Mastering the Art of Real Estate with Ashley Provost Design, Bay Area Stager

Ashley was raised in Walnut Creek, CA.  After attending UC Berkeley, she lived in Europe for 2 years, traveling and gathering inspiration from cities that still inspire her most today.  She returned to the East Bay Area, where she found a renewed appreciation for the classic California interior design style and began working at Pottery Barn for 2 years before working under a prominent local stager/designer. Ashley Provost Design was launched in 2010, her fifth year in the staging industry, with only a laptop, small storage space, and a vision of a staging company that would embrace friendly, easy service while maximizing the sale of clients' most important investment of their lives, their homes. Today, she prides herself in doing business overwhelmingly by referral, working with many of the best realtors in the business, as well as countless homeowners who she has come to call friends.  She was recently voted one of the Top 100 Most Influential Stagers nationwide. Ashley lives in Danville with her longtime partner, Dean.  She is passionate about 2 charities in particular, One Warm Coat and Helping Hands.

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About Mastering the Art of Real Estate

Whether you are a Real Estate Advisor or an entrepreneur with a service, product, or brand, this podcast is for you. As busy professionals juggling countless ideas and tasks, Mastering the Art of Real Estate brings you valuable conversations with guests just like you — from real estate advisors and financial planners to stagers, interior designers, coaches, tech start-up CEOs, and lifestyle experts.  Our goal is to inspire and empower you to take what you learn and apply it to elevate your own business. 

If you would like to connect with our guest, or be introduced to a Real Estate Advisor in your area, please reach out.

And if you are looking to buy or sell in the San Francisco East Bay, or LA, contact Debbi @ [e-mail] | 510.414.6777

To be considered for Debbi's Podcast, Mastering the Art of Real Estate, or to make suggestions who you'd like to see on her show, please reach out to Chase Betta @ [e-mail] or directly to Debbi DiMaggio @ [e-mail]

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Welcome to Mastering the Art of Real Estate. I'm your host,
Debbie Demagio. Today we are here with Ashley Provost Design.
Ashley Provost is her name, and what I'm excited most
about today is I actually know Ashley very well. A
lot of my guests over the last year were people
I had never met, So today it's going to be
really fun. Although I know Ashley, I really don't know

(01:01):
her whole history. So I'm going to learn a lot
along with you today. So let's bring Ashley in.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Hi, Techy, thank you so much for having me. I'm
so excited to be here.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
It's so fun to have you and not just in
passing running around, you know. I usually.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
We're usually in houses talking about paint and rooms, and
it's nice to just get a chance to.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Just chat exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
It's like going out for a cup of coffee a
glass of wine.

Speaker 4 (01:33):
Yeah, iteat exactly. So that's about our favorite topic.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
Exactly exactly. I don't know, after thirty five years, it
still is.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
It's hard to believe.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
I know, well, I kind of always think that people
wouldn't keep it's it's people wouldn't keep doing it for
that long if it wasn't something they were passionate about, right,
you know, I'm so passionate about what I.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Do, absolutely, So let's introduced Ashley. Ashley was raised in
Walnut Creek, California. After attending UC Berkeley, she lived in
Europe for two years, traveling and gathering inspiration from cities
that still inspire her most today. She returned to the
East Bay area, where she found a renewed appreciation for

(02:17):
classic California interior design style and began working a pottery
barn for two years before working under a prominent local
stager and designer. Ashley Provost Design was launched in twenty ten,
her fifth year in the staging industry, with only a laptop,
small storage space, and a vision of a staging company

(02:37):
that would embrace friendly, easy service while maximizing the sales
of clients' most important investment of their lives, their homes. Today,
she prides herself in doing business overwhelmingly by referral, working
with many of the best realtors in the business, as
well as countless homeowners who she has come to call friends.
She was recently voted one of the top one hundred

(02:58):
most influential stages nationwide. Ashley lives in Danville with her
longtime partner Dean. She is passionate about two charities in particular,
one Warm Coat and Helping Hands. Well, welcome, so.

Speaker 4 (03:12):
Exciting to have you so much.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Why did the journey? Because you know I would see
I see you from time to time when you come
in and meet with my client and I and we
talk once in a while, and obviously we see each
other on social media, but we never get to a
chance to sit down. So I look forward to this
coffee and conversation with you to me. So I always

(03:36):
like to I know, I always like to start. I
think a lot of times people want to get into
certain businesses and they want to know how. So I
always feel it's really these days everyone wants to be
a stage or and a designer. It's very very popular.
So how did you get started? You went to college,
you traveled in Europe? How did you get started? And designed?

(03:58):
Did you go to school for design? Tell us your
journey of how you got where you are today.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, I did not go to school for design. I
went to school for Shakespearean literature, which surprisingly actually does
have applications. I use my writing skills and my ability
to articulate quite a bit in our job. But yes,
I lived in Europe for a couple of years after

(04:25):
school and was working for corporation over there, actually in
an American corporation, and when it was time to move home,
I just wanted to change, you know. I was like
not as I was working in business English for that corporation,
and I had always wanted to be a writer, and I,
to be honest, I found it to be a little

(04:46):
solitary and a little too introspective for just the rest
of my life. And I started working at Pottery Barn.
And I had always loved design, but especially when I
was and Prague and I didn't speak the language, I
just devoured the design books and the magazines and really

(05:08):
got so deep into it. And I loved the architecture
there in Prague in particular, there's such a juxtaposition.

Speaker 4 (05:14):
Of modern and.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
Historical buildings, and you can really see a lot in
the architecture in terms of, you know, the change and
the changing of the times, and it just was so
inspiring to me. When I came back, I knew I
wanted to do something.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
Along those lines.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
And I was working at Pottery Barn actually Megan from
my team was my boss there.

Speaker 4 (05:34):
Wow, oh, I know.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
And trying to kind of find my way in the world,
knowing I wanted to be around it, but I didn't
know where or how. And I had a family friend
who still mentor and dear friend who had started staging.

