch-22 to be honest. I personally feel that if I match everything Eichler and bring in 1950s furniture, it becomes too specific since not every buyer is familiar with what an Eichler is and its style. Moreover (the seller’s worse nightmare), the buyer may not even give a **** about Eichler. They just happen to like the location the house sits on. What I suggested was that we can style the home with modern furniture that will give the home an overall more updated look. The seller was probably not that into that idea, since I never heard back from him. Heh.
I actually have found a realtor online who is specialized in Eichler, (talk about finding your niche!!) Here are some of the listing photos of one of her Eichlers, and it’s exactly what I meant. You can do updated modern furniture and still looks great in the space. (And can you spot IKEA in the photos?)
Here is the realtor’s info if you are interested: Renee Adelmann http://www.eichlerforsale.com/
1-415-EICHLER (342-4537)
