The TOP TEN Differences Between Real Estate Merchandising and Home Staging:Comparing Golden Delicious to Granny Smith:
Knowing whether you need a Home Stager or a Real Estate Merchandiser can save you money, time, and aggravation when it comes to preparing your property for sale. Both professions prep properties for sale but there are subtle and not so subtle differences between the two design denominations that might make one more helpful in your specific selling situation than the other.
Below is my Top Ten Differences Between Real Estate Merchandising and Home Staging, hopefully, you may use it as a guide to determine who might serve you better in your "Designed to Sell" needs.
10. Merchandisers often have a well analyzed target market and cater specifically to that market. Stagers are typically shooting for broad buyer appeal.
9. Real Estate Merchandisers tend to have larger budgets and their services cost more as remodeling and updating are par for the course in Real Estate Merchandising. Home Stagers, in most instances, deal only in furnishing and accessorizing and tend to cost less.
8. R.E. Merchandisers encourage clients to initiate an inspection before the property goes on the market and address any inspection issues before an offer is made. Home Stagers typically are not involved with the inspection processes and don't address inspection issues.
7. R.E. Merchandisers work regularly with R.E. Agents, Investors, Contractors, Developers, and Management Companies. Home Stagers work most often with Home Owners and RE Agents.
6. Focusing on improving the appraised value of a property and marketing the property to a specific demographic is the priority of a R.E. Merchandiser. Example: Vacation and second home owners might appeal most to retirees with disposable income and investors. Home Stagers work by changing the over all appearance and feel of a property to instill an emotional connection with as many potential buyers as possible.
5. R.E. Merchandisers use themes, amenities, durable, exotic and high end furnishings; and are turn key orientated; stocking everything from soup bowls to nut crackers, head boards to foot stools, to be sold with the property. Home Stagers most often rent furniture to their clients and don't typically do turn key and steer clear of the exotic.
4. Greater freedom with the use of color in their paint choices is a luxury that R.E. Merchandisers utilize in their target marketing. "Neutralize" color is the "Bon Mot" of Home Stagers.
3. All R.E. Merchandisers are Stagers but not all Home Stagers are Merchandisers.
2. The most important places for improvement in a home as seen through the eyes of a R.E. Merchandiser: Flooring, Lighting, Paint, capital improvements in the Kitchen and Bathrooms and anything seen or touched. For Home Stagers focusing on Living Room Decor, Master Bedroom and Bath Decor, and overall cleanliness and depersonalization of the property.
1. Real Estate Merchandisers add quantifiable appraisable value to properties and offer a greater return on the sellers investment. Stagers showcase lifestyle and architectural elements and affect perceived value but not actual value.
Some famous Home Stagers & Real Estate Merchandisers: Home Stager Barb Schwartz (coined the term "staging"), Interior Designer Dorothy Draper (Merchandiser), Boutique Hotelier Ian Schrager of Studio 54 fame(Merchandiser).
JDS Consulting- Staging Hawaii nei! Providing Real Estate Merchandising services including: Home Staging, Interior Decor, Turn Key, Landscaping, Remodeling, & Open House Hosting. Visit our Blog: Questions for Kimo: Decor Design & all things Hawaiian- www.RealEstateDesignOnLine.com tel.+1.808.344.1264 Kimo Stowell Copyright ©2009
Where can I find examples of the art you use in your staging?
They say a picture speaks a thousand words and in some cases can cost you just as much if not more in cash. Find the right art to stage a property for sale and you can transform a room with four walls into an inspiring treasure worth buying.
As simple as that statement might sound, finding the right art for a design project is not that easy. An art piece can make a stage or ruin it depending on many factors in addition to the fickle aesthetic of the viewer. Subject matter, composition, size, color(s), medium, presentation, lighting, and positioning all pay an important role when choosing a piece of art for a space.
Art is neither wall paper nor a silent witness to the happenings of a room, but rather, art is the emotive reflection of our universe as interpreted by an individual.
An art piece is a facet of an aspect of our existence. Sometimes it is exact, other times ambiguous. It employs and challenges the emotions but whether you understand the power of art or not, it's ability to affect the state of mind and emotions is reflected in it's price tag.
The more emotion rendered, thoughts encouraged, memories stirred the more the mind becomes connected with what it is viewing. Used properly in staging, art will extend beyond it's frame into the space surrounding it, creating a symbiotic relationship between art, room, and ultimately with the buyer.
