Elevate and Refine Your Staging to Stand Out in Your Market with Award-Winning Stager Terry Mainord

About Today’s Episode with Terry Mainord

In this podcast episode, Terry Mainord, an award-winning home stager based in Brooklyn shares her insights on effective staging techniques to attract today’s home buyers and staging clients.

One of the essential elements contributing to Terry’s success is her ability to develop, refine, and perfect her signature style, understanding how to create captivating and appealing spaces that resonate with the aspirational lifestyle of potential home buyers.

During the episode, we dived into a lot of Terry’s process in operating her home staging business, as well as how she approaches staging stylistically and how she curates inventory and working with rental furniture.

She also shared how having a firm grasp on her numbers, has propelled her business to new levels, a happy result from attending our retreat last year. (You can find out more about the Retreat and join Terry in Florence here.)

Join us in this episode as Terry shares further insights on how to elevate your home staging game and create spaces that exude aspiration while maintaining a welcoming lived-in feel. Prepare to be inspired and equipped with practical strategies to take your staging endeavors to the next level!

 

Stageflow is the StagerCon 2022 Sponsor. Data Insights for Residential Staging

This Episode is Brought to You by Stageflow, Our 2022 StagerCon Sponsor

Data Insights for Residential Staging

As an experienced home staging business under the name of Lemon and Lime Interiors, we know that data is an essential marketing tool for every staging business.

Founder and mathematician, Elaine Penhaul developed the app following her passion for data and her need to provide evidence of return on investment for clients. Elaine is confident that Stageflow provides a straightforward and simple way for every home stager to use their own data to win more business.

find out more about stageflow here

This Week on The Home Staging Show Podcast

 

 

  • [00:08:57]: Terry’s background and transition to full-time staging

  • [00:09:28]: Terry’s experience in taking the OG 6-Figure Floor Plan course from Staged4more

  • [00:10:13]: Advice for those who want to transition to full-time staging

  • [00:11:48]: How Terry got started in staging and her early projects

  • [00:12:34]: Terry’s current work: 60% vacant, 40% occupied

  • [00:13:20]: Working with occupied properties

  • [00:14:46]: Challenges of staging in Brooklyn

  • [00:16:26]: Overcoming challenges of maintaining inventory for all different types of properties and advantages of using rental furniture

  • [00:18:43]: The positive impact of attending the Staged4more retreat in Italy

  • [00:20:54] Getting a van for staging and how that’s changed Terry’s staging business

  • [00:24:00]: How Terry works with rental furniture

  • [00:25:45]: How Terry approaches selecting furniture and decor for a property

  • [00:26:05]: The benefits of using warehouse space for staging inventory

  • [00:27:23]: Always keep a look out for interesting inventory for staging

  • [00:27:57]: Terry’s creative process when she gets a new staging project and the forms she has created for doing walkthroughs

  • [00:33:00]: Pricing out staging projects

  • [00:37:40]: Terry talks about how she approaches staging and her signature style

  • [00:40:46]: How Terry translates her styles into different types of homes

  • [00:42:14]: Creating a lived-in feeling with staging, instead of the cookie-cutter look that every traditional home staging school teaches

  • [00:44:17]: Balancing aspirational design with a realistic feeling of home

  • [00:45:49]: The importance of good photography in showcasing a staged property

  • [00:47:32]: Embracing a strong point of view in staging, and how to achieve it

  • [00:48:51]: Terry’s tips for influencing the photography of a staged property

  • [00:52:23]: The importance of understanding and controlling your finances

  • [00:57:10]: Terry’s advice for elevating a space with staging

About Terry

Terry grew up in Pasadena, Texas, deciding in high school that she wanted to study interior design in college. At UNT, she pivoted from Interior Design to fine arts and earned a BFA in printmaking and photography.

At Syracuse University, she studied photography and filmmaking as a graduate student before moving to NYC where she found work first in an art gallery, then as an assistant to the Head Stylist of the NY Times Fashion Dept. as an assistant.

After 20 years as a fashion stylist, then a prop stylist for luxury home furnishings clients, Terry eventually transitioned into Home Staging. Through many years of staging part-time on evenings and weekends while working full-time selling furniture, she finally started her company, Terry Mainord Design, as a full-time stager in 2018.

The 6-Figure Floor Plan course from Staged4more helped Terry gain the confidence and tools needed to run a robust staging business, and her success has been growing yearly.

Today, she works with both staging and interior decorating clients in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the surrounding areas, continuing to expand her vision and grow her business.

Connect With Terry

Elevate and Refine Your Staging to Stand Out in Your Market with Award-Winning Stager Terry Mainord. The Home Staging Show Podcast

Links & Resources Mentioned On Today’s Show

Transcript from Today’s Podcast

Please note that the transcript is auto-generated by AI. Please excuse any typos.
(Feel free to let us know so we can correct any typos!)

 

 

[00:00:00] Cindy: 

[00:00:02] Welcome to The Home Staging Show podcast. The show where we dive deep into the world of home staging and how to build a viable homes staging business. I’m your host Cindy Lin, and in each episode we explore the latest trends, strategies, and art of building a vibrant and thriving home staging business. Welcome back to the show. This is episode 174. 

[00:00:23] Before we sxtart the show today, here is a message from our sponsor.

[00:00:28] Elaine: We all need powerful statistics to convince potential clients of the benefits of home Staging. Stageflow takes away the pain of having to filter spreadsheets or doing calculations. You enter what you know about every sale of the homes that you’ve staged, and lets stage flow. Do the rest. Easy. Real-time statistics for the home staging market.

[00:00:53] Hey, welcome back to another episode of The Home Staging Show and Happy May! I hope you’re having a great month so far. I know our podcast publishing schedule has been a bit wonky since we are in between editors. So thank you so much for your patience while we search for our next podcast editor. If you don’t want to miss any episodes, just subscribe to the podcast. You can also follow us on Instagram so that you’re not missing any announcements from the school. Today, I’m super excited to have Terry on their show. I first met her when she took our 6-Figure Floor Plan course, when I first started the school in 2017. 

[00:01:30] It was a very first course that I launched the school with. I have since took it apart and working on a remodel version of it. I’m going to release the beta version of 6-Figure Floor Plan next month so keep your eyes peeled. If you’re a stager looking to refine your staging business operations and those a work as a true CEO in your staging business, instead of the chief everything officer. 

[00:01:52] In the past year or so, I’ve had a great opportunity to get to know Terry better on a personal level, and finally met her in person last spring in New York, saw her work. And then again, last October in Italy for our Staging Business Mastery Retreat. 

