1 Year of HSA

1 Year of HSA

By Paloma Harrington-Griffin, HSA

It feels like it was yesterday but it has been a year now. I had left an install in South Kensington and was on my way to another one in West London. The journey seemed endless and I decided to search for home staging information, courses and networking events. To my surprise, there wasn’t much going on. Some interior design events here, an online course there… and no place to turn to for more than that. Dissatisfied with what I (did not) find, suddenly it hit me: if there isn’t a Home Staging Association for me to turn to, perhaps I should start one! “It will be fun”, I thought. “Fun” would certainly be an interesting choice of word to describe the journey so far but it definitely hasn’t been boring. Suddenly, working mornings, evenings and weekends became the norm to get the Association off the ground, whilst managing installations in my “real job” all across London during the day. “What if we could all see each other as colleagues rather than competitors?”, “what if I can get UK-based data on Home Staging?”, “what if we could have events for everyone to learn more about the industry?”… Several “what if’s” later, the Home Staging Association was born in April 2018. Shortly after, the Home Staging Report was launched, the first members joined us (thank you!), we became an IAHSP affiliate, and organised our first event. From an idea born inside a bus to what is now a 70+ members engaged community, with 30k+ monthly views on our website and social media accounts – all of that in less than one year (and counting!). Fun AND exciting! I am thrilled on a daily basis every time I see our members exchanging tips on our closed group, or when I hear a property developer commenting on our Home Staging Report saying “yes, home staging definitely helps!”. We have accomplished so much but the best is yet to come. The seeds we are sowing today as an Association and as part of this beautiful community will be the triumph of the Home Staging Industry as a whole tomorrow, and I can’t wait for all of us to reap it. Together. The Home Staging Association has just launched its new website and has now expanded to Ireland, too. We are growing to keep on helping and supporting you, so thank you for allowing us to do so and for being by our side during this challenging yet incredible journey. Together we are stronger and I hope our community will continue to grow just like that. Thank you!