Getting Started
Updated: Nov 12, 2020
Hi, Harmony here. We are so incredibly grateful for all of the ways you have supported our business! And we’re excited to announce our brand new blog! We can’t wait to share all of our favorite tips + tricks with you along with inspiration, decor, and more! I wanted to start by sharing how Renew Home Staging + Design came to be.
I have always been interested in design, even as a little girl. I would beg my mom to help me change my room around or do new wallpaper, bedding, and decor: anything that I could do to switch things up in there!
When I started college, I thought about studying interior design, but it always seemed a little daunting. I took a couple of classes and liked them, but school wasn’t necessarily my thing, and I soon found myself getting married and starting a family. I’ve loved every single minute of being a mother and wife. As a young family, we moved to Ohio for my husband to go to dental school. Again, I found myself enjoying decorating nurseries and my children’s rooms, and with that came people asking for help with theirs.
Fast forward 15 years, and we moved to Salt Lake due to my husband’s job change. A few years prior, I had driven through the beautiful neighborhood of Harvard Yale and dreamt of owning a home in this area. When the opportunity arose for us to transition to the city, I decided we should look for a house there! We stumbled upon a 1926 Tudor that needed a full renovation. The minute I walked through the doors, I knew I was home. My husband, on the other hand, thought that I was crazy! Walking through, I shared with him the vision I had, and he began to see the potential as well. We decided to make an offer on the home, and a week later, after finding out that there were multiple other offers, we were selected to purchase the home.
And then the fun part began! My husband (who has an architect background) drew up plans, we hired a contractor, and I started planning the design. The home took nine months to renovate, and I truly loved every minute of the planning process. I gave so much thought to every little detail that went in the home, and in the end, it paid off. The project turned out incredible as it was a custom, well thought out, beautiful home. At the same time this home renovation project was going on I was contemplating what I wanted to do with the next chapter of my life. My children were getting older and in school, and I knew I needed something to fulfill my goals and passions.
I began exploring interior design as a profession and reached out to a local designer who let me shadow her a few times and learn more about the process of design work.
It was during that time that I decided I was going to pursue a career in the design field. A few years before that, I had helped a friend stage homes she was flipping at the time. Lanee’ was a realtor and investor: purchasing homes and rehabbing them. She had asked me to help her stage a home she was converting because she knew that I had a knack for it and wanted my advice, and she knew the benefits that staging a home could bring.
The success of this past project with Lanee’ combined with my current desire for a design career, led me to reach out to her and ask if she would ever be interested in starting a staging company. Lanee’ had recently had her 6th child to complete her family of 8! Yes, eight children! Four are hers, two are his, and they had two together. For some crazy reason, she agreed to partner, and thus, Renew Home Staging + Design was born!
Fortunately, because of Lanee’s real estate background and already having some staging inventory, we were able to put our name out there to a few realtors. They hired us to do a few small stages, and then about three months after starting our business, we were asked to stage a 10,000 square-foot home!! There was some furniture in the house, but the realtor wanted us to update the space with more modern furnishings, decor, and rugs. We felt in over our heads but were able to navigate our way through that first big stage! It turned out excellent, and the client was so happy. From there, we started getting referrals, and six months later, we had a full-fledged staging business with a pretty incredible reputation. Since I was a stay at home mom for most of my adult life, starting a business was a big task. There’ve been many learning curves along the way, and to this day, we are still growing and learning. I looked back at the woman I was at age 20 who had a passion for something, but my immature mind doubted myself. It wasn’t until 15 years later that I got the courage to go out of my comfort zone and chase something that has always been a dream.
I would say to my daughters to not hold back on what you want in life, and also to know that dreams and passions can change, and that’s okay. You can be and do ALL the things if that’s what you desire. We could not have gotten where we are right now without each other, our amazing husbands, our beautiful children, our friends, and clients who have supported us in this journey!
We’d love to hear from you! Feel free to leave any comments or questions below.
