As part of our celebration of winning Best of Westchester (BOW) “Best Home Stager,” we’ve chosen to feature some of our never-before-seen, no- and low-cost staging transformations.

In March I receive a call about winning an award. Something about “Best Home Stager” for Westchester County, NY.

After 15 years in business, my first thought is “scam.” Someone’s trying to sell me something.

The caller says he will follow up with an email and snail-mail. When I check my phone a bit later, sure enough, an email has arrived. A few days later, I check my mailbox and there is, what appears to be, a very legitimate letter explaining my win.

The congratulatory letter asks that we do not publicize our win until the subscribers receive their July 2023 issue of the magazine in the last week of June. No problem. I have no idea what I may have won, so not telling anyone is easy.

Was I just one of many home stagers receiving this award? Each for, perhaps, a different category of staging, such as vacant, owner-occupied, or luxury staging? It couldn’t possibly be for the whole kit-and-caboodle, as they say…or could it?

Without doing any research into the awards, and happy to wait until July, I file the letter away, largely forget about it, and get back to business.

When July rolls around and the awards party is being promoted, I check to see if the winners have been posted online. To my surprise, I find that I am the only winner in the category of Home Stager. Cool. Maybe this is for real.

It is only two months later, when speaking with one of my agent partners, that I think to inform him of my win. He tells me that he knows. Great! He then proceeds to tell me that it is a “big deal.” Oh, wow! Even better.

He also shares that he voted for me and that he and his business partner figured that I had no idea about being nominated. He’s correct. I had no idea about the awards, what they meant, let alone that I was nominated.

As with most things, once you become aware of something like the “Best of Westchester” gold badge, you start to see it everywhere—in ads, restaurants, stores, billboards, and signs. I’m learning that I’m in good company.

Awards are funny things. I’ve never cared enough about them to make them a focus. As a matter of fact, I thought the only way to win an award in the home staging industry was to seek it.

It’s a wonderful feeling to win something totally out of the blue, without having to apply for the award or fret about the process. I’m not sure if I’ll ever find out who nominated me, but I’m grateful. And now, of course, the person who was never interested in winning awards wants to win again next year. Lol!

If you’ve read this far, thank you and please enjoy a sampling of transformations not previously featured on this blog.

These no- and low-cost transformations led to fast sales and prices that exceeded as much as $80k-$250k over asking. The results you see are based on an initial 3-5 hour Stage to Profit® working session with AtWell Staged Home with most homes requiring little to no follow-up.

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