“Staging” for a low-income housing development – #3 and counting!

Posted on 02 January 2009

At the tail end of 2008 I completed my third “Staging” job for a developer of low income housing developments. If you read my posts about Staging 1 & Staging 2, you will realize that these are really more interior design than Staging jobs. Our goal was not to “sell” these places to the residents, but rather to make the common rooms warm and inviting, as well as functional for relaxing, watching TV, having meetings & classes and using the computer.

Job #3 was Hobart Heights in downtown Los Angeles. This is the flagship building for this developer, so it had to look great. The building was designed in a contemporary Art Deco style, so we chose furnishings and art that fit with this theme. This building had 2 main living spaces and a couple of ancillary areas, like entries and hallways that needed to be Staged. The first was the Common Room which is used for watching TV and having occasional meetings, as well as just hanging out. The second was the Learning Center, which included a desk area for 3 workstations, a conference table for courses provided by the facility, and an area for kids to play while their parents attend these courses.

These jobs are huge projects for us, requiring the coordination of several different vendors so that all the furniture, art and accessories arrive on time and in are put in the proper place. We also have to assemble some of the pieces on-site (especially the office furniture), which is a labor intensive process. This project in particular had its share of challenges (the first being “the case of the moldy sofa” which I will cover in my next post!).

Below are my photos of the end result. Stay tuned for my next post to hear more details of our challenges on this job.

Common Room