[00:02:08] I’ve been admiring her work for many years. Her work is absolutely gorgeous and has a very strong point of view. This is something I think is really important for stagers to build. And you probably hear me talk about this all the time if you listen to the podcast. When you have a strong and clear point of view in your staging work, it’s your signature style. It creates a strong differentiation between you and your competitors. It also helps you set expectations, sell you 24/7 in front of your potential staging clients. 

[00:02:39] Staging nowaday has become more and more mainstream, meaning that there are going to be more competition on the market. So you have to find ways to stand out amongst your competitors. 

[00:02:49] By developing your signature style and your brand as a stager is going to be super helpful in setting yourself apart from the other competitors in your market. Terry has a signature style that is very recognizable. That’s why I’ve been trying to get her on the podcast for a few years now. So it’s quite a treat to finally get her to talk about her process on the podcast. 

[00:03:12] Terry grew up in Pasadena, Texas decided in high school that she wanted to study interior design in college. At UNT, she pivoted from Interior Design into fine arts, and she earned a BFA in printmaking and photography. At Syracuse university, she studied photography and filmmaking as a graduate student before moving to New York City where she found work first in the art gallery. 

[00:03:35] Then as an assistant to the head stylist of the New York Times fashion department as an assistant. After 20 years as a fashion stylist, then the prop stylist for luxury home furnishing clients, Terry eventually transitioned into home staging. Through many years of staging part-time on the evenings and weekends while working full-time selling furniture, she finally started her company, Terry Mainord Design, as a full-time stager in 2018. 

[00:04:02] The 6-Figure Floor Plan course from Staged4more helped Terry gain the confidence and tools needed to run a robust staging business and her success has been growing yearly. Today, she works with both staging and interior decorating clients in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the surrounding areas, continuing to expand her vision and grow her staging business. 

[00:04:22] Terry’s also no stranger to our International Home Staging Awards, having won in various categories over the past few years. Recently Apartment Therapy recognized her as one of the best home staging companies in the United States. Apartment Therapy named seven staging companies as Best in the U.S. And five of them were our Awards finalists and winners. 

[00:04:44] And three of the best staging companies in the U.S. mentioned by Apartment Therapy, are students of our school and participants of last year’s retreat. This is very exciting news. You heard from Jess in the last episode and Ashley in the previous episode and Terry on today’s episode. 

[00:05:00] Honestly, this means a lot to me. I do go through an emo phase from time to time with the school, and not sure about what am I doing with the school, if that makes sense or not, but moments like these. When I see these amazing women achieving amazing results in their staging businesses, it really makes me feel that everything is all right, and we’re on the right track. 

[00:05:21] The main reason why I started the Awards was really to provide a platform for talented stagers to gain recognition and build credibility, ,while showcasing the transformative impact of their staging work so that we can raise awareness among the general public about the power of home staging. 

[00:05:38] For the Awards we do actively push for publicity on behalf of our participants. Through working on boosting our SEO, our website search abilities, and also pitching to additional press outlets. I’m also actually planning to feature the work of our award winners and filers in the upcoming book that I’m in the beginning part of the planning phase for. 

[00:06:00] So submit your work to the Staging Awards this year! You can take a look at the categories and how to submit by going to www.stagingawards.com. 

[00:06:10] We also still have spots left for our Italian retreats this September. There are two locations for you to choose this year, either in Florence or Tuscany. 

[00:06:18] Both Jess from the episode before this one and Terry on the episode today, they both talk about the positive impact of the retreat has on their staging businesses. And they both will return to the retreat this year in September. So if you have been thinking about it, don’t hesitate. We already have a big bonus for the retreat participants will sign up before June, which is the three part events finance workshops. 

[00:06:42] This is going to set a great foundation before you show up at the retreat in September. We are going to go over a cashflow management,
budgeting and tax planning for your staging business. This is really for those of you who have been working for awhile. If you’re completely new to the staging business, these workshops might be a little bit difficult for you because you wouldn’t have any numbers to play with. If you’re coming on the retreat this year, this is included in your registration. Because I want us to really hit the ground running once we start the retreat. 

[00:07:10] If you’re not coming to a retreat, but want to take the finance workshops, just go to staged4more.com/events to sign up. 

[00:07:17] For those of you who are joining the retreat, I’m also going to add a couple more bonuses. I’ve been working on reworking our community to provide more coaching and support for our students and rebuilding our 6-Figure Floor Plan course. If you’re joining us in Italy this September, you’re going to be the first one to take advantage of both of these programs. 

[00:07:36] The workshop bonus is going to expire soon since we’re starting the finance workshops at the beginning of June. So if you have been looking at signing up for a retreat now is definitely a time. If you’re not sure if the retreat is right for you, feel free to DM me on Instagram or email me directly at support at staged4more.com. 

[00:07:55] Lastly, if you’ve been struggling with growing pains, feeling burned out or overwhelmed with your staging business, I got a free five day challenge coming up the first week of June. We’re going to dive into different techniques to help you focus on the key activities to grow your staging businesses. 

[00:08:11] You can sign up for our Stager to CEO 5-day challenge at staged4more.com/challenge. We’re going to link to all these resources on our show notes and on Instagram as well. You can go to staged4more.com/podcast to find our episode show notes and find us on Instagram @ staged4more. 

[00:08:28] All right, let’s start the show. 

[00:08:35] Cindy: Hi, Terry, welcome to the show. Before we get started today, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and also your home staging business? 

[00:08:43] Terry: Hi, Cindy. So nice to be here with you. Thank you for having me. I’ve been staging for probably about 15 or 16 years, but for most of that time I was doing it part-time.

[00:08:57] I was working full-time, staging on nights and weekends, driving my , running myself crazy because that’s, you know, when you’re working 40 hours a week and you’re taking on another part-time job, it’s really, really hard. But I got laid off from that job in 2018 and I decided it was now and never. I started staging full-time and I’ve never turned back. And I wish I had done it sooner.

[00:09:28] So, and that’s when I took your course in 2019, in that spring. Which really, I think because I knew how to stage, I just didn’t know how to run it as a business. I didn’t know how to make it my full-time income. And I think your course really helped me figure that out, so. 

[00:09:51] Cindy: That’s so nice of you to say.

[00:09:53] Thank you. That’s really the point of running the school really, it’s we wanna make sure stagers like you get the tools you need to run your business. I think it’s really important that you said that you wish you had done it sooner, because I think a lot of people feel scared that they can’t let go their full-time job at the moment, but at some point they want to, right?

[00:10:13] Because they want to get into staging. Do you have advice for people who are going through that right now? 

[00:10:20] Terry: Well, you know, it’s hard because if you are your sole breadwinner, if you don’t have a spouse or someone else that’s contributing to your source of income, then it’s scary.