Speaker 4 (05:51):
She had a real turn in the family.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
She had been in different facets of the design world
herself and she had started staging, and I said, well,
what's staging? And I ended up being her first assistant
and working with her for four years, learned so much,
and then started my company in twenty ten. It'll be
our fifteenth birthday next month, so very exciting. And you
can see you so in the bio it says the

(06:14):
shed in the backyard if you go on my Instagram.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
I had the.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Good fortune of getting to go see my little shed
a few months ago when our old house was on
the market and I took a picture and went on
tour and saw it and Dean but my boyfriend built
it for you know, pool noodles or something, and it
was it was the first warehouse, which now I'm in
our warehouse and you can see behind me. I thought
it would be cool to have the background be our warehouse.

(06:39):
You can see people be walking around working back there.
That's the bench section. And now our warehouse is big.
We're thirteen thousand square feet total including mezzanines, which is
not that big considering the.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
Amount of houses we do.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
We're very efficient with space and we keep most of
our homes out. So right now it's pretty full. Right now,
I think we have around fifty homes stage, but usually,
like in the busy season, it's it's around one hundred.

Speaker 4 (07:10):
So so you.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Know they'll be during most of the year there'll maybe
be you know, thirty homes in right and right now
it's it's more it's it's a little tight right now.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
My gosh.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
So let's so you were you started with the shed,
so when you were staged, so when you so people
always would ask me, and you know, when do stagers
own the or do they rent? So when when a
new stager when you started out, or let's talk about
if there's in general other stages and how they work.
Do people do stages rent good furniture and accessories or

(07:48):
do they always own it? And I know today you
own all your stuff, but give us I own everything.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Now, yeah, I think that it depends a lot on
people's financial situation. I certainly I was in my mid
twenties and I absolutely rented. And I thank goodness every
day for the rental company near me, who's also a
good friend.

Speaker 4 (08:11):
Welcome Home. Shout out to Welcome Home. They help.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
The rental companies really helped so many stagers start their businesses.
I could never have done it without a rental company.
So in the beginning, I rented my furniture and I
bought my accessories. Some rental companies will let people rent
their accessories, but it's just few and far between, I
think in terms of what's in your area, and I've

(08:35):
heard different stories. Sometimes people find, you know, depending on
where they're located. Sometimes people find rental places.

Speaker 4 (08:42):
That have great inventory. Some people really struggle to find that.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
And you know, I'm on a lot of national groups
and things with stagers, and it's we're such a new
industry relatively speaking, only about twenty five years old, so
these are all new things. And one thing I would
say is there's not really one standard. Everyone sort of
finds their way, which is why I think it's so
appealing to so many people to get into because you
can really carve out your own way of doing things.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
You could start small, so if anyone's interested, you can out.
You can start small and then you can grow like
you did. So, so you started out with a shed,
and then give us the progression to where you are now.
I mean staging fifty, you know, fifty to.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
One hundred houses.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
How many houses were you staging when you first started?
And how did you feel? Were you were you nervous?
Were you scared? Were you excited? We're am I going
to fail? Am I is it going to work? What
was going through your mind? And how would you, you know,
give us the progression?

Speaker 2 (09:40):
I think I probably should have been more scared than
I was.

Speaker 4 (09:45):
I was in my twenties.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
I was invincible, and you know, quite frankly, I hadn't
really had any major failures in life yet, so I
don't think it occurred to me how I could fall
flat on my fe I also didn't have a lot
of expenses at that time, you know, so for me,
worst case, I moved back in with my parents. No, biggie,

(10:09):
I'm twenty you know, I'm twenty seven.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
Years old, So so I wasn't that scared. What was
what the feeling that I remember was being afraid I
wouldn't be able to fulfill a commitment. That was the
scary part.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
I wasn't really scared of failing myself. I was scared of,
oh my gosh, I promised this house and now I
can't find the bedding at home Goods and they're about
to close or whatever it is. And there were more
than a few times that I pulled things out of
my boyfriend's house.

Speaker 4 (10:45):
We were brand new in.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
This relationship, and I would go into his cabinets and
steal things out of not steal he knew, but pull
things out of the cabinets and he would say.

Speaker 4 (10:54):
Where is that And I was like, well, it's in
a house.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Thankfully he still we're still together and he forgave me.
But every stager knows that story. We've all done it.
And occasionally still I might pull something out of my
house if it's absolutely perfect, but usually goes the other way.
I find something in the warehouse and I say, I
think I'm taking that home. But I think in terms

(11:17):
of how many houses I had staged. So you know,
it was an interesting thing because I came out of
working for the other company, who's wonderful and they were
based in Benetia, which for your viewers that are not local,
is you know, about twenty minutes away from where I
am now in my warehouse, but probably another twenty minutes

(11:37):
to where I ended up moving to in Danville. And
so once I was living in Danville, I really started
getting clients down there, and so the clients that were,
you know, in Benetia, it didn't make as much sense.
So when I started off on my own geographically, it

(11:57):
just kind of made sense. And so I started out
really with some clients that were kind of sticking with
me that I had met over the year prior.

Speaker 4 (12:05):
And so I was really often running.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
I would say I probably would have I mean, under
ten at a time for a long time. I probably
didn't get to twenty or more at a time until
maybe after that first year. If I had to guess,
and I always think, and this isn't you know, a

(12:27):
for sure thing, this is just a gut feeling.

Speaker 4 (12:30):
I always think that there's a few good numbers, right,
There's like that sort of twelve to twenty houses is.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
A really good it seems to be a good successful
amount of inventory for a lot of stages. And then
once you get past that you kind of might as
well just go to have enough people on the team
to really be able to delegate, to be able to
have a sick date, to be able to take a vacation,
you know, those types of things. And to be able
to cycle in enough inventory to keep your inventory varied,

(13:00):
to be able to take different types of jobs. You know,
there's all different types of things. Build dance with the phone.
I mean, what would I do without my admin team?
My goodness. So so there's kind of a few good
sweet spots.

Speaker 4 (13:13):
And you know we're on the on the ladder now.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
So how many people do you have working for you now?

