Feature Friday – Staging Calgary

Yvonne Laanstra is an educator, an energizer and the creative mind behind the award-winning, Canada-based home staging company, Staging Calgary.

With a strong passion for design, color and art, she started her home staging company Staging Calgary in 2006. Yvonne knows what it takes to make any property appeal to potential buyers and guides her clients through the preparation process with lots of positive energy.

“After finalizing my Interior Decorating certificate at the University of Calgary, I choose my staging course through CSP, to get a clear focus for my business. I was able to start right after.”

Yvonne is known for her clear (but kind) communication skills, eye for detail, and outstanding customer service. She has the ability to instantly see the true beauty and potential of every home she walks into and translates that vision into a strategic home staging plan.

“Every day is different, every client and every home. Being able to offer the advice needed, to make the most chaotic time in a home seller’s life, more streamlined and successful, with amazing success, is the best thing.”

Yvonne has been an active member of the Real Estate Staging Association® since 2010 and most recently was voted into the Top 10 Best Enhanced Occupied Home Stager Of The Year Canada and 100 Real Estate Staging Industry’s Most Influential People for the 2021 RESA Home Staging Industry Awards®

Photos provided by Staging Calgary

Learn more about Yvonne:

My motto is…

Live out loud

I am…

A mother of two tall redheads, wife to my high school sweetheart, avid hiker and outdoor enthusiast, and a staging expert.

Good staging should…

Feel as if you did not stage. Where every room is so beautiful and comfortable, people can instantly see what the home has to offer.

Before I was staging…

I was living in the Netherlands and with my immigration to Canada vowed that I would never work in an office again. Mission accomplished!

Photos provided by Staging Calgary

My morning ritual is…

A glass of water with lemon, an hour on my bike for a workout, and after my shower get to work!

My favorite meal after a long day of staging is…

Oven-roasted vegetables.

My go to staging accessory is…

Greenery.

Who is your role model and why?

My role model is my husband. He keeps calm in a storm, is analytic when I see chaos, and he is the best friend anybody can wish for.

Photos provided by Staging Calgary

When you are in a rut creatively where do you go or what do you do to get out of it?

I go to the mountains where everything is majestic and large. I feel like a dot on the map and the mountains are so vast and glorious. All the colors work, there is so much balance, nothing is out of place or costs money. It is my reset button and after conquering a mountain, other things are doable and seem much smaller.

Would you rather stage an occupied listing or vacant?

Occupied any day.

My number one goal this year is…

Expand my client base and finish my new website.

Right now I am obsessed with…

My Peleton bike.

Photos provided by Staging Calgary

When I am not working I enjoy…

Climbing the Rocky Mountains, painting pictures or journal with watercolors.

My personal aesthetic is…

Clean-lined, fresh, and bright.

What do you think about when you are alone in your car?

I am thankful that I am on my way to a new client, that I drive a great car, and am proud of the business I created.

What part of owning your own business is the least enjoyable for you and why?

Taxes. I am not a numbers person and the lingo in bookkeeping and taxes makes me doubt things. I have a great bookkeeper!

You can find out more about Yvonne and her work by visiting https://stagingcalgary.ca/

Joanna Fraley
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