[00:10:31] You know? It’s very scary. I think it helped that I had been doing it for so long part-time and that I had a roster of brokers I was working with. I don’t know that that would’ve been feasible for me if I was out there drumming up business. But I didn’t really have to find people to work with. I just had to let them know I was available for more work.

[00:10:57] And so, they gave it to me. They were happy that they could use me more often. So it all worked. 

[00:11:06] Cindy: How did you get started in staging to begin with? 

[00:11:09] Terry: Well, I was a prop stylist for about 20, 25 years. I was working on home furnishings clients, mostly for print and ad print advertising, editorial, things like that, print catalogs.

[00:11:25] I was married at the time. And my husband decided he wanted to try real estate. So he started assisting a top broker, in the town where we lived. And this broker asked my husband, “Hey, I’ve got an apartment coming on the market. I think it could really use some staging. Do you know anyone who could do that?”

[00:11:48] And of course my husband said, “I think my wife could do that.” So I did. And that got me started. He referred me to other developers he was working with. I started working with him a lot. And that’s what launched my staging career. 

[00:12:06] Cindy: Love it. I feel like most people got into staging by accident.

[00:12:10] Terry: Well, you know, back then there weren’t that many stagers. It was kind of a new thing still at that time. So the fact that he was looking for staging meant that he was sort of forward thinking as a broker back then to even, you know, wanna do that. But he was working on, vacant new builds or renovations. So it was kind of a natural thing.

[00:12:34] It was like a model, you know, a model apartment coming up to stage rather than an occupied listings or something like that. So it was kind of a natural thing to think about staging them. 

[00:12:47] Cindy: Yeah. And tell us a little bit about the home staging work that you do now. Like what kind of service do you provide for your clients?

[00:12:54] Terry: I do both occupied and vacant. The past couple of years, it’s been about 60% vacant, about 40% occupied. This year is shaking out to be about 70% occupied and maybe 30% vacant. Occupies are hard. They’re really challenging. You know, you’ve gotta really try to work with what people own.

[00:13:20] I have to say, there’s a lot of stagers in my market area that don’t do occupied. So that sets me apart with services that I offer. And the brokers that use me for that service really appreciate the work that I do and how I can work with what people have and stay with the budget and still transform the property.

[00:13:45] Cindy: Yeah, because I remember I had the opportunity to go to New York last year and then you show me around and one of the listing was an occupied. And I couldn’t tell at all actually when we walked in. So I think what you can do is absolutely amazing, w
hich we’re gonna tell a little bit about later in terms of inventory.

[00:14:01] But yeah, that’s what I really love about your work is they always come off very lifestyle. And I think that might be the influence of being a prop stylist, working in the home furnishing for print and things like that. 

[00:14:13] Terry: Mm-hmm. Definitely I would say. 

[00:14:16] Cindy: Yeah, which I’ll ask you later on too, because I think that’s really important is to helping people translate. Because I think one of the things people struggle with in staging. I did early on, certainly, where it was like, I thought the agent looked really good, but when the photo came out it felt really flat. 

[00:14:33] Terry: Mm-hmm.

[00:14:34] Cindy: So those are some of the things that I think we can talk about later on in the episode as well.

[00:14:39] Tell us a little bit about your real estate market in Brooklyn, what are some of the challenges that you face staging in Brooklyn? 

[00:14:46] Terry: Well, you know, I work mostly in Brooklyn, but last year I connected with a team of brokers in Manhattan.

[00:14:53] And I just did two projects with them, for them this year in Manhattan so far. So I guess I’m becoming a Manhattan stager as well. 

[00:15:03] In New York, the housing market is very different from most cities. We have what’s referred to as pre-war buildings and post-war buildings.

[00:15:14] Pre-war, meaning pre-World War II. In the post-war, you could have things built in the fifties or sixties that are very mid-century modern in design. The pre-war, you know, are gonna have probably high ceilings, moldings, picture moldings, parquet floors. It’s gonna be a whole different style.

[00:15:36] And then we also have newly built apartments that are gonna be basically usually boxes to work , and sometimes large, sometimes small. And then we have houses. You know, free standing houses too, and townhouses, brownstone. So there is such an array of different housing stock that it’s a challenge for a staging point of view because of, you know, maintaining inventory for all of those different types of properties.

[00:16:11] So it’s hard. 

[00:16:13] Cindy: Yeah. Let’s talk about that now, actually. I’m really curious. So how do you overcome that challenge? Especially I think in Brooklyn or in New York, storage is very challenging for stagers because warehouse can be very expensive. 

[00:16:26] Terry: Well, I think that’s one of the advantages to using rental furniture, because when you have such a variety of different types of needs, it would be really hard to have furniture to fit all of those different types of properties.

[00:16:42] So, and also, you know, not only different styles, but different scales and different color palettes and all of that. When you’re doing occupied, you know, and, and also owning my own furniture, I would not wanna use my own pieces like upholstery pieces in occupied properties. You know, it’s one thing to use an end table, that’s fine, but I wouldn’t wanna use my own sofa that people are sitting on and all of that.

[00:17:09] A lot of people have cats or dogs or kids and… So I’d rather rent those kind of things. So it really helps to utilize rental furniture. I just increased my storage space last week. I upped the size of one of my storage units. Things are getting tight. Cause I keep buying and buying and buying and I’m just about to order some folding beds.

[00:17:34] Cuz I have a couple of projects that I don’t need enough to rent furniture for, but I need to create a bed in a room that’s currently an office and about to turn it into a bedroom. I can’t just rent that, so I’m buying some of those folding mattresses and folding beds. So yeah, I keep adding to my inventory. It’s kind of getting out of hand. 

[00:18:00] Cindy: We all been there. I mean, when you need to, you need to, right? Cause it’s difficult if you just want to rent one bed from a rental company, there’re usually some sort of minimum. 

[00:18:11] Terry: There’s a minimum. Yeah, there’s a minimum. So you can’t. But you know, I already have some folding, like twin bed frames.

[00:18:19] Jess was telling me that she uses the fold up mattresses and they work really well. I really don’t like air mattresses. I have a couple of twin ones, but you know, they lose air and I don’t trust them and they always look kinda lumpy. You can’t get a really nice looking bed.

[00:18:37] And I dunno, I prefer to use something that’s a little more stable. 

[00:18:43] Cindy: Yeah. It’s funny the Jess mentioned you on her podcast interview too, and her episodes gonna air before yours, so it’ll be funny. You guys are like buddies now after the retreat. 

[00:18:52] Terry: Yeah, we’re planning to get together for dinner in Rome in between the Florence and the Tuscany.