Speaker 2 (13:22):
Well, we vacillate between about thirty and thirty five. But
we you know, decording seasonally, we have something very exciting
we're working on right now, which is those people who
know us know that in the past, our biggest struggle
has been that we book out so at the busiest times.
There have been times when we've booked out six or
eight weeks and it's just painful to have a client

(13:43):
who we love, like you, call us and say, hey,
I need this date and we just can't figure out
how to do that date. And so for years I've
been searching high and low for how to solve this,
and I believe, knock on wood, that we have solved
it now. We just hired ten what we're calling per
d stagers, who are basically extra hands for us. When

(14:06):
we have filled our full time staff positions, which is
usually four maybe five a day depending on the size
of the jobs, we'll be able to pull in a
per DM person if we get calls for more jobs,
and then that per deem person would typically get the
small vacant condos, and they also get more attention from
our management staff to make sure, of course that everything
is in keeping with what we do. And they've also

(14:29):
been trained by us, and they're using items that we've purchased,
so they're able to stay within our systems. And so
we're hoping that, you know, within that, that we'll be
able to solve the problem of having to turn down
jobs based on scheduling. So technically, I guess you could
say we're almost to forty five people now, but I
would say those ten people are sort of like our

(14:50):
army reserves, you know, And they're so cute, they're so excited,
they're so passionate about doing it, and I think they're
all just feeling like you know, a lot of times
it's hard for like moms, you know, to have maybe
a full full time or part time job.

Speaker 4 (15:08):
You know that's not right for their lifestyle, but they want.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
To be able to do this sometimes, and so I
think the passion will really shine through in their work.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
I'm really excited to see that happen.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
Answer. Yeah, no, that's great. That's very exciting on two fronts.
It's exciting that well that number one, you're giving them
this opportunity, and number two, you're there are people who
do want to work and they can't give full time,
and so it's a very fun way for them to
be able to get involved. And I'm thinking of someone

(15:40):
in particular who needs some work right now, and you
are these people's train stages or do you show them
what to do? Because i know you do the layout
and the design. So would you be able to train
someone you know they are unpacking for the most part
and then you know placing.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
But how does that how would that We.

Speaker 4 (16:01):
Have a little bit of both.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
We have some people with design design industry experience, we
have some people with staging experience. One like one for instance,
has her own staging company, but she's sort of winding
down on that and she's you know, as she transitions.
You know, she's thinking about a long term move to
a different part of the state, and so this is
a great transitional.

Speaker 4 (16:22):
Thing for her. And then we have people who.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Have been interior designers, and then we have people who
have not, but just we're a great cultural fit for us,
really excellent customer service, have a good eye, have a
great attitude, and I we've had great luck with people
in the past who have not had experience that we've trained.
I don't know, we just can see it. I don't

(16:46):
know how we can, but we just can see it
in them. And you know, they were talking a little
bit about well, how do you like things done, and
they were sort of I think surprised and delighted to
hear us say we don't really work. We're going to
train you on some of our things, but we want
to try you on a few things and see what
you come up with and see what you do, and

(17:06):
then we'll shift and we'll make sure it's within our brand.

Speaker 4 (17:09):
But we're excited.

Speaker 2 (17:11):
I think that one thing that's happened lately in staging,
it used to be about make the architectural features shine,
which of course it still is, but it used to
be about keep all the inventory very quiet and content neutral,
and you know, so that everything else comes forward. That's
still very much an element in staging. But I think
that because staging is so big in our area, so saturated,

(17:35):
all the houses started to look alike, and because every
house is staged.

Speaker 4 (17:40):
And so now what I think.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
A lot of it is is how can you make
my home stand out?

Speaker 4 (17:44):
How can you make it memorable?

Speaker 2 (17:46):
How can you show me something that sticks in that
buyer's mind when they get home, whether it's you know,
an interesting day beat or an interesting color on a pillow,
or you know whatever that is.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
A unique art piece. So now we're shifting towards unique kosness.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
And I think that having team members staging with us
a lot of times Megan and I like to sit
back see what they do first before we say anything,
because they might do something that surprises us and that
we never would have thought of. Yesterday, someone did one
and I said.

Speaker 4 (18:17):
Oh, my gosh, I never would have thought of that.
That's amazing.

Speaker 1 (18:19):
And so what did they do? Give us an exactly?

Speaker 4 (18:22):
Oh gosh, I can't remember what it was. Okay, let
me think, I'll get there. I'll get there. It was
something with a cookbook, and I can't remember what it was.
She put it in a different type of place.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
It wasn't it wasn't like in a basket, it wasn't
on a bookstand. It was something different and I can't. Oh,
I remember. She took cookbooks and she instead of using
kitchen items with it, she used our very fancy marble
bookends that would normally go like in a living room.
But it really elevated these sort of beautiful cookbooks.

Speaker 4 (18:54):
This made it a.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
Collection in a kitchen and we hadn't done that before.
Usual we put them on a stand or you know,
we might stack them with a kitchen item on them.
And it really because it was such a beautiful marble
bookend set, it really elevated it, which was pretty cool.

Speaker 4 (19:13):
And I was like, oh, my gosh, you're a genius.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
No, it's nice to have, you know, other people's creative inspiration.
We're going to take a commercial break. We'll be right
back with Ashley Provost Design. Welcome back to Mastering the

(21:58):
Art of Real Estate. We are here with my good
friend and amazing talented designer Ashley Provost.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
Welcome back, Ashley. What design elements go into stage a home?

Speaker 2 (22:11):
Love this question? So there are the obvious ones, right,
there's color. Everyone thinks of color. Scale is a big one.
As a realtor, you know, scale is so important and
I think is often overlooked.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
Unfortunately not by us.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
Of course, but but sometimes you know, when pieces are
under scale, I think it doesn't actually achieve making a
room look bigger. It just looks cheaper. Sorry, right, you know,
So it's about getting the scale right. We don't always
want to overscale either.

Speaker 4 (22:44):
It's just about getting it just right. Like three Little bears, we.

Speaker 1 (22:48):
Talked about the scale.

Speaker 3 (22:49):
Let's stop there from it.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
When we talk about the scale, I just go immediately
to bed and sofa. So when we're in a bedroom,
are we doing a queen? We're never doing a king
size I would imagine are doing a queen or a double.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
We actually are doing Here's why we are doing kings
only in primaries typically, but a lot of it's always
this push poll right psychologically, because a lot of your
buyers want to know if they can fit their king bed.
So if the room can fit a king, we want
to show them what a king looks like. But typically
we're going to look for a king that probably doesn't
have a footboard, that doesn't have like a sleigh headboard,

(23:25):
for instance, that's going to stick it out from.

