Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Laura Bohn. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Laura, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?

1. Multifunctional Spaces

Ever since the pandemic, many homeowners are adapting to a work-from-home lifestyle. Extra guest bedrooms are being turned into an office space, living rooms with open shelving can be used as a library and formal dining rooms and formal living rooms are also being transformed into larger offices, meaning these areas may eventually become extinct.

Flex rooms have also become a huge staging and design trend, stemming from the work-from-home lifestyle. We are seeing flex rooms being used as workout rooms, yoga and meditation rooms, game rooms and craft rooms!

2. Outdoor Spaces
With more time being spent at home nowadays, creating that “wow” patio or outdoor space for entertaining has been a big trend in 2021 and 2022. Many people are updating their outdoor furniture, adding plants, creating a garden or even making it a dream oasis with a pool and outdoor kitchen.

3. Bringing the Exterior… In

Spending more time at home now than ever has people realizing the importance of bringing natural elements not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. Connecting with nature makes us feel more at home, and greenery is all the trend right now in 2022. In fact, Sherwin Williams 2022 Color of the Year was Evergreen Fog (SW – 9130). Many are using this color in their bathrooms, as an accent wall, or for their kitchen cupboards or island! Green hues bring tranquility and rejuvenation into a space. If paint isn’t enough, using airy floral stems in a vase or a natural peel and stick wallpaper are also great trending ways to bring a naturist feel into your home.

Laura, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Five Star Stagings was established in 2017 and how we got here today was a bit unusual. Before starting a home staging company I worked as a Radiology Technician for 3 years for Twin Cities Orthopedics, a complete 180 from home staging. I dreaded going to work every day and was very limited with my creative abilities. I knew that the medical field wasn’t for the long haul, but it took that career to lead me in the right direction to my passion in home staging and design.

A lot happened in my last year of working as a Radiology Technologist. My sister met a lady at a vendor fair that did staging on the side and told me that’s what I should be doing. I knew that was the ticket! So I went back to school to get certified in home staging. At the end of 2017 I will never forget calling my mom to break the news that I was quitting my job on the first of the year in 2018, getting rid of my condo and that I wanted to move back home to start my own home staging company. And that’s exactly what happened. I took a leap of faith and risked everything to start something I was unsure of. I picked up 3 serving jobs to pay the bills until I established enough realtor and builder partnerships to do staging full-time.

My mom stepped in from the beginning to help me stage homes and grow the business — it was a mother-daughter duo! I started building my inventory of furniture and accessories in my parents basement. Then one thing led to another and we moved to 3 large storage units. Once we grew out of that we moved into our first warehouse space of 2,000 sq. ft, which was a huge game changer in our efficiency and how we operated. At that time I also hired my first home stager, Jennifer, who is still with us to this day.

Fast forward to today and I now have a growing team of myself, 2 talented home stagers and designers (Jennifer and Cheryl) and our operations manager (Josh). With the expanding team came expanding into our recently new warehouse space of 6,000 sq. ft! We now stage roughly 20-30 homes at a time and continue to best serve our clients in the sale of their home.

Five Star Stagings specializes in vacant staging as we have a warehouse and own all of our furnishings and accessories. We also offer occupied and design consultations. We are known for our brand and making homes feel like home, more than “staged”. We have been published in multiple magazines, are one of Star Tribune’s MN Best and take pride in the design and service we provide to our clients.

Home staging creates a solution for potential buyers by giving them a frame of reference for their own belongings. We are able to see an empty room and visualize its potential, so buyers can see themselves living in that space. Staging is also key to marketing a home online at its fullest potential. We’ve all seen the homes on the MLS that are dirty, have clothes all over the floor, etc that make it not visually appealing. We make it pretty and sophisticated, and distract from the negative architectural features of a home. We know what sells homes!

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I have found that growing my social media platforms and going into real estate offices to make personal connections with realtors was the best thing to do to grow my client base and get our name out there. Consistency is key with growing a following on social media and it takes a lot of time and effort, but ultimately your followers want to see what you are doing and what’s new in your business. I have attended many realtor events, networking seminars, done office presentations, you name it! Basically anything I could to get in front of more people that could use or benefit from our services.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I have learned from previous jobs how NOT to treat your employees. I’ve been through many bad experiences with management and unfairness, and if I’m being honest, it’s taught me that your employees mean everything. You cannot run a successful business without a good team behind you. I believe in a positive work environment and creating an atmosphere that people want to come to every day.

Acts of kindness also goes a long way when managing a team, and I like to show my appreciation whenever I can because at the end of the day it’s a team effort. Lastly, I think being organized and efficient is crucial to managing a team. There is nothing worse than being unorganized and not being able to do or enjoy your job. At Five Star Stagings, we are extremely organized and everybody knows their role in the company, which makes us have the best customer service to all of our realtor partners, builders, investors, and home sellers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fivestarstagings.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/five_star_stagings/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FiveStarStagings/