[00:19:00] Cindy: Oh my God. Because yeah, you are gonna be on the Florence retreat. She’s gonna be on the Tuscany retreat. 

[00:19:05] Terry: I know haha. 

[00:19:05] Cindy: But there’s one weekend in between. 

[00:19:07] Terry: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:19:08] Cindy: In Rome. 

[00:19:09] Terry: I’m heading to Rome early and I’m probably going to Rome after Florence. So we thought we’d try to have dinner. So. 

[00:19:15] Cindy: You should! Especially Florence is such a easy train ride to essentially anywhere in Italy except Sicily.

[00:19:23] Because you are, you know, separated by the sea. But yeah, I think that’s amazing. That’s great. Yeah. Jess is doing amazing too. Like, I just love listening to her talking about inventory and warehouse. She’s amazing with that. So, yeah, I’m glad you guys are still chatting, so that’s awesome. 

[00:19:40] Terry: Yeah. Yeah. And I, and I chat with Ashley too.

[00:19:44] Cindy: Oh my God. Yeah. 

[00:19:45] Yay. Yay. That’s what I wanna see with retreats, you know? Because as a host, I was really nervous about doing this in Italy, because most people are like, “well, the States is so much easier.” But I was like, you know, why don’t we do something a little bit different than what other people are doing?

[00:20:01] And I think Italy is a great space to do a business retreat. And then also having Elaine co-teaching it. Her expe
rience and my experience are very different. She has a very sizable staging business, so you can draw experiences from both of us and also all the other stagers in the group as well.

[00:20:19] I was really nervous about it and that’s why I had my friend Hussain come on the trip because I was like, “I need you to calm me down. Otherwise, I am gonna freak out the entire time.” And so I’m glad that it all really worked out. You all benefited from the retreat. Your energy completely shifted in a week and it was amazing.

[00:20:37] And I still, I remember getting DMs from you after the retreat about all these changes you’re making in your businesses. I was really excited about that. I remember you told me you bought a van too. 

[00:20:48] So how is that working now? 

[00:20:49] Terry: I did buy a van. I love my van. You know, driving around with a van with my logo on it.

[00:20:54] I do feel more professional. I feel a little like the boss lady, you know, kinda, it kind of gives you a sense of presence and it’s great not having to think about having to go to U-Haul and do those rentals all the time and returns and all of that. Now that I’ve got this big design project in New Jersey, I don’t even know how I would’ve done that without a van because, you know, I need to be able to drive there.

[00:21:21] And just like right now, I took a staging down the other day and I didn’t have to go and take it all out right away. It’s sitting in there till tomorrow morning when my guys are gonna meet me and cuz I have was staging tomorrow, and they’re gonna take that stuff out and load up for the new job.

[00:21:42] And it’s just a little bit of more freedom with scheduling. So. 

[00:21:47] Cindy: I think that’s what I miss most with my staging business is the cargo van that we had. Because it’s so easy, right? We have all the tools, we have extra bins for fillers, pillow inserts and everything.

[00:22:00] Terry: I don’t have that , I don’t have room. Often when it gets loaded, I have these two brothers that load my van, they’re my movers. And one brother Caesar is a puzzle solver. He gets tremendous pleasure out of making a huge amount of things fit into the van where you can’t even like get another feather in there.

[00:22:24] So I don’t have room for extra tubs. I’ve got some rolls of tape and shrink wrap tucked in the sides and that’s about all I can do. But, amazingly, he makes room for himself to ride in there. I don’t even know. I am always like, “Can you really fit?”

[00:22:41] And he said, “yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” So luckily they’re not very tall people. They’re on the shorter side and he manages to fit inside the back of the van. I really dunno how, but he does.

[00:22:54] Cindy: It just reminds me this old Ikea commercial where the mom basically packed the mini van to the brim and you literally open the door and her child was like, squeezed on this one chair.

[00:23:07] And he’s holding this Ikea bag. And then she’s like, here’s another pillow. She slowly put it on top of him and then closed the door. 

[00:23:16] Terry: That’s exactly how my van is with Caesar in the back. It’s funny. But they’re really great and I like working with them because they take such care of my things.

[00:23:28] They never break anything. They’re super careful with the way they handle everything, and it’s really great to have movers that you can really trust with your stuff. 

[00:23:39] Cindy: I know, I think that’s the tricky thing when you start carrying inventory is where to house it, how to transport it and how to maintain it, and also who to move it.

[00:23:48] Right? These are usually the most challenging pieces I think that vacant stagers have to nail to make sure they have very smooth workflow on the job site. 

[00:23:57] Terry: Definitely. 

[00:24:00] Cindy: Yeah. And I think it’s great that you’re leveraging rental furniture companies. Can you talk a little bit about that process?

[00:24:06] Because I was really surprised when I saw your project in person, you rented from multiple rental companies for your listings. 

[00:24:13] Terry: Oh, that was an anomaly. I usually just try to rent from one place. But for that particular house that you saw, it was a brownstone.

[00:24:21] It was a huge living room. And I had this particular vision in my head of how I wanted it to look, and I could not get everything I wanted from one place. So I did rent from two places, and I had one other project in Manhattan last year that I rented from two places just because of who had what to offer.

[00:24:45] But I usually try to stick to one place just because of extra cost with deliveries and just the hassle of having, you know, to accept deliveries from two places and pickups from two places and all of that. But, yeah, sometimes when you have a higher end, higher profile project, you do what you have to do to get the best outcome.

[00:25:11] Cindy: Yeah, and I think the result really spoke for itself. You also entered that project in the Staging Awards and it looked amazing. I think one of the things I love about your work, one is very lifestyley, so it doesn’t feel staged. Two is the inventory selection is very curated. It feels very intentional, and it’s also very well mixed that a lot of times when I look at stagers’ portfolio, I can tell, well, they got this from what furniture house.

[00:25:37] They got this from what catalog. But yours, I really could not tell. A lot of times I was like, “where is this from? This looks amazing.” 

[00:25:45] Terry: Oh, yeah, I really, you know, people use the word curate. But I really feel like my collection of props is curated. It’s like I really try to seek out things that are even more unique looking, even if I find it at Home Goods, I feel like it’s not something in my market that every other stager’s gonna have, partly because our Home Goods are so small . But you know, I really try to seek out different sources. I find things sometimes at thrift stores or, charity shops or, I have some things I’ve had for a very long time and they’re just, you know, out of production.

[00:26:31] But they still work. I try to find art that not everybody has. I think it’s worth that extra effort to seek out things that are different to make your project stand out. Especially if you’re in a competitive market and you really want your work to not look like the next stager’s

[00:26:53] Cindy: Yeah, cuz I remember talking to Jason on the podcast. He said something very similar, but he goes to a lot of antique markets to source as well. And I think stagers who have very different looking inventory, you’re almost basically always shopping. 

