I remember when I was starting out as a new Home Stager, I had no idea about what I was doing and I didn’t know that I didn’t know what I was doing. Luckily my first mentor reached out to me to mention that she had a Home Staging training class coming up and she invited me to be a part of it. Because I wasn’t financially prepared, I originally passed on the opportunity to take her class and she generously offered me a discount. I was pleasantly surprised and thanked her for her generosity. I remember part of her response was “I want you to enjoy staging”. Well, at the time I had no idea what that meant, until I took her class and woooweeee – I was overwhelmed by what I learned! This particular training class wasn't accredited and it was enough to give me idea about what to do in the process of staging a home.
A lot of experienced Home Stagers go through this and now that I look back on my first Home Staging job, I feel sad because I had no idea how to stage properly, what furniture to use or what to charge the client. I know there are Stagers who don’t have formal Home Staging training and it’s completely fine. The Home Staging industry isn’t one that is regulated at the current moment, so individual Home Stagers have the freedom to be as creative as they want to be. Since then, I have completed my accredited course and will admit that getting formal training will minimize the costs you’ll spend buying items that aren’t commonly used in staging. It also minimizes the number of mistakes you’re going to make, which in turn minimizes the time spent on correcting/redoing the mistake and the money spent on both. I had the joy of being educated on why I was doing what I was doing, instead of doing it. That gives me the opportunity to educate the client because without education, situations can easily get out-of-hand.
To get formal accredited Home Staging training, expect to spend around $1,300 to get a certification and that’s not a lot of money considering what you’ll get in return. My accredited training offered contracts and all other forms that can be used in Home Staging and Interior Design projects, education on paint colors, logistics and space planning etc. They truly left no stone unturned when it came to educating their students. If the expense doesn’t work for your budget, reach out to an established Home Stager and ask if you can assist on some of their jobs or shadow one of the other stagers. The more you can learn from an experienced Home Stager, the better off you’ll be. Mistakes jeopardize the relationship with the client and the fewer mistakes you can make, the better off you’ll be.