The RESA International Conference is the only one of its kind focused on providing stagers (RESA and non-RESA members included) with personal and professional development opportunities. The entire conference is dedicated to YOU. CLICK HERE for further details.

With the industry growing leaps and bounds, this is the perfect opportunity to:

■ Learn how to take your business to the next level
■ Learn what it takes to become a leader
■ Hear first-hand what the industry leaders are doing
■ Understand what it takes to “close” the deal
■ How to give a presentation
■ Learn how to market your business
■ Meet vendor partners who are there to support YOU!

A savvy homeowner looking to stage their vacant condo in Richmond BC did extensive research to find Enjy Fouad of Envious Design. They interviewed a panel of a few other reputable stagers, but hired Envious Design. What made them stand out was their services package tailored for each individual project. It includes project coordination, contractor referral, color consultation, and of course Enjy’s favourite – home staging. The client was SOLD on Envious Design’s tailored services package.

Envious Design decided to use Fluff Rentals to source from their warehouse of contemporary furnishings. The staff at Fluff are great and it’s always great fun to shop for the client’s property. The best part of all is staging the property with all the handpicked furniture, accessories, and decor pieces from Fluff. The realtor that this was the best staged property he had seen, and that it showcased the client’s property to its best potential and made it the best looking unit within the building.
After the completion of the colour consultation, project coordination on time and staging his property, both my client and his realtor were so pleased with the dramatic shabby to Envious results! The client was very happy that he was able to hire a home staging company that help him with all his project needs from A to Z.

Living Room (Before)

Living Room (After)

Dining Room (Before)

Dining Room (After)

Bedroom (Before)

Bedroom (After)

Dana Smithers, the founder and creative director of the PRES Staging Resource Centre offers mentoring to the PRES graduates at a special ‘member only’ price. In addition to offering mentoring to her own PRES members, Dana is now offering her mentoring services to other women entrepreneurs in small service businesses. She has seen the results over and over again – hire a coach or a mentor and you can fast track a start-up business or get unstuck in your existing one.

The new site, www.EmpoweredWomenInBusiness.com, is targeted for a September 2010 launch. On her new site you will be able to get her new ‘FREE’ CD with 7 destinations on her Empowered Women’s Road Map to Success.

Kym Tarr of Kym Tarr Home Staging in Kelowna, BC was teaching the 5 day PRES home staging and redesign course in Kelowna last week. Kym and her students left the home owner ecstatic with the changes! In just one day the PRES home stagers and redesigners follow a formula to give the home a whole new look using your things to create beautiful spaces for living or selling.

Testimonial: I had no idea what to expect and the outcome was a great surprise. Our living room looks extremely inviting now and I am eager to have more “quiet time” there. It is amazing what the placement of furniture does to a room, with of course the added touch of a change in decor and artwork. The Family room is great too and I will take Kym’s advice on purchasing a tree for the corner to provide height and to fill the space. The computer room looks like a completely different room! I feel much more relaxed in this space now and it feels so much more spacious. This room was definitely a source of irritation prior to the staging.

As I have also been trained as a CSP, sometimes it is difficult to see the opportunities in one’s own home and with a busy lifestyle it is also challenging to “follow through” on home lifestyle changes. I think that you offer your students a great training edge with the “staging for life” and “staging for sale”. This provides your students with a competitive edge in the market when it comes time to offering their skill set to customers. Thank-you once again for choosing my home and thank-you for all your hard work.
Leah – Kelowna BC

When I read this quote by The Dali Lama I was blown away.
Read what he says …

“The world will be saved by the western woman.”

Can you believe that? Pretty inspiring don’t you think? I’m sure you’ve noticed more and more women are becoming successful on a huge scale of late. Do you want to be one of them?

This is why Dr. Ellie Drake is offering a wonderful on-line series called the *Summer Extravaganza for Women*. It’s already attracting a ton of attention – at last count, over 5000 women have signed up for it!

As I mentioned the other day, I have been working with Ellie and her team in putting this event together and truly believe it would make a huge impact on you if you participate.

On Tuesday, we heard Gloria Loring candidly share how she felt growing up in an alcoholic family and the effects that had on her into adulthood. Tonight we’ll be listening to Debra Wilson from MadTV, I can only imagine what she will share!

Other celebrities are coming up over the next 6 weeks like Leeza Gibbons, Mariel Hemmingway, Marla Maples, Lisa Nichols of ‘The Secret’ fame and many more.

Sign up here before tonight’s call at 6pm PST
(don’t worry, the calls are recorded and available for 24 hours after if you miss it.

Some of what you’ll discover when you attend the Summer Extravaganza are:

==> How ONE SIMPLE SHIFT IN YOUR AWARENESS produces
astronomically more results in less time, with less
effort (you’ll be astonished at how productive you are
with this devastatingly easy change);

==> How the thoughts of successful WOMEN LEADERS ARE
DIFFERENT from the thoughts of average women (and how
those differences play out in all personal and
professional achievements);

==> How to banish useless energy like GUILT, SHAME,
and REGRET from your brain so you can stop beating
yourself up (women in particular play out negative
emotions over and over in their heads, making them
feel horrible);

==> How to buck the PROCRASTINATION PATTERN any of us
can slip into (you can’t step up to being your
strongest self if you can’t get stuff done);

==> How to INSTANTLY shift your attitude to transform
your personal ability to lead and inspire (moods and
emotions don’t have to control your destiny);

==> How to easily break down and dissect the steps of
TRUE PERSONAL, PROFESSIONAL, and GLOBAL FULFILLMENT
(it’s shockingly simple when it’s laid out for you);