[00:27:06] Terry: Mm-hmm. 

[00:27:07] Cindy: I remember we were in Palermo market tour and then you guys were like, “oh my god, those fans, like these beautiful fans.”

[00:27:13] And then I think was it you? You and Jess bought a bunch of them for staging. 

[00:27:17] Terry: Jess and I bought them and then Nikki went back that night and bought like 30. So she made that vendor very happy. 

[00:27:27] Cindy: I love that. Cause Nikki does Airbnbs, so she wants very unique interiors. 

[00:27:32] Terry: Exactly. She really sources out unique things because of that.

[00:27:36] And she’s leaving them with the property too. So she’s selling them to the property for Airbnb. It’s an endless supply that she needs to find those interesting things. 

[00:27:47] But yeah, aren’t we all always shopping, you know, as a stager, you’ve always kinda of, regardless of where you’re going, you’ve got your eye out for something unique and interesting. 

[00:27:57] Cindy: Yeah. And what’s usually your creative process like when you get a new staging project? Do you basically see it, you pretty much know in your head what you want do or is there a process that you figure out? 

[00:28:09] Terry: No, I have to marinate on things for a while. I have forms that I created.

[00:28:15] I have a walkthrough form that it goes room by room that lists what I need to add to the space, what I need, if it’s occupied, what needs to be removed. Sometimes, I have a job estimator form where I break down everything. Like for my fee, I break down the time it takes to do a proposal, the time of the walkthrough.

[00:28:40] You know, I didn’t used to charge for that. I was cheating myself out of hours. So breaking everything down on a form really helps you cover your actual cost or as close to possible as you can. I put in for my one or two assistants for my movers, for my transportation.

[00:29:01] I treat my assistants to lunch. I put that in. Actually the client’s paying for it. They don’t know that, but they’re paying for it cuz I don’t tell them that on the job fee. It just gets rolled into the transportation cost or somewhere I can roll it in. I put in the credit card fees. If they’re paying by credit card, I put in for every little item, and then I come up with a total. 

[00:29:27] So having an estimation form really, really helped me make more profit on a job. And then I have an information sheet that I put at the front of my folder where I have all the broker, the sellers, their emails, If there’s a lockbox, I keep all of that on another form. 

[00:29:44] So I do a walkthrough usually with the broker, sometimes with a contractor for doing renovation work. I come home, I go to my walkthrough form. Oh, and before I even go to the walkthrough, I try to find a layout for a floor plan for the listing.

[00:30:03] Usually from a previous listing or something online. I print that out. I put it on a clipboard with my walkthrough form. A pencil. I have my tape measure, my laser measure, my floor plan, my walkthrough form. I bring all that with me. Sometimes color swatches. If I know we’re gonna be painting, I’ll bring a folder of my favorite whites or whatever.

[00:30:27] So I show up prepared and then I can make notes. If I see that I wanna put curtains, I can measure and have all of that jotted down. So then I go home and I start looking through my inventory. I start looking. If I’m gonna be renting furniture, I look and see what there is to offer and I start putting a shopping cart together, and that helps me figure out the budget.

[00:30:52] Then, after I mark what I need for each room in the house, I’ll go back and assign how much I’m gonna charge for the rental for those things. So then I come up with my budget. Figure out all my hours, and then I type up a proposal. I have my proposals in Keynote. I do very visual proposals that have images, and sometimes I’ll have before and afters at the end of similar properties that I’ve staged.

[00:31:21] It really helps to give them a good idea about what kind of work you do and what your work is gonna look like, what they can expect. And it’s a good selling feature, I think, to show them in the proposal, to show them previous things that you’ve staged that are similar to their listing.

[00:31:39] At this point I’ve done enough of every different type of listing that, hey, if I’m doing a townhouse, I can pull up a lot of townhouses I’ve staged. I can pull up things that are very similar to the space that I’m proposing for them. At the end, I’ll do before and after that’s similar.

[00:31:57] And that’s a great selling feature to be able to show before and after. Cause then you can really see how you transformed the space. You know, when you show someone what it looked like before, which they just don’t get from seeing a beautiful picture of the after. “Oh, that’s what she dealt with. Okay, now I see.” 

[00:32:18] So then I send the proposal to the broker. They send it back. I get an approval. Then I send out my agreement, my invoice. I invoice 50 upfront 50 after I do the staging. After I do the staging setup, I should say, not when the staging’s over. And that’s my process. I know it’s different from other people. I think we all work differently somewhat, but that’s what works for me. 

[00:32:44] Cindy: I think it’s important to figure out what works for you and your business and that might look differently, from stager to stager, and that’s fine because you have a different market, you have a different style of working. You just had to find what works and flows well for you.

[00:33:00] Terry: I used to work with an assistant and she couldn’t understand why I couldn’t just give a flat rate. And it’s true that if I sat down and analyzed, I could probably do an analysis of different size apartments and come up with a flat rate for how much, because at this point I can tell you what a range is gonna be. But when you’re doing occupieds especially, it’s so enormous in terms of what you may be able to work with that they own what you have to bring in.

[00:33:31] I find it really hard to, and also by actually going through it in such detail beforehand, it really helps with when you get to actually doing the project, you’ve got everything mapped out for you. You’ve got your shopping cart, you’ve got your printout of what you’re gonna rent.

[00:33:48] You’ve got your list of what you’re gonna take from your inventory. You’ve got all of that. So it makes it very easy then to pull the job together. But the downside is if you bid on something and you don’t get it, you’ve put in a lot of time that you probably could have avoided by not doing such detail.

[00:34:07] So, I dunno. 

[00:34:10] Cindy: Yeah. Do you ever t
hought about charging for estimates? 

[00:34:15] Terry: I do, but only if I get the job. In my market, nobody does that. Nobody that I know of does that. And I feel like I would lose work if I did that. 

[00:34:27] Cindy: Right. Yeah. I think one of the interesting thing was that you actually print out a floor plan and then.

[00:34:35] Terry: Oh yeah. 

[00:34:35] Cindy: Plan it detail by detail. It is a really interesting way of approaching it cuz I think I’m very like eyeball, you know, like I walk into room, I eyeball it and I know kind of roughly where things are gonna fit. And then if I really can’t figure out, I measured a room to make sure that we are gonna be on point when we bring our inventory in.

[00:34:56] So it’s really interesting listening to a different way of working where you’re really planning out all the details within the project. 

