Meet the Fab Five

When you love what you do, a "job" doesn't feel like work. We like to work hard, and play hard. If you happen to catch us behind the scenes, you might see us sweaty, and working at a feverish pace, while doubled over in laughter at a silly comment or observation.  

At Staged by Design®, our success is a true team effort. Here's an inside look into the people who make up our team. 

From L to R: Kim, Tracy, Leigh, Wendy, Lauren

Meet Kim:

Fav 90s jam: Faith Hill, Dixie Chicks (yes I grew up in the South!), Bon Jovi

Favorite podcast?: The Big Boo Cast - funny ladies just talking about random stuff.

What crayon color best defines you?: Cerulean – bright personality that mixes/works well with its neighboring colors.

Strangest Talent you have: I have an uncanny memory. I can recall birth dates from people I knew years ago even in elementary school.

Favorite Family traditions: Christmas Day we all stay in our PJs all day long

What trend do you hope makes a comeback? Snail Mail - who doesn't like a handwritten letter?!?

Favorite decor item: pillows - they are an easy, cheap update to freshen up a room

What's the coolest thing about your job?: Seeing the transformation of an empty blah room to a beautiful room I want to live in.

Meet Tracy:

Fav 90s jam: I love some Celine Dion

Fav podcast: Fearless Soul on YouTube

What crayon color best defines you? : PINK - it's my color!

Strangest talent you have?: Outstanding rhythm and finger dexterity. I was actually tested for this.

Favorite Family traditions: Summer Beach vacations

What trend do you hope makes a comeback?: Go-go boots

Favorite decor item: Flowers

Other fun facts: I was a professional theatre dancer and met Michael Jackson

What's the coolest thing about your job?: Seeing fun houses, learning about other people's lives, wearing leggings and listening to 80s music!

Meet Leigh (our fearless leader) :

Fav 90s jam: Poison by Bel Biv Devoe

Fav podcast: The Moth and Snap Judgement

What crayon color best defines you? : Sea Green-a little blue, a little green, and mixes well with many other colors.

Strangest talent you have?: Finding four-leaf clovers. I just look down, and they are there.

Favorite Family traditions: One year, my husband place a Croc shoe at the top of the Christmas Tree instead of the Star to see if I would notice. Now, no holiday is complete without a San Diego Chargers blue plastic Croc at the top of our tree. We also create scavenger hunts for the kids to find their birthday presents. Still.

What trend do you hope makes a comeback?: Scandinavian style, light wood floors

Favorite decor item: It's a toss up between flowers and books

Other fun facts: I rode horses and showed for many years

What's the coolest thing about your job?: I LOVE the transformation at the end of the project, where it all comes together and the comraderie we continue to build by working collaboratively.

Meet Wendy:

Fav 90s jam: Guilty Pleasure jam: Genie in a Bottle, Christina Aguilera  Serious Jam:  Wallflowers One Headlight

Fav podcast: Dan Carlin Hardcore History

What crayon color best defines you? Eggplant. It can be neutral but still have personality

Strangest talent you have: Memorizing song lyrics

Favorite family tradition: Whenever we are driving on a road trip, everyone sticks one foot out the window, including the driver.

What trend do you hope makes a comeback?: Gunne Sax Dresses by Jessica McClintock

Favorite Decor item: Furniture

What's the coolest thing about your job?: My co-workers

Meet Lauren:

Fav 90s jam: Oasis "Wonderwall" or Dave Matthews

Favorite podcast?: Serial

What crayon color best defines you?: Turquoise

Strangest talent? Decorating like speedy gonzales (and GOOD at it)

Favorite Family traditions: I have two. First we make a point to see the Rockefeller Christmas tree every year. Second one is eating dinner as a family every night we can.

What trend do you hope makes a comeback? Black and White Furniture

Favorite decor item: Rugs or a good mirror

What's the coolest thing about your job?: The opportunity to be creative

To read a little more serious stuff about our wonderful staff, please visit our web page HERE. Then, contact us for your next staging or redesign needs!

