When you take on work for a property for sale, you're either going to be staging the whole home or at least the main living spaces. You will be using your own personal furniture to stage a vacant listing, or at least ones that you rent if you don’t purchase your own collection. You can start your own collection and store it in a warehouse if you have the funds for your start-up or you can use a local warehouse that offers furniture rentals to home decorators/stagers. I would recommend visiting Google and familiarizing yourself with local companies that offer this service in your market and get in touch with them to get an account set-up. Furniture rentals are a hassle-free way to get the right pieces in a home in a convenient manner, but you are paying for the convenience, because it doesn't come cheap. Most companies offer the rentals on a per month basis - you may be able to find a few that offer weekly rentals. Be very aware of the pricing model your local rental companies have, you want to ensure this is part of your quote, so you don't end up losing any money.
If you are working with an already occupied home, you can put your client's furniture to use, but more than likely, you will still need to bring a few outside pieces in to pull all of the rooms together. If your client's house is completely cluttered with outdated/over-used furniture, the trick is to remove most of the items and put in a few (new) pieces. We'll go over budgeting and DIY methods to help you and your clients save money in the following modules if your client doesn't have a big budget. Normally with occupied listings the main issues that need to be addressed are old fixtures that need to be replaced, replacing light bulbs, replacing batteries in smoke alarms to get rid of the beeping, a fresh coat of paint, and most importantly - decluttering. Getting rid of excess clutter in a house can make it feel brand new again. Helping people get rid of their trash and storing away excess decor/furnishings is a big part of the staging process. When it comes to working with homes for sale, it's important to let your client know that they need to box up every inch of the house they can and have it stored. This will really help their home make a good first impression with potential buyers. Be sure to have them remove any personal or family photos around the house. You want to add small pieces of artwork throughout the home, but by removing personalized photos, potential buyers can envision their own lives in the house - instead of feeling like they are intruders in someone else’s space.
When staging and decorating properties for sale, neutral is always best. You want to do soft trending colors that allow buyers to see the home in its best condition, on a neutral palette, so they can focus on what they want to do with the home when they are ready to buy. It is your job as the stager/decorator to make sure the home's best features are highlighted. You have a huge role in the sale of a client's home - it's your job to make the home feel like it’s ready for a new beginning with someone else.