[00:35:03] Terry: Well, you know, part of that comes from using rental furniture because if you just look at a floor plan from a realtor, they just give you the overall room dimensions.

[00:35:12] But you may have a wall that’s intersected by a door and you have segments of the wall that you wanna put a piece of furniture on. But those dimensions of those segments are not on that floor plan. So it really helps to have your floor plan. You can just plop those dimensions right on there.

[00:35:33] Something I just did last week, I’m doing this big design project that I mentioned in New Jersey and I, for the first time, used my iPad on site and I was taking elevation shots and then using the Apple pencil to write directly on the floor plan, you know, for dimensions. And that was pretty cool.

[00:35:54] So I think I’m gonna start doing that more, maybe. 

[00:35:57] Cindy: That’s right. Leverage technology, baby. 

[00:36:00] Terry: I know it was helpful to just be able to, you know, but yeah, so I liked that. 

[00:36:07] Cindy: And how much inventory are you stocking now? Cause you use rental furniture, is that every single listing? Cause I remember when I went, you had your own artwork, your accessories, your linens and all that.

[00:36:19] Terry: Yeah, I’ve added a lot of furniture in the past year. I have quite a few sets of dining chairs. I have a few desks. I have everything but beds and sofas right now. I have one queen bed, I have some twin, multiple frames. I don’t have any sofas though, but I have half a dozen coffee tables.

[00:36:40] I have a lot of nightstands or end tables, so I use the nightstands and things like that. I just, I haven’t made the plunge to the big pieces. I have one dresser, one TV stand, like nice ones, you know. But yeah, I haven’t started to stock bigger pieces. 

[00:36:58] Another one of my hesitations is partly that I do 50% occupied and I wouldn’t be using those pieces with occupied.

[00:37:07] But secondly, the variety of different types of properties and sizes needed. But also once, if I decide to venture into owning furniture, I don’t wanna own inexpensive looking pieces. I want things that are a little higher end looking, which is, I mean, Jason has gone that route.

[00:37:28] He’s gone higher end with his pieces, and it’s an investment. It’s a big investment to buy higher end pieces. Even if you’re buying wholesale, it’s still an investment. 

[00:37:40] Cindy: Yeah, definitely. And I think one of the thing I really love about your work is that you have a very distinctive look. It’s basically a signature style.

[00:37:48] We had Apartment Therapy editor last year on the jury for the Awards and because it’s blind judging, so all they see is the work. So they’re emailing me after the Awards, “we want to interview these following stagers.” All they could do is send me the photos that they had.

[00:38:05] And I remember looking at yours, I was like, I bet this is Terry. And of course I have to verify it, but sure enough it was you because you have a very distinctive style. Can we talk a little bit about that? How do you hone your signature style so that you are very consistent every single time with staging that your client knows exactly that okay, this is a Terry House. 

[00:38:27] Terry: I buy what I like, you know, I have certain things that I dislike. I tend to like eclectic styles. I like, I call it sort of global mid-century. So I like mid-century modern, but I like kind of global accent to it. Like things like mud cloth pillows and baskets, and I guess just sort of Scandinavian, Japandi. They call it sometimes Scandi Japandi, mid-century.

[00:39:01] I don’t know. I love Italian mid-century light fixtures and Finnish design and all of that. But it all kind of gets embroiled together. I love things that have texture and organic qualities to them and visual interest. So uniqueness. I’m conscious about price point.

[00:39:26] I try to not buy things that cost a fortune. But sometimes I find really cool things even from like tjmax.com or Home Goods. I was just shopping. I did a staging in Manhattan a couple weeks ago and I was way uptown in Manhattan and I told my assistant, “you know, there’s a really good Home Goods up here. Let’s go shopping after we finish, after we wrap.” 

[00:39:50] So we went to Home Goods and I found this adorable kids’ play kitchen, all made of wicker and it was so cute. I was just like, “oh my God, I have to have this piece!” And I have a project coming up in two weeks that I had in mind that I’m gonna use it for, because I’m doing a kids’ room there.

[00:40:12] And that broker loves boho and she loves really unique, cute, you know, things like that. And I knew she would love it. And I said, “Jessica, look what I’m gonna use for your project.” And she’s like, “oh my God, I love it.” So, you know, sometimes you just find really interesting things, cool things, wherever you look. Just a matter of looking for it. 

[00:40:36] Cindy: You mentioned that there’s a wide variety of homes that you’re staging in New York and Brooklyn area, so how do you translate your style in different types of homes?

[00:40:46] Terry: That’s where you have to have a lot of different types of inventory. But, you know, I don’t hesitate to bring in mid-century items to a turn of the century brownstone. I think that juxtaposition of style is what makes things interesting and it also updates older types of homes to bring in updated pieces to them.

[00:41:11] Especially with occupied listings and, sometimes they do things for people who have been living there for 40 years. And yes, they may have a few pieces that you can work with, but you have to bring in modern pieces to make that house look more appealing to current buyers. And, current buyers are
for those type of properties are in their forties probably.

[00:41:34] And, a lot of them are very media savvy. They’re very Instagram savvy, so you want to try to appeal to those sort of sensibilities and that’s what’s gonna make them respond in a positive way to that house, to that home by having an updated, up to date look, even if it’s a historic property.

[00:41:57] Cindy: Yeah. And I think one of the thing I really like about what you do is you make it very lifestyle. I said that over and over again. I think this may have been an influence of your previous position, which is a prop and photo stylist. Because when you’re shooting for catalog, everything needs to look very lifestyle.

[00:42:14] And actually, I go on your website sometimes as part of my teaching tool because I think a lot of times staging schools teach a very cookie cutter way in terms of how to hang artwork, for example, like you always wanna hang the two of them, the same size, side by side. So it looks a bit formulaic, but you actually hang it the way how real people would live in a home.

[00:42:34] They’re not symmetrical. 

[00:42:36] Terry: Mm-hmm. 

[00:42:36] Cindy: They’re in a really interesting looking grouping. Sometimes they’re asymmetrical and it works really well. And I think that’s why your photos look really, really strong every single time. 

[00:42:47] Terry: Thanks. I just finished a listing in Chelsea, in Manhattan a couple weeks ago, and Chelsea is the neighborhood, you know, where there are all the art galleries and all of that.

[00:42:58] This apartment had a wall in the living room, living dining room that was probably 20, 25 feet long. Really long. The only continual wall because the other walls were all glass. And I hung a series of art there, almost like in a gallery, a little asymmetrically placed and it worked.

[00:43:20] Gallery walls are kind of a big thing in New York, you know, Jason does a lot of them. I like a good gallery wall. It uses a lot of art, but it makes a room interesting. So I do that sometimes. 