IAHSP Best of Home Staging Awards 2019

The International Association of Home Staging Professionals®, is the largest and longest running Home Staging Industry Trade Association with thousands of members worldwide. Each year, they award deserving home stagers with a multitude of accolades. We are proud to announce that Staged by Design was awarded 2019 Best in Staging Excellence AND Client Care Excellence.

Leigh received her ASP staging certification from Staged Homes, which was the first certification program of its kind. Leigh has served on her local chapter of IAHSP in different capacities over the year. It is incredibly gratifying to receive these awards from an association that we have been part of for so many years. A tremendous amount of credit goes to the entire team at Staged by Design who work hard to meet all our clients needs while creating beautiful spaces.

Tomorrow is Just a Day Away - When is the Best Time to Call in a Home Stager?

The decision to list a home for sale can often occur quickly. It ranges from a result of life or work circumstances, to simply finding the perfect home and needing to sell the current home first.

Listing a home can become quite a production for your clients. If you compare it to a Broadway musical, it comes together with the work of many people.  With a musical you have the design of the product (the play), the promotion of the product (marketing) and the appearance of the product (the set and the characters).  All of these components come together to hopefully create a box office hit. 

Just like producing a musical on stage, putting a house on the market must be a well-choreographed process.  This process includes promotion, price and product.  As a realtor, you advise the seller to come to the most achievable price point in which to sell.   It is your fiduciary responsibility to provide your client with all the tools at your disposals in promoting the listing. The product, one of the most crucial component to the process, is one of the easiest portions to enhance, yet requires the coordination of many moving parts, of which staging has the overall highest ROI. But when should this part of the process take place? 

We have created a great guideline for deciding when a staging consultation should happen.  We believe a good parameter should be 1 week for every year you have lived in your house. For instance, if the seller has lived in the house for 2 years, schedule a consultation two weeks prior to listing.  If the seller has lived in the house for 10 years, plan on 2 ½ months prior to listing.  The need for upgrades and deferred maintenance are substantially higher the longer someone has lived in the house. In addition, the amount of personal possessions tends to grow with each year. Our consultation will outline what maintenance needs to be completed before list date and what should stay or go. The goal of our consultation is to focus on the tasks that provide you with the highest return on investment (ROI).  Our guideline gives sellers plenty of time to schedule contractors for the work to be completed as well as sufficient time to edit their possessions. 

If furniture and accessory staging is needed, post consultation, our lead time is typically one and a half weeks in advance.  Our detailed design is customized to the needs of the home, with any suggested upgrades, updates and scheduled work all geared to support the list price of the home.

Our staging, along with proper price and aggressive marketing, will complete that perfectly choreographed process for selling a home FAST and making it a "box office hit" on the market.

Give us a call at 703-552-4545 or simply click HERE to book your consultation online to start your perfect listing.

Summer Movie Giveaway!

Summer is known for blockbuster movie hits.  With the heat settling in, there’s no better way to spend an afternoon as a family than sitting in an air-conditioned movie theater.  SO, we decided to do a fun summer movie giveaway. 

In addition to the amazing homes we have the privelege of staging throughout Northern Virginia, we started thinking about all the great houses we have seen in movies.  Have you ever dreamed of living in something you have seen on the silver screen?  If so, what house got your attention?  Here’s a few of our favorites:

LEIGH – Practical Magic

Leigh fell in love with the conservatory in this lovely house featured in the 1998 movie starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.  Being an avid gardener, Leigh would kill to have a room like that in her house.

KIM – Father of the Bride

Kim really liked the traditional, nostalgic home of the Banks family in this 1991 movie.  The exterior of the home exuded charm and resonated family time. She loved the time spent between father and daughter with that courtyard and basketball hoop!

WENDY - Twilight

Wendy adored the sleek contemporary house of the Cullen clan in the 2008 Twilight movie. The architecture on this house is AH-MAZING!