Speaker 4 (23:27):
The wall too much so that it still feels.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Trim maybe is a good word. But we want to
showcase the space. We want to show them you can
do this. It's always this push poll.

Speaker 4 (23:38):
Between I want it and I would say this is
true of dining tables, sofas, all of it.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
I want to show you that you can do this,
but I also want you to feel like the rooms
spacious and you can walk through easily. A lot of times,
the way we solve that is by not having a
ton of accent pieces that we would normally have in
real life. You know, they're bulky, sticking away from the walls,
things like that. But we will go a little bit
bigger on this central item like the dining table or
like the sofa. Sometimes people want to see, especially in

(24:04):
the suburbs, people want to see they can get a
big sectional in.

Speaker 4 (24:07):
For instance.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
Another little trick we have is sometimes we'll give you
a sofa that's more leggy so that you see, you know,
taller legs so that you see more of the floor.

Speaker 4 (24:16):
It feels lighter.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
We try to avoid using super bulky pieces, like big
heavy dressers, but sometimes that's needed, so it just kind
of depends.

Speaker 4 (24:26):
But we have our little tricks.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
We almost never have anything big and bulky above eye level.

Speaker 4 (24:34):
Almost never. And I say almost.

Speaker 2 (24:36):
Because occasionally we'll do a bookcase because it really brings
something to the room in terms of dimension.

Speaker 4 (24:41):
But I only have one bookcase that has a back
on it.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
So even the bookcases you see through and the one
that has a back on it is just an extra
special bookcase that's incredible. And the back is a white wood,
so it's okay.

Speaker 4 (24:55):
But we want usually.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
Art, so it's our art because they're flat.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yeah, okay, And which brings me to a good point,
which is that buyers, statistically, we base what we do
on statistics. They you know, this is not just like oh,
Ashley feels like doing this today. Buyers want light and
bright as their top things statistically, and open is the
next one.

Speaker 4 (25:17):
Now.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
I predict that in the next couple of years we
are going to see that they're going to start talking
about wanting unique features. We'll see if I'm right, But
that's where we see some of the trends going. So
you can see behind me, like we have a base
that's got an interesting shape.

Speaker 4 (25:34):
We're bringing things.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
In more and more to appeal to that type of
sensibility as we're seeing that trend in stores and things
like that.

Speaker 4 (25:45):
But sorry, back to design elements. I can talk about
this all forever. I love it so much.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
They all scale. So scale is scale?

Speaker 4 (25:53):
You got color one thing.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
Through a house. So let's let's okay, so scale and
then let's talk. Let's let's I want to ask the color.

Speaker 4 (26:03):
Questions, so deep dive on it. I love it.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
No, no, I don't change my style or my love.
And so it's is it different in Piedmont and Oakland
it than it is in Danville and San Ramon? Are
they different markets for us? This is how I see it.
I walk any house you walk into in the Piedmont
Oakland area, for the most part, it has to be white,

(26:29):
white dove, or whatever the white is, because it has
to be bright because people want a lighthouse. And as
I've probably learned from you, it could be white dove
throughout the house, but it's going to look different based
on the light or brightness of the room. Yes, so
people want light and bright. So I used two years ago,
probably early, yes, very early on we would try to

(26:52):
do a little different color in every room, still a
light color, but we'd say, oh, do this bedroom this color,
this and this, but they were all basically a lighter color.
Now it's just it makes it easier to go all
white and it's bright and then yes, to finalize that
thought is right. Now our buyers they want to walk in.
It's gotten worse. They not only want to walk in

(27:15):
and see restoration hardware because the marketing of RH Home
is so spectacular, but buyers walk in see that and
so you know, I've i haven't requested or I've said
please don't put color in my listings because I feel
like people want to walk into the RH Home catalog,
which eventually I'm sure that will change. But now in

(27:37):
this tougher market, we're experience and people want to walk
in and have the bathrooms done and the kitchen's done.
They're not not is they don't have the mindset to
do the work. It used to be people would say, okay,
well you know, we'll move now it looks good, it's
painted and clean, and we have some new light fixtures.

(27:58):
But now it's like I want the kitchen modeled.

Speaker 3 (28:00):
In the bathroom we're modeled.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
So the more today, the more these things are remodeled,
the more likely home will receive an offer or multiple offers,
usually just an offer at this point. So what do
you what are you seeing in your different markets? I
know you specialize in multiple markets.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
I have so much to say about what you just said.
I'm making notes so I don't forget at all.

Speaker 4 (28:23):
That you made so many good points.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
So first, yes, we absolutely stage different markets differently. There's
a few factors that go into how we choose a style.
One is, we know that we've been hired for a
certain brand look, so we want to make sure we're
within that brand because we know that's what the client
is expecting. However, within my brand, there's many different styles, right,

(28:48):
so you know that's kind of the first thing. We're
looking at the architecture of the house. Clearly, we're going
to stage a mid century modern house much differently than
we're going to stage a traditional house, so much differently
than a craftsman house. I saw an amazing craftsmen the
other day that looks like the hotel in Yosemite that
is not going to have the same you know, furniture
than every other you know, track house or whatever. So

(29:10):
we're looking at the architecture very closely, and I would
venture to say that's something that we specialize in. People
tell me that they call us because we understand how
to pivot, and we have quite a varied inventory, and
we love switching it up. We love accenting the architecture.
It's just our favorite thing. Also, we look at the neighborhood.

(29:31):
So to your point, typically buyers in the Oakland Berkeley
area are more responsive to a more modern style, even
if the architecture is a little bit more ornate or
a little bit more traditional. They love that juxtaposition. I
do as well. It's sort of a European sensibility. When
you come further over the hill toward where I am
right now, you know Walnut Creek, for instance, we're typically

(29:54):
if it's more downtown, we're doing usually sort of charming
and soft and similar to lat Yet when you start
venturing more toward Northgate, a lot of times we'll do
equestrian properties out there, things tend to be more substantial,
possibly more rustic, going towards Danville, it can be all
over the map down there. Some homes you know, on
the west side are more you know, sort of that charm,

(30:17):
while homes in black Hawk might be more expansive and
substantial and more that RH vibe. We By the way,
my appreciation for Gary Friedman at.

