Styled by Design -
a Guide to the Design Principles of Home Staging
By Allegra Dioguardi
A book for all Home Stagers, Real Estate Professionals and savvy Home Sellers who want to expand their knowledge of designing to sell and increase their earning potential.
At last! The first Home Staging book written by an expert Interior Designer, Model Home merchandiser, Stager and teacher. Author Allegra Dioguardi is a nationally recognized designer with 26 years of experience and a track record for designing award-winning model homes for many of the top national builders as well as staging homes for private individuals.
Do you have the talent and an intuitive sense of design to stage beautiful homes but lack the design background and "Tricks of the Trade"?
Would you like to know how the top model home designers do it?
Would you like to feel more confident and be more competitive?
Then this book is for you!
The Home Staging Guide is not the run of the mill "how to" Home Staging book. This book is different! It goes beyond de-cluttering, beyond de-personalizing, repairing and cleaning. This book explores the basic Design Principles and the psychology of why Home Staging works and will guide you to put these principles into action. It will explain what so many of you intuitively know about preparing a home for sale but just don't know why.
After you read The Home Staging Guide you will:
" Understand the Psychology behind designing to sell
" Be fluent in the design principles behind Home Staging
" Be able to identify and create Focal Points
" Learn the importance of creating memory and how to captivate the buyer
" Discover the benefits of creating impact and selling space
" Accessorize like a pro
" Convey your ideas more readily to your clients
" Become more competitive in your field
" Discover the secrets to showing more function in a home
" Become proficient at enhancing the perceived value of your clients homes
" Understand the different options for staging vacant homes
" Learn how to vignette and prioritize budget jobs
Inside The Home Staging Guide you will discover:
" Before and After photos of real homes staged by Allegra
" Floor plans illustrating focal points and room flow
" Insider resources revealed
" Step by step instructions and room by room check lists
Walk into your next staging job with renewed confidence and armed with an arsenal of new vocabulary and ideas!
Hi, I'm Allegra Dioguardi, president of Styled and Sold Home Staging and Styled by Design Interior Design service.
When I first launched my own Home Staging business in April of 2006, it certainly took a leap of faith to do so. Most people I queried had never even heard of Home Staging. But still, I felt confident. I had a degree in Interior Design from Parsons School of Design and after spending 26 years as an interior designer in the Model Home Industry (and teaching it to other designers and to Realtors) I could merchandise homes to sell in my sleep and I believed in it.
Does this sound familiar?
In November of 2006, seven months after the birth of my Home Staging company Styled and Sold, I met with a group of fellow pioneer Home Stagers in Manhattan for a fun weekend get together. After initially sharing the typical, optimistic stories regarding our businesses we all reluctantly admitted to having a difficult time selling the Home Staging concept to clients. The idea that they would need to invest money, time and energy in their homes in order to sell them was too new a concept. The idea of designing to sell was a relatively new one to many outside the model home industry. In fact, at our last meal together our little entourage of fledgling stagers all lamented we were probably ahead of the curve. Thus we began to really commiserate with one another and share our tales of woe. One of us boldly went so far as to suggest that we were so far ahead of the curve we might actually be going backwards! We all laughed, it felt nice to be understood, after all misery loves company. We've come so far since then!
I wrote this book for you!
That same group of wonderful, talented women I met with that weekend in Manhattan and other stagers I blogged with on staging forums are the ones who inspired me to write this book. I found myself fielding questions from them such as "What is a focal point?" and "Why is it so important to de-clutter?" They were all dedicated to their craft and had an intuitive sense of design and merchandising to sell but they were often times at a loss when pressed to verbally express it.
I'll help you to sound like a designer and learn the terminology.
Their innate knowledge didn't include the vocabulary to translate to their clients the "whys" and "wherefores" of what they were proposing and what needed to be done to effectively stage a home. They lacked the key words and were unable to relate the concepts to their clients.
I'll help you to sell your concepts!
I had acquired much of this in design school and even more in my many years as a model home merchandiser where it was necessary for me to sell these (often pricey) concepts to national builders and persuade the builders to implement them. It was so clear to me that professional Home Stagers needed to have the ability to sell a concept by explaining the principles articulately and have the vocabulary to relate the psychology involved.
Become an expert!
This would be one more tool in their staging toolbox. Knowledge, born of education and/or experience, enables you to establish yourself as the expert.
You'll gain more confidence!
This knowledge builds your confidence and therefore the confidence your clients have in you. I was inspired by these fellow Home Stagers to share what I had. Thus the birth of "The Home Staging Guide to Interior Merchandising and Deign Principles". Two years in the making, it's been a labor of love!
Here's what people are saying about The Home Staging Guide:
Sandra Hughes IRIS, Home Stager Redesigned Spaces LLC VA
"A must have for any professional home stager who wants to "walk the walk" and more importantly "talk the talk". "The Home Staging Guide" is rich in merchandising/design principles that have been used to stage and merchandise model homes for years.
We are given the reasons/secrets behind why certain merchandising techniques work and how those techniques help to draw in potential buyers and generate the desire to buy a particular home.
I have found that having the right design vocabulary when conversing with a client helps immensely. Not only am I able to verbalize the "why" of my recommendations but I have found once the client really understands the reason behind what I am recommending and how it is going to benefit them in the end they are much more likely to be propelled into action.
Out of all the many home staging books I have purchased over the past couple of years The Home Staging Guide is my hands down favorite."
Laurie A. Mahoney, Interior Designer, freelance home furnishings photo stylist, designer/stylist for Ethan Allen and President of Designed, Staged and Sold, Inc NY says:
"I've been in the interior merchandising industry for 30 years and Allegra is the consummate professional and the real deal when it comes to staging a home. She knows what it takes to be a success in this field. You will be grateful she has written this book and that she is sharing her knowledge with you.
If you think you knew what staging was about you are about to learn a valuable lesson. She has a gift for talking about the details in such a simple to understand way.
After reading her book you will know everything there is to know about staging. She gives up all her secrets in detail because she is passionate about home staging and wants to share her experiences, as she is a true teacher and mentor.
She shares her personal journey, gives detailed examples with photos as well as step-by-step, room-by-room instructions on what real staging is and what it is not.
This book will be your bible. Print it out, carry it with you and refer to it often."
Annette Phillips, ASID, NCIDQ President Inspired Design, LLC says:
"The Home Staging Guide" walks you through the principles I have learned, tested, and incorporated in over 20 years designing Model Homes for sale. Allegra gives thorough advice to create a marketing tool for a better return on most people's largest asset, their home. The importance of focal points, increasing perceived value, and flow is clearly explained. Did you ever notice new homes have lower "Pre-Construction" prices? This is because when the Models open the value of the houses goes up when people can see how they can live in the home. That is the magic of Staging."
When you purchase the book, you will receive at no extra charge detailed Room by Room Checklists written by my friend Mary Russell, a veteran designer and model home merchandiser. They're great! They cover the design principles of merchandising to sell for each and every room to help guide you on your journey. But trust me, once you use them a few times you will understand the principles involved and it will become second nature and you'll no longer need them so only print out a few copies.
No gimmicks, no come-ons.
I've always disliked those special "hurry up and order now at this special price" and I think gimmicks such as "buy now and we will include" are insulting to professionals like ourselves.
This book has stand-alone value and it's worth every penny.
It can be yours for only $35.00.
I think you'll be glad you bought it. I welcome your feedback.
Best,
Allegra
PS You don't need to spend $50 to $75 for a book like this one, this one is the original! ;- )
Only $35!
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