I just heard from my client Jean

One of the reasons I love being a home stager is that it makes such a tremendous difference in people's lives, and they take the time to tell you!

One client called to say she felt like she won the lottery thanks to me (she got an extra $100,000 when she sold her home). After putting three kids through college, she and her husband just bought a condo for their retirement. With what they made selling their family home, they'll be mortgage free for the first time in their lives!

By the way, if you're new to the Home Staging business and want to learn what to do in a Home Staging Consultation, I've put all the steps in the Staging Diva Home Staging Checklist. I even tell you what to do before you get to a client's home, what to bring, how to make sure you get paid and more. One of my Staging Diva students bought it and said, "it's like having Debra hold your hand throughout your appointment!"

I followed all the steps in the Staging Diva Home Staging Checklist for this client who called to say that her mother's condo sold to the first person that saw it after I spent two hours there rearranging all the furniture and accessories.

This was especially meaningful because I knew how hard the past year had been for her. When I met my client at her mother's condo for the Home Staging appointment, it was filled with her mother's possessions. She had lived there for 30 years before dying in a nursing home. Her daughter had to face all these memories every time she went to the condo to check on the place for 9 long months while it sat on the market without a single offer. It was a terrible burden financially and emotionally. Imagine how it felt to hear the relief and gratitude in this client's voice when she called to say that the condo sold only days after I was there.

Before launching my Home Staging company Six Elements, I spent almost 18 years consulting for Fortune 500 companies. Let me tell you, helping a corporation increase their profits by millions of dollars is not nearly as satisfying as helping an individual directly and making a difference in their lives.

I was away for a couple of days and look what was waiting in my email when I got back!

It is a while since you came to my home to help me "fluff" (stage) my townhouse for sale. You spent a few hours with me removing my knick knacks and clutter and moving various pieces of furniture around. I painted the 2 bedrooms the colors you chose and added fresh flowers as you suggested. I removed the final clutter from closets, basement, and removed one couch and chair as you recommended before calling my real estate agent who brought an associate with her to assist in determining the listing price.

The real estate agents brought all the sales histories in the complex from 2004 and 2005 to date. We compared numbers, then they did the customary 'walk about'. They were very impressed and said that the house "showed extremely well." They advised listing my townhouse for $11,000 more than the identical one on the other side of the complex even though I had an unfinished basement and theirs was finished and included an extra bathroom! I was skeptical about the price but agreed to give it a try. I truly expected my house to sit on the market for a few months.

Well Debra, I am happy to tell you I received an offer from the very first person that viewed my home. After first seeing my townhouse unit, she was shown several others and asked to see mine again. She submitted her offer just a little more than 24 hours after I had listed my home for sale. The closing date was yesterday.

The Real Estate Agent said we set a new precedent for prices in the complex. I received $7,000 more than the list price of the identical townhouse with the finished basement. After their sale (made just a few days later), I ended up $25,000 or approximately 10% ahead of the competing sale (if you assume their finished basement and bathroom only cost them $15,000 to build). AMAZING!

Debra, just as you said, HOME STAGING WORKS! Again, thank you so much, I am so incredibly impressed that I am telling everyone my great success story. Jean B. (Mississauga)

Imagine what Jean can do with the extra $25,000 she made on my home staging services? Maybe she'll get to start the new business she's always dreamed of, or take a trip of a lifetime, or take a year off to write a book... the possibilities are endless! I've put all the steps I took with Jean in the Staging Diva Home Staging Checklist. You can use it as a guide to help your own Home Staging clients.

If you want a better sense of what it's like to hear from your own Home Staging clients and know the difference you're making for them, you can read more testimonials from Six Elements Home Staging clients here.

What is Home Staging, House Fluffing or Real Estate Staging?

Home Staging, House Fluffing and Real Estate Staging are used to describe the art of decorating a home to sell. Encompassing anything from de-cluttering, rearranging and accessorizing rooms right through to furnishing an entire home from top to bottom, the Professional Home Stager should be knowledgeable in whatever it takes to turn a house into a hot property before it hits the market.

Home buyers shop with logic but they buy on emotion! Anyone who has ever shopped for a home knows that while you start house hunting with a logical list of criteria, the house you buy is the one you walk into and immediately feel “this is home!” Sometimes you even forget to check for the things on your “must have” list.

Home Stagers or House Fluffers create an environment where the greatest number of potential buyers will make that emotional connection and fall in love with a home.


A proper home staging consultation will look at everything from overall curb appeal (what the house and property looks like from the street) right through to the tiniest details in each room (and every closet).

How you live in a home and how you decorate to sell are two entirely different things as shown in the example below of a master bedroom.

BEFORE - HOW A CLIENT LIVES

AFTER - STAGED TO SELL BY SIX ELEMENTS

BEFORE - HOW A CLIENT LIVES

AFTER - STAGED TO SELL BY SIX ELEMENTS

All furniture and accessories shown in the "after" photos were provided by Home Staging expert Debra Gould, a.k.a. The Staging Diva, and Six Elements Inc. You can find additional before and after photos of room makeovers here.

Welcome to Debra Gould's Staging Diva Dispatch

Welcome to Staging Diva Dispatch, the source for inspiring stories, business advice and support for anyone trying to build their own Home Staging Business.

I'm Debra Gould, a.k.a. The Staging Diva, and I've staged hundreds of homes in the $190,000 to $1.5 million price range in addition to teaching Staging Diva students all over North America to start their own home staging, or house fluffing, businesses.

You can find more information on Staging Diva Training Programs, coaching and other tools at my website, www.sixelements.com. The purpose of this blog is to have an informal place to add new information and insights about how to build a successful home staging business.

Staging Diva Dispatch is also a place where Staging Diva Students can share some of their experiences so that we can all learn from them too.

If you have something you want to post pertaining to this topic, or questions you want answered in future posts, add your comments here, or email them to me directly.