Speaker 4 (30:26):
RH is like a whole separate podcast. I think that
what he has done for.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
How we all view homes and the approachability in terms
of high design, has done a lot for staging, has
done a lot for real estate. So I'm always a
big fan of that. And I met him and got
to tell him that.

Speaker 4 (30:44):
Which was cool. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
So and then you know, to speak about your paint colors,
You're absolutely right. It will not only reflect excuse me,
it will not only look different according to the lighting.
It will reflect what's outside and what's inside. So if
you have a terracotta floor, that pink color is going
to look different than if you have a dark wood floor.
Then if you have, you know, a light gray tiled floor. Also,
if you have redwood trees outside versus you know, a

(31:09):
vast green hillside, or if it's summer and it's a
brown hillside in our area, you know all those things
are going to reflect differently.

Speaker 4 (31:18):
I pick, we picked a pink color for house the
other day.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Where it's the zero lot lines, and so the neighboring
house was extremely close and was sort of a coral tone,
and that's going to change everything, right, So there are
a few paint colors we know are just safe. Like
you mentioned, white dove is pretty safe. I've almost never
seen it go wrong. But we do like to know
what the surface surfaces are going to be just to

(31:43):
make sure we choose the best one. And the other
reason we like usually a white family interior is I
think just psychologically a buyer likes to walk into a
blank canvas and feel like they can project their dreams
onto it. Which is not to say we're not going
to do some accent colors on cabinetry or paneling or
fireplaces or whatever, but I think that having a blank

(32:06):
canvas and just I'm just going.

Speaker 4 (32:08):
To say neutral, because it might not always be white.
That might shift, right.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
We used to do grays, so it might change, but
neutral gives them that blank canvas where they can then
sort of visually project their dreams. And once they are
doing that, once they're dreaming. Now you've got an emotional response.
Now the offer goes up. Now I don't want anyone
else to get that house because I have planned this house, right,

(32:32):
I've got plans for this house, and.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
I know because I've been a bar house. Yeah, the cycle.

Speaker 3 (32:37):
I was just gonna ask that, what is.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
The psychological connection that in staging that makes the person
want that house or have a negative reaction to a
house people have walked in. I say, I don't sell houses.
I can't sell the house. The people walk in, they'll
like it or and I'll facilitate the process of getting
them in the house. But sometimes people have walked into

(33:00):
houses and are like, this does not feel right, and
we turn around and walk out.

Speaker 4 (33:05):
Of course, not every house does for everybody.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
My job is to get it closer to that and
to bring out the best in the house, which I
think because we love all architectural styles, like all of them,
I think we are good at identifying what the coolest
part is and then making it, you know, really stand out.
But you know, I think if there are negative I mean,

(33:33):
I'm going to say drawbacks that I think that people
might not love. My job is to either lead into
it and incorporate it and make it seem cool, or
distract from it, or inspire people as to what it
could be. Those are the three strategies that we have

(33:53):
in our tool belt when we see something like that
or try to convince the client to change it. But
sometimes it's you know, budget, time, whatever, it's just not
an option, which is fine. So our job is just
to advocate for them in terms of getting it to
the best possible place. And literally sometimes it's just distraction.
Sometimes it's just look over here.

Speaker 4 (34:14):
How you don't look over there?

Speaker 1 (34:16):
How are you?

Speaker 4 (34:17):
Contrast?

Speaker 2 (34:18):
Contrast is a big one contrast color scale. That might
be an instance where I am doing oversized things. Fullness.
When a house is completely renovated and new and amazing,
you're going.

Speaker 4 (34:29):
To see less stuff in it. When a house is perhaps.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
Older or maybe has a style that I'm not sure
that everyone is going to understand, I'm going to sell
it harder with more stuff. As a general rule, not always,
but usually that's our strategy that functions for us.

Speaker 4 (34:45):
We might do some graphic art pieces, which is not
to say if you had graphic art pieces placed in
your house by us, that we were trying to distract
from something.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
Sometimes it's just good for photography, but it is a
good tool in our tool belt that can that can
help us. One thing we get a lot are you know,
older kitchens, And as you know, we'll try and talk
to people about painting you know, cabinets just because it's
the least expensive, best way to handle it, maybe changing
countertops and changing hardware. If not, then maybe grout doctor

(35:14):
or something like that. But if we're just dealing with
it original as is, you know, seventies sele kitchen or
sometimes older. And by the way, there is a certain
point at which it's so old that you don't touch
it because then it's cool, right, But that's my job
is they're going to.

Speaker 4 (35:30):
Figure that out.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
But if we're dealing with that sort of you know,
the brownwood cabinets and then the white tile with the
dark grout, we've all seen that.

Speaker 4 (35:37):
We know that's not what a buyer is looking for.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
And so typically I'm gonna just cram it with some
great current accessories, some strong contrast, some good texture, and
then I'm going to make this room over here. Usually
the family room is open to the kitchen as amazing
as possible, so that when and I'm going to keep
it neutral in that kitchen also, so that when you're

(36:00):
looking at it, you can kind of you have enough
going on to where you can imagine the possibilities. You're
a little bit distracted by the cool things, you're not
looking at the old things as much, but you're also
it's also quite enough that you can visualize doing something
different with it. I don't want to assault your senses
so that you can't think. I just want you to
sort of see it could be this, you know. So

(36:26):
that's usually my goal, And sometimes it's as simple as
just make it seem like a happy room and not
like a sad room.

Speaker 4 (36:34):
You know.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
We don't want a room to look sort of just
abandoned and not cared for.

Speaker 4 (36:38):
We want it to look happy.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
And I think that that's the biggest thing this staging does,
is just make it feel good in a picture especially.

Speaker 4 (36:46):
And lighting is huge with that. Don't underestimate the power
of lighting. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
No, I have the favorite things that we've put in
rooms that were afterthought rooms or whatever. But I have
my in those after and I always ask and you'll
probably when I say it, you'll be like, oh, of course,
there's many afterthought rooms that weren't.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
They were just kind of bonus.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
Spaces, And I'm like, can you bring the TPE? I
love the TEP.

