We had the good fortune of connecting with Holly Sherman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Holly, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
I think when many people think of home staging they really only consider the design component. Beyond the design service we essentially provide rental services. While some in the industry may rent their furniture for each job, we keep multiple homes worth of furniture in a local warehouse for us to source from during each engagement. We’ve found that this better allows us to control the quality of the product and makes sure we’re able to deliver on the design concepts we share with our customers. In fact, the inventory component is what makes the industry so challenging. Beyond sourcing the warehouse space (we currently keep a little over 1,000 sq ft), we have to maintain a smart, beautiful and durable inventory that can keep up with changing trends and provide a return on investment. We have worked hard to build an inventory that we feel is versatile enough to compliment multiple architectural styles and allows us to serve all kinds of clients. We do our best to meticulously plan our designs to best utilize our inventory – but it’s always inevitable to have a new project come along and wish a certain showerstopper piece wasn’t sitting in the living room of another house across town. 

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Staging is an art that has many parts but seeks to do one thing more than any other – allow someone to see themselves, their lives, happening before them in the space you’ve created. You want to be able to create spaces that people can connect to on an emotional level – whether it’s seeing where they’d rock their newborn to sleep or where they’ll watch their next 1000 movies. I think what sets my work apart is my focus on creating those little moments. Homes can be big and furniture can be overwhelming – I like to try to use smaller details to draw someone in and make them see the moment. I love playing with pillows, books, ceramics, etc – accent pieces that draw you in and make it feel unique for an individual. Accentuating that and explaining that value isn’t always easy. I think we feel like seeing is believing, but working to create new partnerships will always be our biggest challenge.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Having grown up in the Phoenix suburbs and eventually returning back to the city, but living near downtown, Phoenix has really grown. The brewery scene has exploded in recent years and we’d be sure to do a tour of some of our local favorites, Wren House Brewing Company, AZ Wildneress and Greenwood Brewing – Greenwood always happen to woman owned and operated! When it comes to food, I think Phoenix really shines with Mexican food, and – strangely enough – pizza. Honestly we could spend more than a week exploring our favorites, but Barrio Cafe and Pizzeria Bianco would both be highlights. And of course – we can’t forget dessert. We love a local spot called Nami that makes what amounts to a vegan blizzard and they’re not to be missed!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
In terms of day to day inspiration it’s hard to top Amber Lewis (Amber Interiors). She has a confidence to her style that is infectious. However, on a personal level, no one provided me more guidance than Jess Taylor from Taylor & Taylor in Los Angeles. I was a Wedding Coordinator early in my career, but deep down I knew I had a passion for design and interiors. Staging was always most attractive because of the opportunity to work with a blank canvas – and when I finally made the career leap, Jess was the first one there to catch me and provide me with first-class, hands-on experience.

Website: www.simplystagedphx.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplystagedphx/?hl=en

Image Credits
Photographer Amanda Bernard.

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