Home Staging: Terms to Know

Learn some of the key words of the trade.

February 2012| BY Melissa Dittmann Tracey

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Can you talk the talk when it comes to the staging business? Whether learning the staging business yourself or describing items to clients or working with a staging team, stagers use certain words to describe properties or the types of services they offer. The Staging Diva Web site has created a home staging glossary of some of the most common terms of the trade. The site was created by Debra Gould, the creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

The following is a snapshot of some of the terms featured in the stager’s glossary. (To learn more, visit the Staging Diva Web site.)

Accessories: Decorative items — such as lamps, vases, throws, tables, pillows, and floral arrangements — that can enhance a space. Stagers often say “less is more” when it comes to accessories, according to the Staging Diva Web site.

Color consultation: Stagers offer recommendations on paint colors that best fit a home. Sometimes stagers will offer this as part of a standard consultation or a stand-alone service.

Editing: In order to not have a room appear too cluttered or too empty, stagers will remove or add items, trying to strike the right balance.

Focal point: Stagers say every room needs to have a place that draws your eye when you first enter. A stager aims to create a focal point in each room, such as by rearranging the furniture in a special way or using accessories to enhance an architectural detail or selling point in a space.

Home stager: A person who enhances a home for sale to help it show better. Stagers do not have to have certain credentials or licensing to be called a “stager,” but there are several training programs that teach the job’s skill sets. (See Channel Your Inner Design Star for more information.)

Portfolio: Stagers can show before-and-after photographs of a home they’ve staged, often through a photo album or on their Web site. Portfolios can be used to show clients the possibilities with staging as well as a way to get new business.

Virtual staging: Also known as conceptual staging, this is when stagers use a computer software program to manipulate a photograph of an empty room to show the possibilities with it furnished. It can also be considered virtual staging when a stager provides consultation over the phone or supplies input based on photos of the home without actually going to the home in-person