Staging your home? Staging your exhibit?

I often visit the Houzz site and love looking at beautiful homes, but I often wonder how those owners keep their amazing spaces neat, tidy and free from clutter. Of course most of these houses had interior designers hard at work and it got me thinking about an article I just saw posted by Freshome Design & Architecture; it was about home staging and the impact on the sale of your property.

With Toronto's housing market booming the way it is - I have experienced first hand what a difference it makes to stage your house for sale.  I'm not only suggesting for you to clean your home but have a design savvy friend help you de-clutter your space, rearrange furniture, or even go out and hire a professional stager.  Home buyers will not be able to look past all the 'junk' at the beautiful woodwork, the great pot-lights, or the beautiful kitchen.

I believe the same applies to exhibits.  I started to think about what booths we have done where staging played an important role in making the product or messaging stand out.
 

I want to share two examples.  The first is Microsoft's 'Home' exhibit for a Future shop event in Whistler.  They had asked us to help create an environment, that not only provided some space for a trainer to talk to a few attendees, but also allowed them to showcase their products in a 'home' setting.   This booth was very different from our usual 'corporate' exhibits and even though we did not go the traditional route of building a small scale house - there was still a lot of staging going on!

The second example I found (and we can't take any credit for the staging!!!) is from Mucci Farms. 

The first set of images were taken after our installation crews set-up the booth:  you have the carpet down, the exhibit structure up, the lighting, graphics, AV and rental furniture ready for the show.







You can see from the 'before' and 'after' that the booth is fairly plain until all their produce is showcased throughout the space.  The greenhouse vegetables are so vibrant in colour and the Marketing Coordinator did a fantastic job incorporating their product into the staging of their exhibit.   Cushions, vases, bowls, and other accessories were used to complete the look.

 I guess staging is not strictly for your home anymore!

If you want some tips on styling or staging your home (or even exhibit) - you can read the article "Why Home Staging Could Give You The Edge in The Property Market"