Selling a Lifestyle
A Lakeland Couple’s Journey to Rediscover and Elevate the Soul of Home Staging
PHOTOS BY JORDAN RANDALL AND PROVIDED BY STEP BY STAGE | DEVELOPED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH STEP BY STAGE
Patrick Furlow is ready to look you in the eye and show you the money—which in his case is the money he’s ready to help you make by staging your home.
“Staging always costs less than your first price reduction,” says the insightful, driven entrepreneur who is co-owner of Step by Stage Interiors.
He loves to share data, including how in April homes staged by his company were under contract in 28 days on average versus a 71-day average for all homes sold in Central Florida.
But before you get too deep into the numbers of why professional staging has evolved from an option to an expectation for top-performing realtors, Patrick’s co-owner—his wife and the founder of Step by Stage, Annie Furlow—will jump in to remind you that a great stager isn’t just stopping by to “play house” in what is likely the largest investment of someone’s life, they are opening people’s eyes to a lifestyle they are buying into.
“The way we blend colors through the whole house we call color threading. If a buyer is out one weekend and they look at multiple houses, our staged home is going to be fresh in their mind because we color thread all the rooms,” Annie says sitting next to Patrick in their precisely tailored office located just off the Polk Parkway. “How we hang art on walls, how we reflect light, how we place furniture—it’s all psychological as prospective buyers are walking through the house. Buyers make an emotional decision before they make a rational one.”
Their experienced team, including lead stagers who both earned degrees in interior design, discover areas of homes that need to be compensated for and provide personalized elegant solutions to keep potential buyer’s eyes and minds on a house’s finest features. For example, through the use of on-trend and appropriately scaled furnishings Step by Stage puts the attention on the most important aspects of a home that potential buyers are considering purchasing.
Since starting Step by Stage in 2011, Annie has been motivated to build an industry-leading company that understands the psychology of home buyers, offers a large inventory of elevated home furnishings to bring houses to life—including their own established furniture lines—and truly helps the general public understand the value of revealing a home’s heartbeat through design and product placement.
BEFORE AND AFTER: The difference in having a room staged professionally by Step by Stage is showcased in this staged bedroom. Step by Stage is constantly investing in new, fashionable inventory, including purchasing from its own furniture lines.
Go back in time 50 years and a simple decluttering process was the norm for motivated sellers. The late 90s and early 2000s brought the rise of HGTV, a cable network famous early on for shows like Sell This House that educated viewers on the finer points of showing their home. And now, professional home staging has become so synonymous with the real estate buying and selling process that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) conducts comprehensive surveys and studies on it to understand its prevalence, calculate return on investment, etc.
Annie not only has an eye for design, she has the experience many newcomers lack in the burgeoning field. She studied interior design at the International Academy of Design and worked for several custom home builders and remodeling experts before saying ‘yes’ to navigating the highs and lows of owning her own business. She has annually been recognized by the Real Estate Staging Association as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in the industry since 2018, and Step by Stage has been honored with multiple national staging awards. In 2023, she and Patrick co-founded The Staging Collective, a national community of home stagers that educates, empowers and encourages home stagers.
“Step by Stage is not just a price on a proposal. If someone is looking to hire a realtor do they just call and ask what their commission percent is and make a decision based solely on that? That would be insulting, as it is for someone to look at our business that way,” Annie says. “I’m more than a price tag and I bring value to the table. It’s why it’s important for us to talk to the person who will be paying for the investment of staging a home.”
Part of the way Step by Stage bridges the gap between themselves and sellers is through its strong bond with trusted local realtors.
Paige Wagner, owner/broker of Paige Wagner Homes Realty, and Christine Ehlenbeck, a broker’s associate for Keller Williams Realty, are two top producers they have been working closely with on behalf of clients for more than a decade. Stagers and realtors discuss how a property is going to be marketed and what the focal points of the home should be given its location and price point to garner a quick sale at a maximum sales price. Professional home staging is one of the best competitive marketing advantages available to home owners, realtors, flippers and builders when it comes to maximizing sales prices.
Wagner says one reason she “never considers working with someone else” to stage her client’s homes is because the staff at Step by Stage care as much about people as they do houses.
She recalls one historic home she worked with them to stage that some local realtors thought needed to be completely gutted to demand a top selling price. Wagner and the Step by Stage team instead saw things like original terracotta tile and distinctive mid-century features and decided to stage some unique older pieces along with some newer modern home furnishings.