TRACY - Something's Gotta Give

Tracy was drawn to Diane Keaton's Hampton beach house in this 2003 movie with Jack Nicholson. Just look at that wall of french doors with a view of the beach (swoon!)

LAUREN - It's Complicated

Our California gal, Lauren, liked Jane's Spanish style hacienda in this 2009 romantic comedy. With the classic terra cotta tile roof, interior arches and cozy kitchen it's no wonder Lauren fell in love with it.

What’s your favorite house from a movie?  Tell us and be entered for a chance to win a $25 Fandango giftcard for you and your family to enjoy! Also, be sure to follow and share on Facebook and Instagram. Winner will be chosen on July 17th!

https://www.facebook.com/StagedByDesign/

Why Stage in a Hot Market?

You may wonder why it would be beneficial to stage your home or listing in a HOT market. Statistics show us that the average Days on Market for Loudoun County was 22 as of May 2019. Reduced inventory has continued to increase demand over the past year, and sales prices along with it.

Many sellers may feel that their house will sell even if they are in need of cosmetic repairs and/or updates. While your home may still sell in a strong market, proper preparation and presentation increases demand by providing compelling online photos and can often create a bidding war.

Staging is truly targeted marketing. We utilize photo styling tacticts to create compelling online photos. Over 90% of buyers shop online before stepping foot inside the door of the house. With polished professional photos, a well-designed, de-cluttered home creates that online interest needed to urge buyers to see the home in person.

Staging also allows a buyer to visualize themselves and their family in the home. Most people have a hard time arranging and designing their homes. By having it staged, they can instantly see how spaces are used, gain ideas, and acquire a sense of home when they walk in the door. Appealing to the emotion of the buyer is one of the most important benefits of staging your home for sale.

Realtors have a fiduciary responsibility to help their clients sell their homes for the most amount of money. The National Association of Realtors cites that staged homes can increase sales prices by 5-10%. In any kind of market, consider sharing one tool they can use to get more money for their home - STAGING!

Staged by Design offers consultations for occupied homes, as well as full staging for vacant homes. Feel free to contact us for your staging needs!

Best of Houzz 2017

Many of you already know and love the popular home design website, Houzz.com. We at Staged by Design share your enthusiasm and addiction to the site that enables us to search, dream and design our homes using literally millions of photos for inspiration. Houzz has been a platform of communication between clients, source for referrals and testimonials and best of all, a wonderful supplement to our website to be able to showcase the large body of work our company has created throughout the years.We are so pleased to be chosen as one of the “Best of Houzz” for 2017, an honor we have held each year consecutively since 2013.If you haven’t had the opportunity to check it out, we suggest you do so immediately. That is, if you have several hours to kill.

Home Staging - Levis Hill House in Middleburg, VA

We recently had the pleasure of donating a full home's-worth of furniture and decor to a very deserving resident of Levis Hill House in Middleburg, VA. Watch her reaction here. Thanks to the Windy Hill Foundation and My Guys Moving for their much appreciated help and coordination to change someone's life!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-anAGraKCo&feature=youtu.be

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Staged by Design is Northern Virginia’s premier home staging company. 

Contact us

 today to schedule a home staging consultation and see what a difference staging your property can make. With our extensive experience in home staging and interior decorating, we help homeowners sell their homes for more money in less time!

How to Fix Awkward Spaces

home staging experts for awkward spaces

Creating both a dining or entry area where neither are clearly defined is essential when showcasing awkward spaces for sale. The entry table in the living room becomes the "foyer", with the back of the loveseat defining the space and creating a cozy seating area. Integrating a dining table in a kitchen to create an eat in space is best done by using a glass topped table and small scaled chairs to provide purpose, but not overwhelm the space.Buyers only know what they see, not the way it will be. Staged by Design provides purpose to unique rooms and takes awkward to amazing.

professional home stager arlington, professional home stager falls church

Staged by Design is Northern Virginia’s premier home staging company. 

