Staging Coaches: Three stagers who shine at transforming homes

Nov. 5—Staging isn't just about selling. It's about world-building. The best stagers launch environments with grace and possibility. They've got a knack for design, for architecture, for harmony and balance, for creating a space that somehow suggests a new life.

Marty Wilkinson knows all about the makeover dream. She named her company Metamorphosis. As Santa Fe's biggest stager, she transforms hundreds of homes a year. Right now, she's staging 42 houses. Describing the starting point, she says, "We stage so the style of the staging matches the architecture of the home." She continues, "Staging really shows how you can put furniture in the room and how someone can actually live in that room. We give people ideas as to how they can function." She adds, "You can get a better idea of the scale of the room when you're looking online. I would say 99% of people are looking online before they're actually seeing the home in person."

As for decor, Wilkinson says, "We're doing things that are fairly neutral in palette, with pops of color occasionally. We do a lot of transitional-looking staging, which basically appeals to the most people. It's not really traditional, and it's not overly contemporary."

With her large inventory — much of which is also sold in her retail and consignment store in Plaza Entrada, off St. Francis and Zia — Wilkinson can stage a home in just a day. She can keep 40 to 50 homes staged at any given time. Mostly, she buys at the furniture markets in Las Vegas, Dallas and High Point. She charges a per-room, per-month fee, with a two-month minimum. Whether the home is occupied or empty, Wilkinson will stage it. She also offers home-tending and design services if needed. She explains, "If somebody wants to purchase the home and the staging furniture, they can do that. It happens more often than not. Sometimes we've sold entire houses full of furniture, sometimes individual pieces."

Trends? "There's a lot of new building going on that's much more contemporary," observes Wilkinson, who grew up in New Jersey and worked in Los Angeles in interior design before moving to Santa Fe in 1996. Her rates start at around $5,000 for a three-bedroom home, and that would be for the two-month minimum staging fee, plus the move-in and move-out fee."

Staging will enhance the visibility, whether online or in person," says stager Debbie DeMarais, founder of DeMarais HOME STAGING + DESIGN. She was born in Clovis, but lived in London, Seattle and Los Angeles before settling in Santa Fe in 2005. "I can't imagine somebody choosing not to stage a home because they want to save a couple thousand dollars, $5000 or whatever. We can get a return of 10 — 20% more. It is a factor for all homes."

Using feng shui techniques, DeMarais works on both vacant and occupied homes. When it's the latter, she says, "I repurpose furniture from one room to another, if it makes sense. I restyle the furniture, so it is more open, more accessible, more inviting." Regarding the homeowners, she says, "I give them instructions on how to live in it [after it is staged]. Get storage bins and put all your personal items in there when you have a showing, and put them in a closet or the garage. After the showing, take them back out."

Currently working on a dozen projects, DeMarais stages about two to three dozen homes a year. She also offers interior design services, color consulting and project management. Her specialty? "A soft contemporary style." She will sell her staging to a buyer who falls in love with it, as well as consult with homeowners on window treatments, paint colors, flooring and remodels.

As for trends, DeMarais advises, "Stay away from gray in Santa Fe, unless you have a brand new, very contemporary home and everything is gray. Our homes and lighting in Santa Fe are in a much warmer tone. If there's Saltillo tile, then cream tones, blues, oranges, reds work well. Use those accents and keep the furnishings very neutral. A lot of homes in Santa Fe have Saltillo tile, so you have to work with it, but don't mix it with gray because you're mixing warm tones with cool tones."

Stager Sarah Sheer of Softstage Santa Fe says, "When you respond to the architecture, then the buyers can go, 'Wow! This is Santa Fe. This is how you work with an adobe wall. This is how you work with diamond plaster.' It really educates the buyer." Currently working with a dozen homes, Sheer estimates she stages about 120 homes a year, most of them listed for over a million dollars. "My style is classic contemporary. I do not do mid-century modern. I can do Southwest, even back to Georgia O'Keeffe effect."

Sheer moved from Pennsylvania to Santa Fe in 2018. She has a background in interior design, graphic design and fine art painting. In describing her approach, she says, "It's an aesthetic. It's a poetry. It's more of an emotional, creative response." She does not sell her staging inventory and prefers to stage an empty home. She says if a home is occupied, "What I like to do is go in with red, yellow and green stickies. Red means it stays; I can work with this. Yellow means maybe. Green: it has to go."

Sheer's ideal environment? "I like a very soft, neutral palette," she says. "I love linen and wools and down-filled everything. Soft and elegant, yet casual. You're not afraid to sit down on it." Sheer, who also offers interior design consulting, charges $400 to $500 per staged room per month, with a two-month minimum. She recently staged the VIP and VIPP tents at the Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta.

Staging Coaches: Three stagers who shine at transforming homes