Last year I was talking with a tv producer about doing a new home staging show. Don't get me wrong I love the shows that are out there but quite a few- and I will not name them here- do not feature "real home stagers". Instead they have lovely talented model/hosts that "play a stager on tv". Notice how many of them do not show the things that real stagers do like:
lug 8x10 area rugs up three flights of stairs because the moving men did not arrive or
use their nails to scrape price tags off the artwork until they are nothing but mere nubs or
how about cleaning up the mouse droppings I found under my client's sofa last week that claims his cleaning lady has been coming for months while the home is on the market?
I pitched them a show idea to have a hard working home staging professional go into a "real client's" home and do a "real home staging consultation" right there on camera. It would show the stager explaining to the home seller how he or she is not there to judge them and their taste (but really this is what we are paid to do) and show the home stager guiding the client through the home and giving them advice room by room:
You have to pack up your daughter's 300 hair products that are in the bathroom- home buyers do not want to buy her daily hair care ritual. I know she will disown you but who is really in charge here? You or your daughter's hair products?
You should consider having the carpets replaced- I know you selected navy blue since it would hide the wear and tear from your 6 children but the reality is that home buyers do not want to buy someone else's children's stains. Stager then points to a unidentifiable sticky mess next to the sofa- and cheerfully asks the home seller "would you want your child to crawl around in this"
Your son's basket crafting skills are amazing however I think they are a bit too personal as art in your dining room. Consider removing the baskets and adding a large mirror to make this space more formal.
The reason the network did not like this show is because it was too real. They did not want to show how people really live- the mess, the confusion, the chaos that we see day to day. "People would not want their homes on tv this way" they told me.
After thinking about it I pitched another idea- what about doing a show about FORECLOSURE! Yes I said it- the F word! We could profile real American families struggling to pay their bills that are on the verge of losing their homes. The home staging team could come in and stage their homes to help them sell it. I personally have done this now for 4 or 5 clients. In my case the clients were the banks that owned the home and wanted to sell them in order to recoup their loss.
Their reaction? The F word cannot be used on tv! We have to show happy, cheerful, shiny families. Americans do not want to think about losing their home. It is too depressing to do a show about.
The same is true in home staging- you simply cannot utter the F word. Last week I arrived at a huge McMansion. I am sure you have seen a similar one before- vinyl siding vanilla boxes with 1-2 windows on the side of the house, either hunter green or maroon shutters, on a postage stamp of grass.
Inside I was greeted with a less than perfect picture. There was no furniture and this was not a vacant home! The home seller had purchased the home 2 years before and now could not afford to keep the home or furnish it. They wanted me to come in and give them a consultation BUT they had no furniture for me to consult! I recommended that they rent some items for a few key rooms but this was definitely out of their budget.
Driving home I thought a lot about this situation. Here was a seemingly well off family that could not afford to keep or furnish their home. Miles across the city there were less fortunate families facing a similar crisis. Would rental furniture and staging solve all their dilemmas? Certainly not!
As a home staging professional I see the very intimate details of people's homes. I see elation when families move into their dream home and I see sadness when they are faced with death, divorce and repossession. It is my duty and honor to be honest with clients and help them get the most for their home but as much as I want I just cannot utter the F-word. Maybe the producers are right- people do not want to see the reality of home staging.
SG
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