Speaker 4 (37:13):
I have so funny.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
I always tell I have another realtor client who hates
the TPS, and I always tell her it's so funny.
I say, do you know how many of my realtors
love the tps? But you know, everyone just has their
personal preferences.

Speaker 4 (37:29):
I personally love them.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
I think that having any cute little kids moment is
just and I'm actually I'm getting ready to post probably
tomorrow or the next day. We have invested in a
couple of kids little sort of canopies that mount easily
to the walls without having to have big anchors, that
are darling. So I think you've had maybe one of
them in your house, a little canopy. Just anything we
can do in kids rooms to keep it neutral but

(37:52):
still look cute. You want that feeling, you want them
to make that sort of go in that face where they.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
Go, oh, you know, oh, kids stuff is important. Not
of course, not everyone has kids, but it is fun
and staging.

Speaker 4 (38:04):
Yeah, and I don't have kids. Maybe that's why I
like it so much.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
It is I think it is a draw it is,
it's cute, it's you know, it's innocent. When I when
some of our houses aren't selling, I call it my
energy architect. And one of the things is she is,
this is a house that wants kids. You know, whether
it's bringing candy it's an adult house, that might you know,
if it's if it's a house for kids, it might

(38:29):
be crazy candy and gob stoppers and stuff. But if
it's a more elegant house where it's probably not going
to be for kids, bring in like elegant chocolates. And
then you know, oh, she really liked when we stage
Leo way. She liked the way you did again. It
was like it was a closet. It was big and empty.
I think it had a one hanging rack. It was

(38:51):
kind of a bonus extra space. But I still love
that little extra space where you had a pink. There
was some pink in there, and there might have been
one hanging up of a two two and it was
a little makeshift closet rack and it was just a
sweet little chair and pillows and it was an after room.
It wasn't it wasn't a defined closet. It was you know,

(39:13):
the previous person used it as a gaming room or
teenage boy not as well cute as a little girl's
to two ballets.

Speaker 4 (39:22):
I have to credit you with that.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
That was your idea and it was brilliant, and I
thought it looked really cute, and we it was funny.
You asked a couple times for like a little kid's
you know, play dress up garment rack, and the first
time I said, I don't have that.

Speaker 4 (39:39):
And we'll do something else.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
We did something else, really cute, and then, you know,
the second time, I said, Okay, I'm gonna order Debbie
her little rack and it it arrived and we wrote
Debbie on the on the box and so.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
I love that. I had no idea. I thought that
was all you. It didn't even occur to me.

Speaker 4 (39:55):
We found it for you.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
I want to if you don't mind, I know, I
don't want to take over your hosting duties. You mentioned renovation,
and there's something I just wanted to say about that
when we were talking.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
About commercial break because we've only had one I supposed
to have three. We'll be right back and remember that question.
We'll be right back.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
Yeah, welcome back to mastering the Art of Real Estate.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
I'm your host Debbie Demagio, and we are here with
Ashley Provost Design and I had to cut her off
because we're not getting our commercials in because we're just
talking and talking and talking. So Ashley, we were we
were talking about the importance of renovation and highlighting what
are good things to renovate private homes.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Yeah, and I'll just say it won't be the first time.
It won't be the last time. People have to stop
me all the time because I could talk about this forever.
I love it so much, so give me the hook
when it's time. So, you know, something I wanted to
say about renovations that I think is really really important
and actually we're going to be highlighting in our newsletter,
which we're launching this month.

Speaker 4 (42:00):
Very exciting.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
Is you know I get by I get sellers, excuse
me saying a lot. Well, I know the next person's
going to rip out this kitchen. Why don't we just
let them do it the way they want. I know
the next person's going to change the floors. I know
the next person's going to do paint the walls, whatever.
There's a couple of thoughts on that. The first thing
is they have to fall in love with the house first.

(42:23):
We have to we have to pull that emotional response
out of them, and the numbers absolutely show us that
there are certain renovations that.

Speaker 4 (42:31):
Have a strong ROI extremely strong.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
We as a company are not recommending things on our list,
which we refer to as our turn key list, that
are not in our expert opinion based on twenty years
of this going to for sure make you more money
on your house than it would have been worth. It's
not just like hey, Ashley wants this wall to be
this color, right, it's this is this is.

Speaker 4 (42:55):
A money maker.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
The other thing is the psychology I think for buyers
is when they walk in and they see a project.
To your point, I think that there's less vision in
in the buyers that are shopping right now, just generationally,
and I'm part of that generation, but we are used
to sort of that that like Instagram and you know

(43:24):
where you get, you you get what you What's that
word I'm looking for? There's a word anyway where U satisfied?

Speaker 1 (43:32):
We want it now.

Speaker 4 (43:33):
It's like they want it now. That's what I'm trying
to say, Thank you so much. There's a phrase for it.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
There's a phrase, but that instant gratification. That's what I'm
looking for, an instant gratification society now. And I think
that it's harder for us to a understand what goes
into the project, how much time it's going to take.
There's an absolute fear about you know, what will happen

(43:58):
if I get into this and they all this up
and they open that up, all those things. And we,
of course in our industry, know that we can give
them the same look of a new kitchen, maybe not
exactly the same, but we can give them that feeling
of a move in ready kitchen with like I said,
painting the cabinets, changing the countertops, changing the hardware. Boom,
oh my gosh, it looks amazing. Same with bathrooms. We

(44:18):
can sometimes refinish floors, we can paint walls. You know,
we can do all these different things relatively inexpensively and
have somebody walk in and feel like it is a
brand new house that you know, fulfills their dreams. And
once it feels like their dream house, that's when it's
a higher offer. And so the other part of that

(44:39):
is when they don't see that in addition to the fear,
in addition to the risk in addition to the time,
on top of all those things that are already significant.

Speaker 4 (44:46):
The dollar thing.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
They will assign a huge dollar amount to these things
that is not realistic, and they will not take the
time usually to get.

Speaker 4 (44:55):
The bids right. They're busy their house hunting.

Speaker 2 (44:58):
So I've I heard of people saying, you know, oh,
that's going to be one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
for the kitchen, and then they take that off their offer.
Whereas if we can spend maybe I don't know, twenty,
you know, something depends on the size of the kitchen,
sometimes less, sometimes more. We can make that the kitchen
look brand new, and now you retain that money in
your offer.

