When the business is slow, it’s easy to panic and to get distracted by shiny new ideas, such as launching new passive income revenue streams. We recommend that you spend your down time working on your current business rather than starting something new. We all want a quick financial reward, but we’ve learned (sometimes the […]

If you’ve hired us for staging, or simply follow us on Instagram, you know that we stay pretty classic when it comes to our larger staging inventory. The most important qualities in furniture for our own homes are not necessarily the most important qualities for our staging inventory. While we still look for pieces that […]

One of our biggest challenges starting out was the division of responsibilities among the team. Initially we would divide administrative tasks, such as phone and e-mail responses, between the team based on days of the week. And I have to say, there was nothing worse than texting each other every single time we had a […]

My favorite kitchen accessory for staging is a cutting board, no question. We typically pack 2-3 cutting boards for each project, but honestly I’m not sure you can have too many cutting boards. They are both functional and stylish and really pop against the kitchen backsplash (or hide an ugly backsplash). You don’t need to […]

Nothing creates a bad first impression quite like an overwhelming odor in the home. Whether it’s pet odors, lingering smoke or a damp, musky basement, it’s important to address odors in advance of listing your home. You may not notice the smell in your own home, so it’s important to have an impartial party, like […]

Melinda and I recently returned from the annual Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) convention in Las Vegas. We had an amazing time learning the latest industry trends, catching up with our staging peers and finding ways to grow and scale our business. Not only that, we were recognized within the industry for our vacant staging […]

Melinda and I started Olive + Opal in 2017 and were a two-woman operation for the first two years. We didn’t have a timeline to expand our team initially, but we knew we would eventually have to hire additional employees to accommodate our growth. Was it scary, absolutely! We really tried to keep our operating […]

Styling shelves is hard. Styling extra large and deep shelves is super hard! The biggest mistake that we see when styling large shelves is using décor that is too small. It’s really important to use the right scale of pieces to achieve an expertly styled shelf so shop big. Here are our top tips for […]

One of our top pieces of advice during our pre-sale consultations is to depersonalize the property by removing personal effects. The goal is to present the property so that a potential buyer can picture themselves in the space and family photos and possessions can be a distraction. That being said, do we recommend that a […]

Melinda and I try to be very open and forthcoming about our journey starting Olive + Opal. There have been successes and struggles along the way and we continue to face new opportunities and challenges as we grow. We would do many things differently, but overall we are proud of our accomplishments and would do […]