Contact us

 today to schedule a home staging consultation and see what a difference staging your property can make. With our extensive experience in home staging and interior decorating, we help homeowners sell their homes for more money in less time!

Professional Home Stager for Oakridge Communities

Oakridge Communities is a locally owned and operated home-building company in Northern Virginia. We have had the pleasure of working with Mike Gorman of Oakridge Communities over the last year. Catering to the millennial generations, Oakridge has recently built new homes in up-and-coming neighborhoods of Hamilton and Haymarket, Virginia. We have also had the opportunity to stage these homes and have enjoyed implementing the projects immensely. Thanks Oakridge Communities!

professional home stager arlington, professional home stager falls church

professional home stager arlington, professional home stager falls church

Staged by Design is Northern Virginia’s premier home staging company. 

Contact us

 today to schedule a home staging consultation and see what a difference staging your property can make. With our extensive experience in home staging and interior decorating, we help homeowners sell their homes for more money in less time!

The Elements of Home Staging - Lansdowne Woods Article

home staging companies mclean

Staged by Design is Northern Virginia’s premier home staging company. Contact us today to schedule a home staging consultation and see what a difference staging your property can make. With our extensive experience in home staging and interior decorating, we help homeowners sell their homes for more money in less time!

Loudoun Times-Mirror Article on Decluttering

home staging fairfax, home staging northern virginia, home staging loudoun

We were honored to be asked for our advice on de-cluttering and preparing your home for sale. This is our first time Staged by Design® has been featured in various local newspapers and we are so happy to be able to contribute!The fall guide of the Loudoun Times-Mirror, September 22 edition featured the following article, Selling your home?  First take time to declutter.  Take a look at what we had to say!Staged by Design is Northern Virginia’s premier home staging company. Contact us today to schedule a home staging consultation and see what a difference staging your property can make. With our extensive experience in home staging and interior decorating, we help homeowners sell their homes for more money in less time!

Most Saved Image on Houzz

For those of you who know and love Houzz, it provides endless opportunities for home ideas, decor inspiration and renovation updates. We recently received the 1,000 saves badge as a result, meaning our photos have been saved over 1,000 times! The photo below which has received the most saves overall continues to be popular, we think due to the fun color and soothing aspects of the decor we chose for this model home. Hope you like it too!               As Northern Virginia’s premier professional home stager we help homeowners sell their homes for more money in less time!  Contact us today to schedule a home staging consultation and see what a difference staging your property can make.

Home Staging Dilemma - What do I do with all my books?

Rooms with wall to wall, or built in bookcases are prime candidates for editing or removing altogether if possible. Don't get me wrong, we hold no personal grudge against the written word, rather it's the weight they can create in a room when assembled en masse. Much of what we do as professional home stagers is create additional visual space in each room. Our general recommendation is to remove at least 1/3 of the books if the bookcases remain in the room. Do take care to remove any political, religious or controversial titles as a rule. I realize that those of you who are voracious readers and book collectors will be horrified or at least slightly offended to read this. To make you feel better, in this age of e-readers, Kindle's and book apps, I may be one of the few home owners actually adding a library in lieu of a living room. (Note: I'm also not selling my house). I personally delight in the feel of a book and the promise that the pages hold. For me, reading and appreciating a good book is a tactile experience that even the best well-lit Kindle device cannot offer. As for staging, although we typically recommend removing books in their overflowing state, books are a wonderful tool to backfill areas where overly personal items may have been placed. They can lightly fill built-in shelves, as well as add interest and speak to the demographic of the buyer. For example, we always add a golf book when staging in the communities of Creighton Farms, Belmont Country Club and River Creek, placed on the coffee table in a prominent arrangement. Professional home stagers never adhere heavily to a theme of any sort, however our goal is to let the staging speak to the mindset of the type of person that would choose that home. Books help to convey that sentiment. Another example is adding books on Virginia Hunt Country when staging in such locales as Delaplane, Middleburg and Western Loudoun. The photos illustrate some of our favorite ways we incorporate books as accessories and decor, not just for staging but for interior redesign as well. We often use stacks of books that provide height, color and texture on large coffee tables.  We have even used a book to create symmetrical height when staging occupied homes. Placing a book under a table lamp evens out mismatched side tables or nightstands.  We even take it a step further and create a monochromatic look for bookshelves by painting books white for a more contemporary look.     Removing the spines of worn hardback books and wrapping the stack in burlap ribbon provides texture and interest for coastal spaces.       We even found a way to utilize the lowly paperback by wrapping the cover over the book and tying the stacks with jute twine.    The morale of the story is that for books and bookshelves, be creative, but less is more.The End