[00:43:34] Cindy: I also think makes it look more lived in, because I think one of the things people criticize about staging is it looks too staged. So it’s important to make sure that your staging doesn’t look very cookie cutter. 

[00:43:46] We want to make it looks like someone’s lived in but not too lived in that is stripping away that kind of fantasy what the buyers want to buy into, cause they’re buying into an aspirational lifestyle.

[00:43:58] Terry: Absolutely. You know, I did a walkthrough yesterday. The broker just got this listing because another broker had it from a different firm and it didn’t sell. I walked in and these people were living there, but it felt like a hotel room. There was nothing around. It’s like there was nothing on the coffee table.

[00:44:17] There were no sofa pillows, there was no rug. There was very sparsely decorated on the TV bookshelves. And she said the previous broker had them take everything out. And it’s interesting because this is the second listing that I’ve gotten with this particular broker from this other broker who had it before and didn’t sell.

[00:44:40] And you know, she’s having her clients strip too much out of their homes. So we are bringing things back in, but my stuff rather than their stuff, you know, I don’t know what the things look like that she has them taken out. Maybe they should have been taken out, but they should have been replaced with some other pieces.

[00:44:59] if something looks like a hotel room, it’s not gonna sell. People need to connect to the space when they walk into it that it feels like they could live there. And it looks like the way somebody lives, but in an aspirational kind way. It makes them want to have that kind of lifestyle.

[00:45:17] So it makes them want to live there because it’s beautiful but it doesn’t feel out of touch. It feels like something they can actually live in, but just in an elevated kind of way to how they live right now. It’s important to keep more rather than less.

[00:45:35] Cindy: That makes sense. But not too much. Obviously. 

[00:45:39] Terry: Not too much. No, you don’t want it junked up, but you want it to feel normal. I like it to feel like how people lived, you know, as much as possible.

[00:45:49] Cindy: I think one of the challenging thing, like we talked about earlier is that because camera flattens everything, it’s a two dimension medium where our eyes are three dimension, right? We see everything in three dimensions. So a lot of times we get staging photos back and they look really flat, and I never see that with your work. So do you have any tricks to combat this? 

[00:46:09] Terry: Hire a good photographer. Seriously, I see a huge difference between the pictures that I have of my staging versus with someone who’s a really good photographer than someone who’s not so great.

[00:46:25] That comes from being a prop stylist too, knowing how to walk into a room. You automatically figure out where the camera’s gonna be placed and you can look at the room from that point of view. Looking at your pictures from the walkthrough on your camera phone really helps too.

[00:46:42] Or, you know, looking at those pictures afterwards and you can really see where art needs to be placed. You know, you can see where what’s gonna be showing in the picture and what areas you need to emphasize from the point of view of the camera to make sure that it’s gonna look good in the final shot.

[00:47:02] And I find that when I do that, then they don’t feel the need so much to move my things around. I don’t like it when photographers move my staging, when the broker moves my stuff around. I find that if I’m really aware of where the camera point of view is gonna be and make sure I’m staging to that, then you’re gonna get less of your stuff moved around.

[00:47:28] So, yeah, I think point of view is a big thing. 

[00:47:32] Cindy: I’ve interviewed so many stagers and seen so many stagers’ work through awards and, you know, things like that. It really, it always comes down to the point of view and I think that also helps to attract the right client for you as well, because if you have a very strong point of view, it comes through your portfolio photos.

[00:47:50] People know exactly what they’re gonna hire when they hire you, and that’s really important. It’s that also setting the right expectation for your staging clients. 

[00:48:00] Terry: You know, another trick that I’ve learned is a subtle hint to the broker about shots that they can take. Like at the end of the day, I’ll take shots and sometimes I’ll take a beauty shot, like from a certain angle that I like. And I send those. I send my shots to the b
roker, you know, because they’re not usually there when I’m done.

[00:48:20] They wanna see what it looks like, so they’re not shocked when they walk in the next day with the photographer. And sometimes, I’ll do a beauty shot and they’ll replicate that shot with the professional photographer. So you’re subtly kind of manipulating or influencing the shots you get back by suggesting shots to them.

[00:48:43] So it can be helpful to do that, to kind of ensure that you get back things you want in your photos as well. So. 

[00:48:51] Cindy: I love that actually. I like that trick. I think photography is such a important aspect in staging, not only to showcase our portfolio, sell ourselves, but a lot of times, like you were talking about checking your phone like on the camera, that’s how me and my sister, we used to work together on stagings and sometimes we disagree on things and that’s usually the deal breaker.

[00:49:12] We’ll take a photo from the doorway. 

[00:49:14] Terry: Mm-hmm. 

[00:49:15] Cindy: And usually that’s very clear in terms of who is correct and who’s not. 

[00:49:21] Terry: Yeah, the camera sees things differently than your eye does. Sometimes I don’t realize that there needs to be a piece of art, say between those two windows, but when you look at it and the camera, you can see that, yeah, it would be better if there was something on that wall or you know, in that position.

[00:49:39] So it helped for sure. 

[00:49:42] Cindy: Yeah, so we’re coming to the end of our show. I can’t believe it. By the way. You look so good. Like your energy looks so good. Yeah. Everything you look so clear. You look very happy. It just, yeah. I’m really thrilled to see everything you’ve achieved so far. I mean, since the very beginning.

[00:49:59] I remember when I first got your email about possibly taking the course and then to now, you know, being in Palomo with you last year, visiting you in New York last year, that was just, it’s amazing to see all that you achieved. I’m super happy for you. 

[00:50:16] Terry: Thank you so much. Yeah. It’s been a journey and it’s continuing. 

[00:50:21] Cindy: I know, and you’re beaming. That’s what I love to see you like I want to see you incredibly happy. I remember last year when I visited you, you were telling me about your assistant who’s allergic to wifi. And I was like, no. 

[00:50:34] Terry: She’s long gone. 

[00:50:35] Cindy: You, you deserve, you’re so good at what you do. Like your interiors are incredible. Your design work is incredible. You deserve so much more. You need capable assistant like you have now to really help to lift you up and help you push your staging business forward. So I’m really glad to hear all these changes that you’ve been making. So, yeah. 

[00:50:54] Terry: Well that’s something that I got out of the staging retreat. Actually while we were there, I got an email from a broker I work with and he told me, “Hey Terry, do you need an assistant? I have this tenant in my downstairs apartment who I think would be really great for you. He’s got a degree from Skad. He’s a jewelry designer and he’s really, really nice and I think you guys would certainly get along.” And so I said, “okay, I’ll meet him.” So I only had one job at the end of the year that I could use him on, but I tried him on that.