A great resource for your tropical staging and decorating needs is Pictures Plus here in Hawaii. First and foremost Pictures Plus is a purveyor of fine and decorative art but in addition Pictures Plus is now selling both local and imported tropical decor furniture and accessories. They offer both solid and veneered Koa furniture as well as, contemporary tropical pieces of wicker, sea grass, rattan, and bamboo by Padma's Plantation. Some of my favorite artists available at Picture's Plus and pictured here are: Kim Taylor Reece, Peggy Chun, Pegge Hopper, Gary Reed, and many more.
JDS Consulting- Staging Hawaii nei! Providing Real Estate Merchandising services including: Home Staging, Interior Decor, Turn Key, Landscaping, Remodeling, & Open House Hosting. Visit our Blog: Questions for Kimo: Decor Design & all things Hawaiian- www.RealEstateDesignOnLine.com tel.+1.808.344.1264 Kimo Stowell Copyright ©2009
Questions for Kimo: Where can I find for purchase, a wide variety of native plants? There seems to be just a few places with a limited selection here on Oahu.
When it comes to being green and creating dynamic curb appeal, go native. Indigenous plants are acclimated to the environment and need less maintainence and watering.
The best places to find any type of flora for sale is Waimanalo on the windward side. There are numerous farms and plantations that sell a multitude of plants and flowers, however, if you want the biggest selection of native species visit Hui Ku Maoli Ola, located at 46-403 Ha'iku Road in Waipio, here on O'ahu.
Hui Ku Maoli Ola is an organization dedicated to the preservation of Hawaii's natural history, flora, and culture. By integrating education, quality restoration and consulting services, in addition to the propagation of Native Hawaiian plants, Hui Ku Maoli Ola seeks to increase public awareness and preservation of the unique natural environment that is Hawaii nei.
Hui Ku Maoli Ola is the one-stop-shopping destination for all of your Native Hawaiian plant needs.
For more information, contact Kapaliku at (808) 285-9335 or visit Plantnativehawaii.com.
For curb appeal or landscaping consultations visit www.RealEstateDesignOnLine.com
It's not easy to recognize plants that are indigenous to Hawaii from the multitudes of imported varieties. However, If you are in the Honolulu area, a convenient place to find indigenous plantings in a natural albeit planned garden is the Lili'uokalani Botanical Garden in Nu'uanu.
This startling oasis, just a few blocks from downtown Honolulu and it's towering skyscrapers, has a wonderful selection of native plants and trees to give gardeners inspiration. Many are labeled with their Hawaiian, Latin and common names in a beautiful park setting shaded by an expansive canopy of Monkey Pod trees.
Hawaiian White Hibiscus - Kokio Keokeo
Ohia Lehua
- Flowering shrub/tree
Breadfruit tree - Ulu
Awapuhi Ula Ula - Red Ginger
Lauhala - Pandamus Palm
Please contact JDS Consulting for your Curb Appeal and Landscaping needs.
JDS Consulting- Staging Hawaii nei! Providing Real Estate Merchandising services including: Home Staging, Interior Decor, Turn Key, Landscaping, Remodeling, & Open House Hosting. Visit our Blog: Questions for Kimo: Decor Design & all things Hawaiian- www.RealEstateDesignOnLine.com tel.+1.808.344.1264 Kimo Stowell Copyright ©2009
Swept up on an Accessories Quest; we land on Southern Hawaii shores- SoHa So Good!
The beach is where it's at, so why aren't you there?
Above: At The Beach Sign. $28 Made entirely of recycled wood. Size: 16" x 7"
Its oh so very easy to get swept up in accessory shopping and when there are sales, watch out! Sales shopping is like sailing the open seas it's exhilarating, liberating, and soaked in danger. Even the most seasoned shopper can get wrecked over a sale. Trapped on a shopping reef unable to stop the relentless flow of bric-a-brac cross the bow as wave after wave of accessories take it's toll on your your creative mind and heavily laden shopping cart. Your credit cards strain over the enormity of it all as you slowly maneuver through the check out lane; carefully avoiding the merchandised point of sale items singing their sirens song and the ruinous shoal of a maxed out credit card.
Above: Green Potted Forest Fever Tree. This synthetic looks exactly like the real thing. Maintanence free.
$170 Size: 59"x 55"
My last post was absorbed in the Pier One Imports Winter Clearance sale and for those of you who are familiar with Honolulu and it's armada of stores and shops, you might be aware that across the street from Pier One on the Makai side Ward Center is one of my favorite boutiques SoHa. SoHa is short for Southern Hawaii and it contains a great but somewhat pricey collection of designer household items from the South Pacific and South East Asia.
Left: Natural assorted shells including starfish and sea urchins
$25- 6" Nautilus $60- 12"Conch
Right: Natural Shell Salt & Pepper Shakers adorned with cast metal tops.
