While most people have heard of the kind of work I do, design and home staging work is personal. It can go in dozens of directions in the blink of an eye, defying most attempts to easily define,  explain what it is, or how it could work.

I’m a big fan of analogies: Explaining something new or not understood by connecting it to something that is known, understood, even loved, and POOF! And the more eye-catching, fun, or incongruous, the better!

Collaboration is IMO one of the most productive, highest, and most rewarding forms of professional interactions there is. To explain how this approach can be loose, fun, and impactful in design and home staging work,  I invoke the much-loved Carpool Karaoke segments James Corden did on The Late Show.

Cheeky, adorable, and absolutely incorrigible, James first ran with Carpool Karaoke as a skit on a 2011 BBC special. It became a regular segment when he joined The Late Show.

From Gwen to Gaga to First Lady Michelle  Obama-he’s tooled around with some of the best. It’s won him critical and popular acclaim.  Fans have rated these segments. They’ve won him an Emmy, and Apple bought the rights in 2016. So it was a big deal and a fan favorite.

Here are three things that make Carpool Karaoke, design work and home staging projects work: 

1. It’s real. 

Design, listing prep, and the karaoke segments all take time and planning. Good design choices still make you happy years later. Well-prepared properties sell quickly and well.  James’ “All I Want for Christmas” segment is brilliant. Paul McCartney’s 23-minute drive around is imperfect but real, logging almost 100M views on YouTube in a few months.

• In design work, give yourself time, and trust your instincts. It’s circuitous. There’ll be zigs and zags, you’ll re-evaluate and refine. But start by knowing what’s in your heart. Embrace what you love/want, and why you love and want it.  That will be the foundation for all good decisions.
• If you’re selling-remember very few people live in white-on-white-on-white sterile and perfect houses. You want your property to show its best, but don’t get tangled up in what’s not real or possible. Buyers get authentic. Just keep the focus on what you can do, then do it.

2.  Simple is good. Familiar resonates.

Singing along together in the car is a joyful, universal experience from toddlerhood to spring break and family vacations.  Familiar touches will engage and open the heart, making it easier for even the most reticent parties to participate.

• In design work, simple and familiar gets you to user-friendly, which gets you to the core of everything important plus clear communications, YAY YAY YAY results, and the happiest clients.

Home staging is a normal, logical, and practical process,

• Buyers need to see spaces as expected. (i.e. no home office in the DR).  The use of color and props help connect the dots and demonstrate value
• When sellers can see their property as buyers do, easier to prioritize, tie tasks to ROI and their abilities/resources.

The simpler and more familiar tends to make for a more user-friendly experience and result.  Yes, James Corden has staffers and editors as guardrails. You have home professionals who, once vetted, will have your back.

3.  Collaboration is a beautiful thing

Collaboration yields good results, and can create a magical energy for the collaborators. Mutual respect and shared goals

IMO the best collaborations are rooted in mutual respect. Rarely does any one person possess all the information, the good ideas, or the talent.

No one talks about the cars in Carpool Karaoke… and I doubt the sofa, or the dining room table will be what’s remembered after a Super Bowl party, or at the closing table. The things are just…things that frame the experience, or the function. Relax, and have a good time!! Working with THR just helps you choose well, so you get on with the rest of your life!