Home staging can elicit an excellent first impression and warm emotions which can compel someone to purchase a home more quickly or for more money than they might have without staging.
The National Association of Realtors conducted a study on staging in 2019 and concluded that 44% of buyers’ agents said that staging a home increased the dollar value offered and 53% of sellers’ agents said that staging a home decreased the amount of time a home spent on the market.
LCI’s member business Chameleon Staging, based in New Orleans, specializes in making vacant spaces feel homey and look exquisite, but owner Lindsey Tassin did not believe that she would be doing this for a living. “I’ve always been interested in interior design and staging, but I didn’t think it was a real-life profession. I thought this is something that people in their mid-20s in a rom-com in New York do; it’s a profession for the movies.”
Designing Woman
Believing that interior design was an unattainable career, Lindsey got a degree in Mass Communications with a concentration in PR and a minor in Business from LSU, but her formal education did not end on her graduation day. “I graduated, and reality hit me like a brick wall. I really wanted to do something that I loved.” Lindsey began looking harder at interior design as a full-time career, and she was surprised to find classes in home design at a different institution. “I got super lucky and found the Interior Design Program at Delgado, and I was the second-to-last class to graduate in it before the program got canceled. If I waited another semester to decide, I probably wouldn’t be doing this. The stars really aligned for me there,” she said with a sigh of relief.
For the Interior Design associate degree, Lindsey was required to intern with accredited designers at small firms with mostly residential and some commercial clients. She felt hopeful that she could hit the ground running after graduation, but yet another brick wall stood in front of her. “When I graduated, the job market was horrible. I got laid off three times in two years. After the third time, I thought that I made a huge mistake. I should go and get an office job and make a decent salary with benefits.”
One Last Try
Just when Lindsey thought about giving up on her dream, she put together a plan to give it one last try by offering a similar, but different service. She explained, “I thought about doing home staging and getting out of residential design. I put together a business plan; looking back on it now, it was very naïve and green. But I was really trying to figure out how to do something with it. I proposed it one of my friends to start a business together, but it just wasn’t the right time for her. Then I was talking to my other friend, a realtor, and she said she needed a home stager. She said that if I wanted to start, I would have two jobs right off the bat. I said, ‘Well, I’m about to give up, so I might as well jump in one last time.’ I’m glad I did because those two jobs catapulted me to other jobs!”
Lindsey quickly started growing her client list after those first few jobs, and she has maintained a steady flow of work ever since by building relationships within the realty and new construction communities. “It’s been growing, growing, growing ever since almost to the point where I say I can’t believe this. There are not a lot of home stagers in New Orleans, so I think that helped. I got lucky, but I also did work very hard. And I’m still grinding it out. There are some days when I come home and put down my purse, sink into the couch, and I’m like, ‘Wow. I have just sat down for the first time since 6:30 AM.’” She sources many of her pieces from second-hand stores like the Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore and The Occasional Wife. She continued, “This means I end up with interesting pieces that you can’t find in a basic department store.”
Chameleon Staging is so sought after because of the effectiveness of Lindsey’s technique: she designs for the house in order to show off its best assets like unique architectural features and gorgeous views which help people imagine what their lives could look like if they lived there. She said, “I try to focus on what architectural features are already in the home and what I can emphasize and try to bring attention to that using the furniture layout or a fake plant in the corner. I’ve even staged a closet before. It was a huge master closet that was built out beautifully, but it had this dead corner. I thought I could put a vanity there to showcase not just how beautiful the home was, but how it could be designed and lived in.”
Much like the animal that Lindsey’s business is named after, Chameleon Staging adapts seamlessly. Lindsey is increasingly being called upon to choose fixtures and finishes in homes by builders. Her Interior Design education certainly comes in handy for making these permanent design decisions. “In interior design, form follows function. If it makes your life inconvenient or if it doesn’t flow with the space, then there’s no point in doing it. For staging, I’m really focusing on the realty pictures and how it’s going to showcase and present to help the seller get top dollar.” Chameleon Staging’s services are priced per the square footage of the staged areas only which typically ranges from a total of $1,200 to $1,600. That investment can pay off in the end when your home is sold faster or for more money.
The Personal Touch
You don’t have to be an expertly trained interior designer to make your space look and feel good. Lindsey admittedly has “weird, eclectic tastes,” but your space is supposed to represent you. She continued, “Interior design is so personal. My house doesn’t match at all. I’ve got a snake-print rug, a floral-colored chair, and a grey West Elm sectional. But they’re pieces that I like and feel comfortable in. Your house doesn’t have to be some cookie-cutter Vogue Magazine spread. As long as when you walk in you feel connected to everything, that’s what is important. Get funky!”
Lindsey is often inspired by the city of New Orleans in her work, and she’s happy to spend time just soaking up culture. “I have a wonderful boyfriend, and there are days where we just walk all day long. Sometimes we walk from the CBD all the way back home to the Bywater. That’s the best part about New Orleans: there’s so much architecture to see and so many beautiful houses that you can just spend the day walking around and admiring how beautiful New Orleans is. I definitely take a lot of inspiration from that. The colors of a house, the color of the palmettos… Somehow I’m always working. That’s the good thing about doing what you love. It doesn’t feel like working even when you’re working!”
Chameleon Staging and Interior Design is ready to tackle any design dilemma with poise and personality. “It’s not just home staging. I’m helping set someone’s house where they’re going to live permanently. I’ve also designed AirBNBs, and I do consultation for builders. Home staging is just the tree trunk, and there are many branches that go off of that. Just because I’m a home staging company, don’t feel scared to reach out about other things. Whether I can help you or not, I can probably at least help you get to where you need to go.”
You can learn more about Chameleon Staging at Chameleonhomestaging.com
