Category Archives: Seasonal Fare

Pre NYNOW Trends Should Inform Stagers Of First Time Buyers.

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NY Now Pre PlanningEvery summer, I drag myself through the heat and humidity to Javits Convention Center for NYNOW’s summer market. This year is August 16 – 19, 2015. It’s a huge convention center, filled to bursting with fresh, colorful ideas. Trends are laid out for you in glorious 3 dimensional technicolor and it. is. exhausting!  I love it. I completely love it, but I have to start working out for it months in advance.

Interesting, this year in the promotional materials they are talking a lot about the changing customer base in terms of lifestyle.  My ears pricked immediately. That is one of our signatures at Amazing Spaces NYC – home staging, yes, but more accurately, Lifestyle Marketing. Millenials’ more casual lifestyle (than their BabyBoomer parents) is altering the retail landscape.  Which one would expect, it’s just fun when everyone sits up and notices how.  How many Boomers do you know who are just now starting to downsize and finally stop acquiring things?  As the youngest of that generation sends their last kid off to college, a new era is emerging.  And, the more The Gift And Decor industry writes about the Millennials, the more I realize that this is vital intel for home stagers as we prepare homes for sale for younger or first time buyers.

Gifting Trends Derive From Millennials Lifestyle

Millennials are becoming known as the ‘Cut The Cord Generation’. Gone for them are phone wires, audio system cables, TV plugs, TV in general!  Since they carry their life and memories around on a phone, they don’t need or photo frames so much anymore.  In terms of gift giving, according to a recent study commissioned by Gift and Decorative Accessories magazine Picture Frames are becoming less popular, as are candles.

Home staging no nos for new buyers

To do a centerpiece of candles used to be pretty. Not so any longer. Now, an aromatherapy mister in the kitchen would be more on trend.

Toys, games and puzzles are popular again, as is anything handmade. It’s not just Panera excited about “Artisanal” – “Handmade” is huge. In fact, NYNOW will have a whole separate section on handmade items and exhibit hours specifically for that part of the Gift and Decor convention. 632 of the show’s 2,600+ exhibitors come from the Artisan space.

Trends in 2015 gift giving - wooden games

 

Other items trending are bar-ware. This is not surprising when you consider that the Millennials feel a strong affinity for the 50s, mid-century modern and all things ‘Mad Men’.  Cocktails and the stuff to stir, shake and pour are all the rage. Actually, is this particularly new?  Apparently it’s THE hot trend in giftware right now, but hasn’t Pottery Barn been selling these items since [their] Day One?

PB Tools and Accessories

 

When we think of first time buyers, we need to keep in mind, those folks are Millennials, and they’re a generation that is starting to be well-defined. They are starting to have enough of their own money that they set trends all by themselves.  Anything that appeals to them in general is what we should be staging with whenever they’re the target market.

Now, lest you worry whether I’ve incorporated any of these trends yet, let me remind you of a recent staging we had great success with –>

home staging success

Happy summer!  Looking forward to bringing you some sizzling ideas from #NYNOW.

Gifts, Giving and Gratitude

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Giving for the Holidays

The Holidays Season and upcoming New Year celebration are a great time to reflect on how you, as a person, have contributed to the world that surrounds you.  I am very fortunate: a wonderful husband, an intelligent and talented daughter, a lovely home in the city and a country get-away, and a successful business that continues to grow year after year.  Perhaps the things that bring me the most joy, though, are the “give’backs”.    Giving back to those in need, to research, to our community and to our world – there is truly nothing that can compare.

In his book “You Don’t Have To Die To Go To Heaven”, Derrick Sweet identifies 3  types of giving:

  1. Basic Giving
  2. Anonymous Giving
  3. Heavenly Giving

The difference between the 3 types is the level of anonymity.  With Basic Giving, everyone knows you did it.  The recipient thanks you.  You look good, feel good and maybe the receiver even tells someone else how nice you were.

 Anonymous Giving is giving without the title.  You send back the donation card with your credit card info but ask not to be listed in the thank you column by your name. You are still seen to be a generous, good soul by the person or charity since they see your name on the check.

But the truly selfless way to give back is by being a Heavenly Giver, an act in which nobody knows you are the giver and you don’t know the receiver.  Not to sound holier than thou, but this kind of gifting is actually a lot of fun. You feel really good, inside and outside.  It is the most pure form of giving, and I cannot think of a better time of year to be a Heavenly Giver than the holidays.

At my daughter’s school, I am part of a small group of moms who deliver food to families that are experiencing a hardship, be it financial or physical.  We remain anonymous, dropping off bags of prepared dinners with a doorman.  It is such a simple task yet it makes all the difference to a member of our community who is dealing with a very serious condition.  My family has also “adopted” inner city families for the holidays and played Santa Claus, buying and wrapping presents from their “wish lists” and delivering them to the principal at the school their children attend.  On Christmas morning, I often think of these children – children I have never met – and hope the presents under the tree told them how special they are. Because they ARE special!

I feel like Charlie Brown sometimes. When I see all of the decorations and the Black Friday sales and the commercialism of Christmas, it puts such a damper on the true meaning of this joyous occasion.  But acts of giving and kindness put it all back in perspective.   It does not have to center around a financial commitment.  Something as simple as helping a blind woman and her caregiver, a German shepherd named Lady (who is turning 4) to the Shuttle train platform at 42nd Street/Times Square can make the heart of even the meanest of Grinches grow twice as big.

Wishing everyone a very blessed holiday season filled with laughter, love and giving!

home staging NYC