Staging in Edmonton

Did you happen to catch the article about home staging in Avenue Magazine's April issue?
Here's the header:

Personality Crisis: Home stagers can make your house more saleable by removing you and your memories from the premises

If you already done so, check out: http://www.avenueedmonton.com/articles/page/item/personality-crisis

Not only is the article interesting and relevant to my life-- but I love the images too (by Daniel Rossi). I confess... I took a hard look at the crafted backgrounds and thought to myself "that would have been a fun set to have built".

Anyway, the article is written by Eliza Barlow but contains an interview with both Rhonda Wilson of Revealing Assets and Jill Gargus of Simply Irresistible Interiors-- owners of two other Home Staging companies here in Edmonton. I have had the pleasure of meeting Rhonda before and I actually do contract work for Jill.

Three years ago, after being a substitute teacher for awhile, I decided I wanted to look into becoming a home stager. I contacted a couple of companies seeking any advice on how they got into the business. Jill was actually the only one who got back to me. I constructed a portfolio of of the room re-designs I have done for friends and family in the past as well as some of the images from displays I have created at Treasured Memories.  Jill decided to take me on and taught me a ton about staging. After a brief relapse on chasing a career in education, I came back to staging last year! I plan on never looking back.

Back to the article. Barlow makes mention that "house-hunters don't just shop with their eyes; their noses are also in overdrive." So true! A couple of properties I have staged in the past few weeks have had "smells" and unfortunately, the best smell for selling, is no smell at all. Even smells that you would normally think would be 'good' smells can be 'bad' smells. You never know what people may be allergic to, or what smells they may associate with some unpleasant childhood memory. I personally blast our house with assorted Bath and Body Works wall flower scents-- but if we had to sell- I know they would quickly become unplugged.  My wall flower scents (as Jackson West, staging guru, would say) are great for dwelling, not for selling.

Check out the article and let me know if you found anything surprising or interesting.

Have a wonderful sunny day!