Speaker 4 (45:18):
So that's huge.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
And I also think it's important to remember when people say,
you know, don't don't the buyers have imagination.

Speaker 4 (45:25):
Of course they do. What they don't have is time
and energy.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
You know, we're all in the Bay Area, we're all
working hard, and usually the people that are moving into
the homes that I'm selling are typically going to be families.

Speaker 4 (45:37):
They've got little kids, they're looking.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
At schools, they're looking at mortgage rates, they're looking at
you know, neighborhoods, they're looking at interest things, you know,
all the all the things. And meanwhile they've got a
stage at their house telling them they've got to paint
and do things to get their house ready to sell.
They're packing up and they're looking at forty pictures for
every house online clicking clicklick click click, click click click.

(45:59):
At night when the kids go to bed, it's a lot.
So my job and your job, of course, is to
spoon feed this to them and help them see this
is the one. Make them stop when they see that,
but to make them drive out there, you know, get
a sitter for the kids that day, because it's worth it.
So it's really to kind of inspire those things. And

(46:20):
I think that that's a question. With that you and
I both get a lot, and hopefully that provides some
perspective on that.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
So what I so when I'm talking, so a buyer
will walk into the house and back me.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
Up on this if it's if it's accurate.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
That the reason why it's so important, Well, first of all,
we always paint in a house. Why Ashley stage is it.
I always change as many of the light fixtures as
I can. I'll find an inexpensive version. But it'll still
look nice and it will update the house. Because these
people are on looking at all these all the Instagram

(46:58):
posts and all the disease and all the magazines we
have and just the Pinterest all the content that's available
to them.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
So yeah, they're not they're not looking at the light.
The light changes the way the room looks.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Right, which which goes one of the houses come to mind?
Right now? Is that?

Speaker 4 (47:15):
So?

Speaker 1 (47:16):
You know, paint and lighting. I can usually win a
client to get them to agree to do the painting
and the lighting. Sometimes the floors of the floor is
you know, maybe there was a dog and the floors
aren't in great shape. I really if I'm if I
get everything I want, I get to change the countertops,
because that is not an expensive fix. We do paint

(47:36):
the cabinets for sure, and change the hardware, but a
lot of time sellers think that replacing the countertops is
a huge expense, and it's usually not. It makes a difference.
And what I think is, I'm not a specialist. You're
the specialist in design. When someone walks into a home,
they might say, oh, the kitchen's in great shape. It
looked like it was you know, it's on the newer

(47:58):
side because it's it might be granted, but granted it's
a little.

Speaker 3 (48:01):
Dated these days.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
And so we can put white quartz.

Speaker 4 (48:04):
Or white marble.

Speaker 1 (48:07):
Maybe the client, the buyer walking in, isn't aware. They
walk into the kitchen, they're like, oh, it's a nice,
big kitchen. It looks nice. But if that countertop, I
believe right now we're speaking today, twenty twenty five. I
think if that cabin the countertop was white, it would
make a huge difference and bring it into yeah, this year,

(48:30):
this timing, this period of rh home is that And.

Speaker 4 (48:35):
They don't even know what.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
They don't even know, right, they just walk in, right,
It's like they don't even know what's wrong or.

Speaker 4 (48:41):
What they're not like, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
They don't get far enough to say here's the problem.
One thing we always say, here is one problem makes
you notice all.

Speaker 4 (48:50):
The problems, so you know, and that's why I'm.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
It's staging also, and that's why it's so important to
get the details. But you know, how often have you
looked at a house and you go, huh, that's that
doesn't look quite right, and then you go also that
also that you know, you start to see it and
so if we can just eliminate any buyer objections, we're
in better shape.

Speaker 4 (49:13):
And yes, I will agree that right now, white countertops
is still great.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
I do see a shift happening this year, because we're
in January.

Speaker 4 (49:22):
Still today, last day. I do see a shift happening.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
Toward more neutral but still light. I see a trend
happening with maybe some topes, some beiges mixed.

Speaker 4 (49:37):
In there, still that very marble look.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
I think that I've seen some soapstone or some some
faux soapstone, because soapstone, of course has the natural patina
and the you know, maintenance involved. So I see them,
you know, creating things that look like soapstone, which I love.
I've seen some faux concrete look but you know, not
quite as rustic looking, but that sort of tone looks

(50:03):
very good, slightly honed. But we're going to stay neutral,
We're going to stay slab, so we'll stay in that family.
And I think I think one thing that's interesting that
I also get a lot of questions about, is well,
I've read that this is on trend. Yes, it is
on trend, but the people who understand that Instagram trends

(50:24):
and want those things are.

Speaker 4 (50:25):
Not the average buyer, right, so they to them.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Even though yes the seventies are back, you know in
homes and that's very cool on TikTok and all those things,
your average buyer may not want that or know that
it may be a little extreme for them. So what
we're doing is we're trying to create something that is
very simple, has massive heel.

Speaker 4 (50:48):
That's what's going to garner the highest offer.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
Absolutely, And how I preface it. When I speak to
a seller, I say media, yes, you know, because if
they're fighting the white or fighting this, you know, I'm
looking to sell to the buyer who's coming in the
door and they're used to r H Home or West Elm.
They're looking, they're looking it used to be pottery barn.
They're you know, they're looking for a look. And you know, likewise,

(51:16):
my house, I wouldn't bring it on the market the
way it is today. It's pink and white, it's all pink,
so I would not. So you know, I'm trying to
say you have style. I have my own style. I
wouldn't sell my house full of pink that it is
today on the market. But so but it's not about
you and me. It's about what we're trying to appeal

(51:37):
to the buyer, and that doesn't matter what your taste
is or what my taste is.

Speaker 4 (51:42):
Exactly. I don't live in a stage home.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
I have some cool stuff, but I've got, you know,
a dog, and we entertain and we have real life
things that are sentimental to us.

Speaker 4 (51:54):
On our walls.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
And you know it's it's we're talking about packaging a
product for a maximum returns, just a completely different thing.
One of the things I think that we have honed
over the years is how to, you know, explain that
to sellers and how to how to also listen right
because I can tell you all day long that this
is this is the goal and this is what I do,

(52:15):
but ultimately I work for you, and you have more
boundaries as a seller, and so a big part of
our process is to understand their boundaries at the beginning,
explain and act as a consultant, explain the reasons why
we suggest the things that we do, and then allow
them to choose.