==> How to ‘DETOX’ areas of your life today so you can
realize your dreams and get out of your own way (break
the cycle of repeating habits that don’t serve you anymore);

==> How to quickly discover your ‘LIFE PURPOSE’ and
put it into action (the BraveHeart Community is
tailored for meaningful connections and insights);

==> How to easily uncover and OVERCOME BLIND SPOTS
that hold you back from being your most magnificent
self (all too often it is US holding ourselves back);

Why are you still reading this? Go on and sign up for the Summer Extravaganza for Women right now!
You’ll thank me for it!
Get details here

Sincerely,

Dana J. Smithers

P.S. Remember, the cost for registering for the Summer Extravaganza is 100% F*R*E*E of charge! http://bit.ly/BHWfreeteleseries

P.P.S. Women don’t have to do it ALL anymore and finally there is place they can go to learn how to create with ease!
http://bit.ly/BHWfreeteleseries

P.P.P.S. Please let others know about this opportunity you think can benefit! http://bit.ly/BHWfreeteleseries

The local RESA meeting earlier this week was hosted by Dawn Rockhill of The Staging Goddess. About 15 interested home stagers from all different associations got together to work towards the common goal of creating the local Metro Vancouver chapter.

Heather Kleim of Epic Empire Designs invited Louise Edwards known as the ‘Godmother of the Downtown Eastside’ to see what we could do as a group to transform the living space for about 30 women of Sereena House. The home is badly in need of furniture, stove and other things.

The response was fantastic and the next steps will be to get a list from Louise and her contact Sarah, as to what they need so we can provide that to them. If you want to follow us in our journey check out Meet Up – Metro Vancouver RESA.

PRES members recognize the importance of taking further educational courses to continue to expand their service offerings. They gain more confidence by learning and doing which is what all the PRES professional development courses offer.

A PRES professional development Client Colour Consultation course is being offered in the Lower Mainland to any professional wanting to learn more about how to do a client colour consultation.

In the course students will learn how to conduct a professional colour consultation with your clients. You will be introduced to decorating guidelines for colour schemes and learn the latest colour trends according to Benjamin Moore. This course will boost your confidence in adding to your existing services list!

Course Outline:
• How Colour affects us
• Design Guidelines for Colour Schemes
• Colour Schemes and Decorating Styles
• Colour Trends
• How do to a Client Colour Consultation

SPECIAL BONUS:You will receive your own Interior Design Colour Wheel! and there is a draw for a ‘FREE GALLON OF BENJAMIN MOORE AURA PAINT’!!!

Date: Saturday June 19, 2010
Time: 10am to 5pm
Location: John Braithwaite Community Centre 145 West 1st Street North Vancouver

2 SPOTS LEFT!!! There is still time to register on line. PRES members cost is $197 and non-members $247.

The home staging industry does not have a regulating body in North America. An organization called RESA (Real Estate Staging Association) is hoping to change that. RESA was founded in California and is slowly making its way across Canada.

From the website: RESA is a member governed trade association for Home Stagers. RESA was formed in order to support all professional real estate stagers also known as home stagers in North America. RESA is a portal to the home staging industry and is a source of education and business tools focusing on the needs of home stagers. Members have access to up-to-date information relative to the home staging industry, marketing support services and access to home staging continuing education providers.

Ontario has some Member Chapters and British Columbia is on the move! Kym Tarr of ShoeString Interior Home Staging in Kelowna is the BC Chapter President and the Metro Vancouver team is just putting things into place to start their chapter officially in the fall 2010. Heather Kleim of Epic Empire Designs and Heather Stewart of HS Home Staging hosted an informal meeting last night. It was well attended and there was a great deal of excitement and enthusiasm about moving forward.

If you are not familiar with RESA and you are a home stager, a realtor, mortgage broker, inspector or another industry related professional you are welcome to join! If you are interested contact Heather Kleim.

I had recently rented some original art from our local Vancouver Art Gallery for a $4.5million dollar penthouse I was staging. Many PRES members have their own art, or source from rental furnishing companies but on occasion we all need something a bit more upscale! The art rentals is the non-profit organizational arm of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Local artists provide pieces on consignment and they are rented out for a portion of their asking price. The average rental is about $70 per month with over 1200 original pieces of art done by Canadian artists!

After having such a terrific experience with Donna Partridge, Manager and her fantastic assistant Holly, I asked if we could hold our monthly meeting at the Vancouver Art Gallery Art Rentals area. She thought it was a great idea and so the PRES members met and one even signed up as a volunteer she loved the art so much!

If you have never sourced from your local art gallery see if that is an option that is available to you. There are many art galleries that will rent art that is on consignment from local artists. Check it out in your area it is a WIN-WIN for all concerned!

Dana J. Smithers – Founder & Creative Director – PRES Staging Resource Centre

I recently read an article on The 5 Stages of Grief and how it relates to the process of saying good bye to your home of a few or many years.

I believe most PRES home stagers have faced situations like this and have had to use a lot of psychology and empathy in making their client’s move more palatable. The public doesn’t often realize how much we do care about not only making the property spectacular for selling, but ‘being there’ for our clients.

I often think of PRES Home Stagers as your “Home Selling Coach’ since we work together with you to help you achieve your goals. We listen – we set goals – we take action steps. Many staging jobs can take up to a year depending on what has to be done to make the home marketable. When our clients get STUCK well, we encourage them to take small steps and remind them that they can create their next home any way they want!

This photo is me with my client asking him to ‘Tell me about these swords’ and tell me he did. They are his pride and joy and so without a moment’s hesitation I said, “Well then, let’s pack these treasures up and make sure they are safe and sound when you move in to your new home!”