People often ask me what it is we do. I always laugh and say that "we make things look pretty". Sure that is true and frankly, we are great at that. But often times it is really so much more than styling a home for sale. While most of us have had the joy of buying and selling a home because we got married or our family was growing, that is not the only reason people buy and sell. We have worked with clients going through divorces, job transfers, deaths of parents, spouses and siblings, financial setbacks, and disability. I am sure if we really sat down and thought about it, we could come up with a lot more unhappy reasons our client's have moved.
So what does that have to do with staging? Well, more times than not, we are the ones working alongside homeowners or family members who are left packing up their home, and all the memories that go along with it. It is in these moments that I am really proud of the team of designers I have assembled to work with. People always seem to be so impressed with our creative abilities but the truth is the ability to be sympathetic, patient, and understanding is so much more important. Making someone's home "look pretty" is insignificant if it was a painful process for the client.
The picture below is from a restyle project we recently did in the South End of Boston for a family who had lost someone too soon.