Speaker 4 (52:30):
And I'm never going to come back and push once
you say no. I just got off the phone with
a client who said, I it's absolutely a hard no.
On a black door. I said, okay, it's my second choice,
you know.

Speaker 1 (52:41):
And so I said, this was never going to wish list.
This is my wish list, and it's up to you
to choose. You get the last word. Absolutely, this is
what I see, This is what I think that we
should do. But in the end, you it's it's up
to you. It's your home.

Speaker 3 (52:56):
How you want it.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
Yeah, exactly, let's finish up because we have a we
we're gonna have to do this again. We'll do part two.

Speaker 4 (53:02):
You can talk forever.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
Let's finish. I wanted to know what.

Speaker 4 (53:08):
Let's finish the elements. Yes, okay, So the biggest one
that I want to say is texture, because that gets
forgotten a lot.

Speaker 2 (53:17):
And I think you're going to see going into this
next year when people are talking about warming things up.

Speaker 4 (53:25):
They're tired of everything being so I guess hard. You know,
they want the warmth.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
The way that we bring it in behind your white
paint is we bring in all the texture with our
staging and it's a huge element of what we do.
It makes it feel touchable, it makes it feel cozy
but still mass appeal and neutral.

Speaker 4 (53:43):
And then the other one. I actually just posted this.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
In my stories yesterday is negative space is a huge element,
leaving some space for somebody to imagine, for somebody to dream,
for something to stand out.

Speaker 4 (53:57):
Right.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
So if we have a sculptural piece like this space
back here, I don't want to you know, cram it
with a bunch of stuff around it that's got heavy
pattern or whatever.

Speaker 4 (54:05):
There's only just here altered. There's only white stuff around it, right,
so that you can appreciate the shape that that concept
applies to the home's architectural features as well. When we
have an incredible window, get out of the way. When
we have an incredible sculptural tub, get out of the way. Right. So,
negative space is huge.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
And what I posted in my stories was that that
was actually considered the fifth element.

Speaker 4 (54:29):
But I think it was Aristotle and it was called
it was called ether and later named quintessential. Isn't that
so cool? So that's the fifth Yeah, And that is
obviously the.

Speaker 2 (54:44):
Word quintessential is you know, colloquially used to mean something
else now, but but that fifth element is so key
to what we do, giving something space to shine.

Speaker 1 (54:56):
Right, absolutely, well, Ashley, this has been incredible. Okay, what
inspires you?

Speaker 3 (55:01):
We're going, Oh.

Speaker 1 (55:02):
My god, time just give us inspire.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
Much so much, and that's what our whole newsletter is
going to be about. So I'm really excited about I'm
inspired all the time by literally there's and Andy Warhol
saying I think everybody should like everybody.

Speaker 4 (55:18):
It's an old Andy Warhol quote. I like literally everything.
What what inspires me the most is, and this is
going to sound so corny, but what inspires me the
most is inspiration.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
Seeing when people are inspired. That just gets my gears turning.
I love it when you can tell. You can actually
an amazing conversation with a friend the other day. You
can tell when a design is inspired and when they
phoned it in, and even I can tell when I've
phoned it in and I and I you know, sort
of go no, we got to go back and tweak
these things. It doesn't look you know, inspired or whatever.

(55:51):
And everyone has those moments, but it comes.

Speaker 4 (55:54):
Through in the design.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
I think you can see the thought behind something, and
it's that that inspires me the most. When I can
see the thought behind something that someone has has put together,
I'm just like into it. And obviously all the normal
things nature. I'm so inspired by California, California style and design,
the beach culture, the city culture, the desert culture, you know,

(56:17):
Tahoe culture, all those things. We have so much here,
and the blend of it is just like feeds my soul.

Speaker 1 (56:25):
I love it absolutely.

Speaker 2 (56:27):
My California culture is sort of Jenny, Oh, I want
to tell you this. I know we're over time, sorry,
so that one of the new trends you're going to
see is Fisherman core and it's.

Speaker 4 (56:37):
Like a cable knit plaid wellies I've got I won't
show you, but I've got hunter.

Speaker 2 (56:42):
Boots on Fisherman Core you're going to see coming in soon.
And this is my sort of California Jenny Kane, Ralph
Lauren version of it.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
Be so funny because I always I never I never
know somehow I'm always ahead without even knowing that it's.

Speaker 4 (56:58):
You're ahead of that.

Speaker 1 (56:59):
I see how it happened. It's accidentally on purpose. I
don't know. I wear the these white boots that I
love that are kind of like that. I had a
top on like that two days ago, and now you're
telling me it's in style.

Speaker 4 (57:14):
We're all just following you, Debbie.

Speaker 1 (57:16):
Oh yeah, that's a good place. Thank you. I know.
This was so much fun. We are definitely going to
schedule you for the end of May because we're booked
up through then. But we're going to have you back
and we will answer the questions that I posed that
we never got to. So I have a lot.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
Well you can tell I hate talking about staging, so it.

Speaker 1 (57:38):
Was like a lot more with actually Provost Design. So
how do we get in touch with you? Ashley? Share
your Instagram because you have a great.

Speaker 4 (57:44):
Iduat Yes, thank you.

Speaker 2 (57:45):
Our Instagram is Ashley Provost Design p R O V
O S T D E S I G N.

Speaker 4 (57:52):
Our Facebook is Ashley Provost Design. Our website is actually
Provostdesign dot com. Oh and I spell Ashley E y
old school.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
And yeah, we'd love to have you give us a follow.
And our office number is nine two five seven eight
eight eight six two four.

Speaker 1 (58:11):
Awesome. Thank you so much, thank you wonderful and.

Speaker 4 (58:14):
I love your team, loves working with you.

Speaker 1 (58:17):
Thank you, Debbie, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
Tune in each week for another episode of Mastering the
Art of Real Estate with host Debbie Dematio here Friday's
Noon easton on the Bold Brave TV Network.

Speaker 4 (58:35):
Tune in to where real estate matters matter