The Politics of Staging Your Home for Sale

• As the incumbent homeowner, your goal is to no longer think of your house as a home, but as a product to market and sell.

• Your platform is the demographic of the buyer. Who are they? Where are they moving from? How old are they? Is this a dual market?(new home buyers AND downsizers). Ensure that the visual presentation of your home matches the expectation of the buyer.

• Your photo-op is ongoing, not just a one-time event. Be sure to leave your home in show-ready condition every day.

• When your caucus convenes, (open house) or primaries take place (broker's open) ensure your home is extraordinarily clean. You may be able to get away with stashing a few items in a closet before photos were taken, but showings and public events are time to shine. Don't let the other parties expose the skeletons in your closet.

• Be conservative in the display of your collections. Group items in arrangements of three, in heights tall, medium and small.

• Apply pops of color liberally. Create a palette of no more than three colors and incorporate it throughout the home, in artwork, pillows and accents.

• Rugs are the moderates of home decor when staging. Neutral is best overall. High contrast rugs overpower a room in photos.

• Don't let there be any debate over the condition of your home. Proactively address all deferred maintenance issues before listing, or your offers will reflect the poor upkeep of your home.

• Seek the assistance of your professional stager for help before you list your home. Don't be forced to lose your funding by incurring a price reduction.

 Staged by Design is Northern Virginia’s premier home staging company. Contact us today to schedule a home staging consultation and see what a difference staging your property can make. With our extensive experience in home staging and interior decorating, we help homeowners sell their homes for more money in less time!  

From Staged to Sold in...

Staging works for all property types as seen in our recent successes in this info-graphic. 

Staged by Design is Northern Virginia’s premier home staging company. Contact us today to schedule a home staging consultation and see what a difference staging your property can make. With our extensive experience in home staging and interior decorating, we help homeowners sell their homes for more money in less time!

Joanna Gaines Rugs

We love this mix of eclectic and casual rugs that fit your look from farmhouse to eclectic to bohemian.We are thrilled to offer Joanna Gaines rugs from Loloi available for purchase. These lovely additions to your home can be drop shipped to your front door to add that special "Fixer Upper" touch to your home.Contact us at info@staged-by-design.com for pricing and details. Staged by Design is Northern Virginia's premier home staging company.  Contact us today to schedule a home staging consultation and see what a difference staging your property can make. With our extensive experience in home staging and interior decorating, we help homeowners sell their homes for more money in less time!

Occupied Home Staging

If you will be living in your home while it is on the market, we begin with our innovative, proprietary consultation process that gives you step by step suggestions to prepare your home for sale, using your own furnishings.  Should you find yourself without enough furniture or decor, or need to replace it with options more suitable to the demographic of the buyer, we can assist you by supplementing your existing items, with furniture, artwork, rugs, lighting and decor. It's amazing what new pillows and artwork are able to do freshen up a space and provide you with appealing photos and the wow factor in person!  Staged by Design is Northern Virginia's premier home staging company.  Contact us today to schedule a home staging consultation and see what a difference staging your home can make. With our extensive experience in home staging and interior decorating, we help homeowners sell their homes for more money in less time!

Our latest home staging work for occupied properties!

See more of our home staging for occupied properties!

Our latest home staging work for new build properties!

See more of our latest projects in home staging for new build properties!

Our latest home staging work for vacant properties!

See more of our home staging for vacant properties!