$16.80 Size: 2.25" x 2" each
Above: Sea Life Towels, embroidered guest hand towels. Set of 6 with multicolor embroidery on natural linen.
$88.50 Size: 14"x 22"
Right: Sea Life wool and cotton Hook Pillows. These colorful sea creatures offer a wonderful pop to neutral colored furniture.
$75. Size: 18"x 18"
Left: Tropical Fruit & Flora Wall Hangings. Made of 100% Birch, you can stain, paint, or decorate them as you please. Frame them, or mount them alone; great stencil too. These almost look like traditional hawaiian quilt patterns but not quite. Pictured upper left to lower right: Palm, Pineapple, Breadfruit, and Lychee
$7.25 ea Exterior size are 12"x 12" Standard
Aloha Friday Kakou!
JDS Consulting- Staging Hawaii nei! Providing Real Estate Merchandising services including: Home Staging, Interior Decor, Turn Key, Landscaping, Remodeling, & Open House Hosting. Visit our Blog: Questions for Kimo: Decor Design & all things Hawaiian- www.RealEstateDesignOnLine.com tel.+1.808.344.1264 Kimo Stowell Copyright ©2009
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Honolulu Real Estate Merchandising Services including: Home Staging & Interior Decorating. Specializing in Hawaiian & Pacific Rim landscaping, remodeling, turn key services, marketing & MLS photos
JDS CONSULTING:
We are a collective of independent contractors who maintain employment in the Real Estate industry as Realtors, Realtor Associates, Investors, as well as, Home Stagers, Professional Artists and Interior Decorators. Together we offer Real Estate merchandising services to those who lack the time and wherewith all to effectively merchandise their Real Estate.
Kimo Stowell is president of JDS Consulting and has experience in finance and design. Kimo serves on the Board of Directors for the Gold Coast Neighborhood Association and is a part time actor and vocalist. Kimo has appeared on Lost, Beyond the Break, National Geographic, and Dante's Cove and performs with the vocal ensemble Zamar at Unity Church in Diamond Head. Kimo is a Volunteer at the Unity Church Bread of Life Kitchen and the historic Hawaii Theater.
JDS Consulting: Provides Real Estate Merchandising services in the following: Home Staging, Virtual Staging, Interior Decorating, Redesign, Remodeling, Turn Key Services, Virtual Tours, Curb Appeal Makeovers, Open House Hosting, and MLS Photography.
DESIGN LAB:
Design Lab is a service of JDS Consulting offering our clients the opportunity to see before they buy. We use digital technology to produce visual renderings of our proposals so that design choices can be made quickly and with certainty.
Creating visuals for our clients takes away the guess work and time required to explain design ideas."Painting" walls and arranging furniture in digital renderings allows home owners the ability to see the concept before they commit to it; reducing client anxiety.
In the past clients would often toil over design choices, with the endless selection of swatches, paint chips, and material samples. Finding the right furniture meant many hours spent in furniture stores and design show rooms which inevitably slowed the process down. Changes to patterns or style choices often meant hours of additional work for everyone but when you have just moved into a new home, who wants to wait months for a sofa?
We provide all the information required to purchase direct from the supplier: Item number, price, color, name, size, etc. We also provide substitute suggestions should items become unavailable.
Design Lab can save you time, money, and the overwhelming feeling that comes with making the right design choices. Welcome to the 21st Century of design.
JDS Consulting can design interior and exterior spaces to suit your individual style and tastes. We can provide multiple looks to choose from varying colors, accessories, and design styles.
TESTIMONIALS:
"I would have never thought to arrange the furniture in this way, but it works great and John, uses the room everyday now"
Redesign Clients John & Linda S. Saratoga Springs NY
"They completely decorated our beach front three bedroom condo in 10 days, wow what a difference. It has such an elegant feeling, we went from lawn chairs in the living room to Hollywood almost overnight"
Interior Decorating Clients Red & Sylvia VH, Hudson FL
"I went away for the weekend and I came back to something absolutely fabulous, and they took care of my dog too"
Interior Decorating Client Anne M C, Ka'a'awa HI
"Wow, what a transformation"
Staging Client David G, Kailua HI
"My family and I thoroughly enjoyed your choices and layout plans for our apartment. Now I have a guide as I shop which should make furniture shopping more efficient and less daunting. Thank you for keeping yourself available to us. I'll be sure to keep you updated. You have been wonderful to work with and I wish you much continued success! E malama pono,"
Design Lab Client Stephanie A, Nu'uanu HI
He mea pau 'ole ke aloha
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