How to simplify a complicated process

Explaining the home staging process to a seller can be extremely complicated for a real estate agent or even a home stager. The issue is that the agent and stager have been through the process multiple times and understand all of the nuanced intricacies that are involved with home staging. But on average a sellers may not have gone through this process for upwards of seven years. Things have changed since the last time they listed a home for sale and one of the agents duties is to catch their seller up with current practices. 

To help with this, Spade and Archer is delivering new and improved paper brochures to nail down the three most important home staging topics. 

  1. Why should a seller stage?

  2. What does a seller need to do to make a staging happen?

  3. What are the differences and similarities between Conventional and Guaranteed Home Staging®?

Our first challenge to address is why a seller should stage. Ultimately the best reason to invest in staging is to have a healthy return on investment. We have assembled a number of studies aimed to prove that home staging is a great investment, in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington.

During the process of selling a home sellers are often overwhelmed. They are living their normal, already stressful lives and are now expected to take on essentially a second full time job of getting ready to sell. At Spade and Archer we have made this process exceptionally simple and readily accessible at any time and from any place. We have distilled the process down to four major times the seller or seller’s representative will need to initiate contact with Spade and Archer to move forward with the process. 

This gives the seller total control over timing of the process without overwhelming them with complicated intricate processes that only add stress. All four of the steps can be done 24 hours a day through our website or by calling us directly. No matter the sellers level of computer literacy, they will be taken care of throughout the home staging process.

The only other time we encounter a complicated concept that leads to confusion with sellers is deciding whether or not they want to pay-up-front with Conventional Home Staging or pay-at-close with Guaranteed Home Staging®.  As you may know Spade and Archer is the World’s First Guaranteed Home Stager® and invented this concept in 2018. We found the infographic below as a great way to illustrate the differences between the two different payment structures. 

Only Spade and Archer takes the time to put ourselves in your shoes and understands where your pain points might be. We understand that selling a home is one of the most stressful times in a person’s life. We also understand that the staging of your property should be the least stressful part of the process. Comment below if you find these tools helpful and what else you would like to see to help your seller understand the concept, process and need for home staging with Spade and Archer. 

Home Staging Design That Sells

We, as stagers, are often asked about our design aesthetic. Designers are harbingers of good taste, and we always stay up to date on different design ideas and viewpoints.  Many staging companies pour a lot of time and effort into staying trendy, but we actually have a responsibility to be classic and timeless. At Spade and Archer, we don’t have so much a design style as we do design principles -- our "pillars of success" strategies that sell homes. 

“Aspirational obtaintable” is one of our top design principles. This principle creates a home that someone finds comfortable, inspiring and realistic. Stagers who focus on the “style” in the staging are missing the point altogether. Our purpose in home staging is not to promote one's own personal point of view, but rather to highlight the features of a property and compliment its architectural style. We also want the potential buyers to feel comfortable and identify with our furnishings while not being distracted from what they really came to see -- the home. Through this, they aspire to the lifestyle the home caters to and also believe it is obtainable (affordable) for them.  

Some of our other design principles include: letting in the light, staging the outdoors, mixing vintage with modern, no fakery, thoughtful accessories and more. 

A realtor, photographer, and a home staging company are your best marketing team when considering selling your home. Look at your home stager as your visual merchandiser for selling your product (err, we mean your home). Watch this video and find out why Spade and Archer is a real estate agent's No.1 team pick.

Trends can be polarizing, and by focusing on them in staging, you can quickly eliminate a large buying pool. An entire house filled with only contemporary furniture may not appeal to some buyers, so no matter how great the house is, they are already out the door. For each of our projects, our designers hand-select every item starting with upholstered goods and rugs as well as case goods. We then layer in accessories and art that span different periods and styles for a well-rounded look. This approach caters to a much broader demographic, and regardless of the buyer's personal style, they will undoubtedly find something they can relate to and will feel welcomed by. With this, they will feel more at home and will give your listing more of their attention.

Curious to see our portfolio? Here's a quick link to various work samples on our website You can also find us on Instagram @spadearcher for more on our design principles, recent projects, and other fun shenanigans. Should you have any questions on how we can make your next listing aspirational and obtainable, give us a ring. We'd love to learn about your upcoming staging needs. 


LET'S SELL YOUR LISTING!

Welcome to Spade and Archer Design Agency! This blog series is designed to educate our clients on how best to use our services because we operate pretty differently than most home stagers. 

If you are new to us, welcome aboard! If you are already a loyal client of ours, save some of these email topics if questions from your home sellers ever arise. 


VIEW OUR DIGITAL BROCHURE HERE. 