[00:51:29] I said, “oh my God, this guy can do everything. He was hanging art, he was putting furniture together. He was taking over in a good way though. And I said, oh my goodness. So I’m actually, he’s become my primary assistant. I’m training him. So when I go back to Italy, he can actually handle a job for me in September if I have one at that time, which I probably will. And he’s really great. 

[00:51:57] I also have an assistant now for design work who finished his associate’s degree in interior design. And he’s very professional, very capable. I have another assistant who does all the bedding and does bed steaming and all of that. So I have a team that I didn’t have last year, which is great.

[00:52:18] Cindy: I know. That already changed so much. I mean, when we talk in Palermo, you didn’t really have a team then. 

[00:52:23] Terry: Yeah. 

[00:52:23] Cindy: And actually you were scared to talk about your finance. In the questionnaire, we want to know roughly where everyone is in their business. I could not get a number out of you. 

[00:52:33] Terry: I still wouldn’t give you a number haha.

[00:52:36] Cindy: You wouldn’t even gimme a ballpark. I’m like, roughly what is your revenue? I think you’re doing well, but like, are we talking about low six figure, mid six figure or high six figure? You’re like just totally evading the question. And now I’m listening to you with your proposal where you’re outlining things, even like credit card fees, lunches with your team members. I mean, that is absolutely amazing. What a drastic change. 

[00:53:03] Terry: Well, I was always doing that. I just wasn’t, well, not all of it, but, um, yeah, I, I, you know, I, it really helped to be detailed when you’re assessing your fees, because I wasn’t billing for a lot of things. And I think a lot of stages aren’t billing. So. 

[00:53:20] Cindy: Yeah, we have hired assistants who also used to freelance with other big staging companies in the city. And so they told us how the other companies function.

[00:53:31] And I was really shocked sometimes even I thought really sizable companies should be really keeping track of the dollars, but people weren’t. Like, they really weren’t, they really weren’t controlling their expenses. And I remember when we were subletting our warehouse space, so we got a bunch of proposals and one of them was a stager and they sent us their bank statement.

[00:53:50] So they’re making 50 grand a month, which is great, but they were also spending 50 grand. And I looked their bank statement, oh, a lot of them were like Ubers. I was like, why are you taking so many Ubers? You know, like if you plan your inventory well and you plan the moving part well, like your assistant shouldn’t be going back on a Uber, you know, every 10 minutes to get new inventory essentially.

[00:54:15] I was like really shocked at some of the even big, considered big businesses that they actually weren’t in control of their finances. And I think I talk about this all the time, whether it’s on the podcast or one-on-one with students. I would say most, out of all the stagers I know, interviewed on the show, most people who have the best businesses or the most successful businesses are usually people who have a very strong handle on their numbers.

[00:54:40] So, you know, like Elaine, who co-teaches with us on the retreat, who has a very sizable business in the UK, or Lori who I interviewed a few episodes ago, they have really strong financial background and really understand their numbers. 

[00:54:54] Terry: Yeah. Elaine is great and I’ve been using her stage flow app and I plugged in all my numbers from 2022 at the end of the year and this year I’m trying to keep it up, you know, as I go along. But it really, I’ve already used those numbers in marketing presentations and it’s helpful to be able to tell people what your average return on investment is and things like that.

[00:55:20] So, Definitely good. 

[00:55:23] Cindy: I love this new you that is really embracing numbers. It’s great . I can’t wait to dive in the September. 

[00:55:30] Terry: We should embrace numbers. 

[00:55:32] Cindy: We should, I mean, it’s not calculus, right? Like you just need to learn how to calculate your own paycheck and making sure you’re making money every step of the way.

[00:55:41] Otherwise you’re just gonna keep losing money and you get burned out too emotionally because you’re gonna feel ashamed or embarrassed or guilty that you’re not making money and you’re putting in all these personal sacrifice, maybe it’s time with your family, with your parents, with your child, whatever it is.

[00:55:58] So we want people to embrace numbers. . 

[00:56:03] Terry: Well the other big help is I use QuickBooks and they have something called QuickBooks Cash and you can create like nine envelopes. It’s sort of like Profit First, how you put your money aside in envelopes. So I started using that and I can put money aside out of every invoice for my sales taxes and for my IRS taxes and for a vacation fund and for, you know, for all of those different things.

[00:56:31] So it really helps you control your finances. And I have an envelope that’s called staging, de-staging funds. So when someone pays me and I know I’m gonna have to hold money back to pay my movers, you know, when I go to pick things up and pay an assistant, I’ll put whatever money I need for that coming up.

[00:56:50] So it’s all accounted for and I don’t have to worry that an unexpected expense is gonna come up and I can’t cover it. So, there’s peace of mind in knowing that you’ve got all of that where you need to have it. You know, I just had to pay a sales tax yesterday, but I had it. It was all there. No problem. So, yeah. 

[00:57:10] Cindy: That’s great. So to end our show, what is the number one tip you’ll give to home stagers when it comes to pulling their staging together for their listings? 

[00:57:17] Terry: I think one of the big things that you can do to help you stand out from other people is something I learned as a prop stylist and that’s how to elevate a space.

[00:57:28] When I was prop styling, and you may be trying to show a product that maybe is inexpensive. And you wanna make it look expensive, so you elevate it by how you present it. And I think that’s what we need to do and be aware of in home staging because we’re always trying to elevate the space. 

[00:57:47] And you can’t elevate something if you don’t know what luxury looks like. So I think you have to educate yourself on what luxury, even if you’re doing properties that are only two or $300,000, you need to know what a $5 million or $10 million, $30 million properties looks like, or what luxury furniture looks like. Luxury accessories. 

[00:58:10] And that way you can take those ideas, take those looks, take those trends and bring it down to whatever level it needs to be to work in your lifting, but help elevate it up towards that kind of higher expectation of what something can look like. 

[00:58:30] So I would say just, you know, look at Instagram, look, follow top designers. Identify some top designers that have a similar looks to what you like, and start to analyze the things that they’re doing and the way that they’re showing rooms. And see what you can take from those images for your own view.

[00:58:53] Cindy: Love it. That’s great advice. So thank you again for being on this show. So good to see you. 

[00:58:58] Terry: Okay, great to see you, Cindy. Thanks so much. 

[00:59:01] Cindy: So that’s it for today’s show. Thank you so much for listening. If you wanna help and support the show, leave a review and rating on iTunes, share the show on social media. If you haven’t left a review on iTunes, please do so. This will help us grow the show and book more guests. If you have any questions, feedback and suggestions, you can comment on the show notes. You can find the show notes by going to staged4more.com/podcast That’s it. Have a fantastic week and happy staging. 

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