"I believe each house has a soul, an essence that one connects with. I have a passion for decorating and designing which began when I was a child. I would drive my parents …
“I learned a tremendous amount from the course material and would recommend that anyone take Debra Gould’s home staging training program. The information she offers is invaluable. The manner in which she presents it is well thought out and carefully planned. She covers so many topics and offers such great advice on how not to waste time and make mistakes. She has a fantastic business sense and shares this wisdom in her course.”
“I started the Staging Diva Program knowing that I had the talent to decorate homes, but knew I was lacking in the business aspect. What I learned in the program has provided me with enough knowledge and tools to feel that I can now begin the process of starting my own business.”
“When I was doing my research on what different home staging courses offered, I was skeptical about the testimonials because they seemed too good to be true, but now I’m writing one and I can say with confidence that this really is worth the investment. Thanks, Debra Gould!”
~ Cheryl Millikin (Alberta)
Debra Gould Shares Choosing Between Interior Design School or Becoming a Home Stager
Debra Gould always wondered if she should have gone back to school to become an interior designer. However, not able to take 4 years off work to go to school full-time, she discovered home staging and realized she didn’t need interior design training because she had natural decorating talent.
Debra Gould shares what she learned being a Professional Home Stager instead of being an “Interior Designer”:
• Being a home stager you get lots more projects to work on because they are shorter term in nature. So, lots more variety.
• Being a home stager your clients give you creative control because they know they don’t really have to live with what you do to their homes. So, you get to be creative and make the decisions.
• Being a home stager you get interior redesign and color projects because your staging clients love what you do with the house they’re selling and ask you to work on the one they’re moving into.
• Being a home stager you get to work with the kinds of people who wouldn’t normally hire an interior designer or decorator, in other words a much larger target market.
The other important thing I learned, is that I would have hated being an interior designer!
It’s really frustrating doing a beautiful room only to see your client later clutter it up with additions that clash with everything you’ve done. Or, having to sit there for hours while they can’t decide which fabric they want to pick.
I love having the creative control I get from staging houses. I get to execute my vision because clients realize I’m decorating their house to sell, not for them to live in it. I know there is no way I could have done hundreds of homes in so short a period with an interior design degree fresh out of school.
Granted because I’ve never gone through an Interior Design program, (or ever taken an interior design or color course!), I can’t tell you if a chair is Louis the XVI, or draw plans to build an addition off the back of a house, but I don’t miss having those skills!
The kind of people that hire me (upper middle class, usually professionals) don’t really care!
They hire me because they know I’m an expert in decorating a house to sell because they’ve visited my websites, they’ve heard about me from their neighbors or real estate agents or they’ve read about Six Elements or Staging Diva in the media.
For the things I don’t know, I’d happily refer them to a trained interior designer! I know they have many skills that I don’t. But like I said, I learned I wouldn’t want to be an interior designer so that’s OK by me. And, it was a relief to finally let go of all the wondering about it!
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