Selling your home in an unpredictable and ever-changing market can be maddening. Doing everything you can to successfully sell a home these days starts with a strong digital presence.  Buyers are browsing hundreds of online photos everyday looking for the perfect home. In our "swipe left or right" culture, we’ve become extremely efficient in our decision making as consumers. How the home looks in pictures is critical, and home staging is the boost you need to make a great first impression to create momentum for a quick and lucrative sale. 

Selling a home is one of the most stressful things you can do in life. Home sellers come to us overwhelmed and uninformed about how to prepare a property for market every day. Luckily, this is our specialty! We've made the process of getting your home ready to become a gorgeous listing as easy as possible. Listen to first-time home seller, Craig, tell his home selling and home staging story while moving his family of six out-of-state at the same time!

In this Blog series introducing Spade and Archer, we’ll talk about some major points:

  • Why home staging works

  • What return on investment you can expect from staging

  • How we're the no-risk home stager

  • How you can get an Instant Price at any time

  • How to re-list a stale property and actually sell it

  • When you'll receive discounts from us

Choosing the right stager for your home is a big decision.  You have to trust a professional to design for the ideal demographics of home shoppers. Spade and Archer design managers are staging experts with more than a decade of experience selling homes quickly and for a higher asking price.

We’re looking forward to getting to know you as well. Always drop us a note with your questions!

WHERE IS INTERIOR DESIGN GOING NEXT?

It been an interesting few years for interior design. We are finally starting to see Mid-Century-Modern design start to fall out of favor with younger generations. (Every Gen-X'er reading this just gasped and every Millennial just breathed a sigh of relief). When speaking to Millennials and folks from Gen-Z I am hearing the same stories over and over again. “We are so bored with mid-century modern, enough already.” I get it, it is the next generation’s job to rail against the design oppressions of the generation that came before them. See examples: high wasted jeans, hair scrunchies, Uggs. 

So if mid-century modern is falling out of style where are we going next? I would like to introduce you to a new term… “Memphis-Deco”. I am seeing it pop up all over the place. Memphis-Deco is the combination of two distinctly different styles from two different periods of the design oeuvre. First off let’s talk about the history off the two syles that Memphis-Deco is derived.

Memphis Design can best be described as everything you saw in Pee-Wee’s Play House. Memphis designed furniture, fabrics, ceramics, metal and glass objects were wildly popular from 1981 to 1987. The style was inspired by the forms of Art Deco and the colors and patterns of Pop Art, which were popular at the time. Memphis was well-known for its use of bright colors, geometric shapes, bold patterns, curved forms and zaniness. 

Deco, on other hand, short for Arts Décoratifs, is characterized by rich colors, bold geometry, and decadent detail work. Having reached the height of its popularity in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, the style still brings in glamour, luxury, and order with symmetrical designs in exuberant shapes.

Example of Art Deco at the Tulsa Club Hotel (1927) Copyright: ©2019 PHOTITECT LLC COURTESY OF THE TULSA CLUB HOTEL

By combining these two styles we see a toning down of Memphis and a livening up of Deco. It is almost as if the two were meeting in the middle. Memphis Deco has all of the aspiration of Deco while still maintaining the obtainability of Memphis. I have a feeling this style will be around and popular for the next 10 years and can help you design your next room with some staying power. 

Example of Memphis-Deco at the Proper Hotel San Francisco features a striking look masterminded by famed interior designer Kelly Wearstler. Photo curtesy of THE PROPER HOTEL SAN FRANCISCO

TO CHOP OR NOT TO CHOP? (THAT IS THE QUESTION.)

We have been staging houses for over 14 years, from studio apartments to multi million dollar homes, and not once, ever, never have we “chopped” a pillow. I like to describe it as a favorite writer of mine once described the “Trump Grill” in midtown Manhattan. “It’s how poor people imagine rich people live.” 

Chopping the top of a pillow was originally done when all sofas and all cushions were filled with pure goose down. After a land owner or their guests would sit on a sofa or a chair, their body weight would leave the down cushions deflated and looking wonky. Once they had left the room, the staff of servants would enter the room and fluff the down cushions back to their original shape. Some landlords wished to have a strong visual cue that the pillows had been fluffed and thus the harsh “chopped” top became the norm in some households.

In the luxury space, the chop can easily be attributed to a trend in new money circles and scoffed at by multi-generational old-money. It is now used as a tell-tale sign as to how long money has been in a family. If the cushions are “chopped” it says “We have had money in our family for less than one generation.” Not chopping the pillows says “We have had money in family for multiple generations and understand that the chopped aesthetic is… bourgeoisie.”

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