“How we hang art on walls, how we reflect light, how we place furniture—it’s all psychological as prospective buyers are walking through the house. Buyers make an emotional decision before they make a rational one.”
“We created this kind of mix of old and new, and it sold for like [one] hundred thousand (dollars) higher than any other realtor thought it would,” she says. “It takes work to see vision.”
Annie and Patrick are adamant that every real estate agent should tell their clients to consider professional staging at the beginning of the process because it is proven to be such a valuable marketing tool in the sales process. At the same time, Patrick says he never expects someone else to have to educate someone on or sell their services for them, nor should they have to.
“It’s incredibly important as a great realtor to inform your clients about all the marketing alternatives and strategies available to them to help sell their home,” Patrick says. “Whether that’s improving landscaping, conditional work, paint, lighting, professional staging—all of that matters for how much you want to get for your home.”
A big part of Step by Stage’s success that goes beyond the numbers and knowledge comes down to how the company’s founders navigated some of the most challenging moments in their personal lives and eventually rekindled a deep joy that comes through in how they work with customers.
For outsiders looking in, it would have appeared that in 2023 Step by Stage was at its peak, with three warehouses filled with inventory and more staging jobs than ever before. But the reality was they were struggling to absorb the growth, they were “swallowed in debt” and they were surrounded by perpetual challenges.
But, as Annie puts it, God redirected them through a hard and painful road that forced the couple to reevaluate their priorities and ultimately examine the heart of their business. In June 2023, Annie’s father—and her hero—Greg Fassett, was diagnosed with stage IV cancer. She became his primary caretaker and spent 2.5 months with him in Mexico in the fall of 2023, and again in the spring of 2024, as he underwent treatment.
During that time, she couldn’t help but reflect on what made her dad so successful operating nursing homes for nearly 45 years. In that role, he earned national acclaim thanks to the incredible feedback provided by staff and residents.
“My first job ever was for my dad at the nursing home,” Annie recalls, thinking back to her high school years. “He would always say to his staff every morning in their meeting, ‘What are we going to do today?’ and everyone would say, ‘We’re going to have fun!’”
Patrick and Annie took a long, hard look at their strategic plan and realized they provide a luxury version of a highly sought after service and they could bring joy back to their workplace by being intentional about landing the ideal jobs that would allow the business to grow in profitability and also give their team healthier margin to slow down at times, laugh together and pursue personal growth.
Prior to Greg’s diagnosis, Annie and Patrick had spent years building fine-tuned processes and systems that weren’t dependent on the owners being present at every moment, hard work that paid off when their focus needed to shift for a season.
The couple are professing Christians, they acknowledge the business is “God’s gift to them” and they take time to pray for their staff regularly.
Patrick and Annie also enjoy pouring into other teams trying to make it in the staging industry, evident by the fact they have mentored at least five owners of other staging companies in Central Florida.
“I want my competitors to do better because if they’re doing better, we’re doing better,” Annie says. “We’re all on the same page.”
Through The Staging Collective, the Furlow’s have also made the staging process more accessible for more clients, realtors and brokers.
In November, they rolled out a “Pay at Closing” option for their services that is available not only to homeowners, but realtors, builders and LLCs as well. This allows clients to defer the costs of staging until closing and stay focused on choosing the precise home furnishings needed to optimize their sale. Annie estimates nearly 40 percent of clients are now using that option.
When Annie takes a step back and looks at the business she and her husband have built up over the course of more than 14 years, she confidently says she believes God, and the people He has put in her life, have been staged in her story for a special purpose. Here’s a small piece of an entry she journaled when one of her employees suggested she reflect on what sets the largest and most established home staging company in Polk County apart from competitors.
It’s hard when you just do what you love, to dissect what it is that’s special about my business. I could say it’s our systems, our furniture lines, our elevated staff and so on. But as I reflect, I realize that it’s the soul of my business that makes Step by Stage special. I love design, don’t get me wrong, but really changing an ending for someone, having a hand in bringing beauty and peace and a transition of life, is why God gave me the talent for design. My father was shaping my soul through the guidance of the Lord to show me a tremendous amount of empathy for others. How do I show my love, give time, and have patience for every home and every homeowner? I do this with love. I thank God for the powerful tool of memories and reflection of learning lessons from my father. Even though he is no longer next to me teaching me lessons anymore, I know everything he taught me is what I needed.
The team at Step by Stage loves making spaces come alive to help prospective buyers see the potential of a home—but even moreso staff love building relationships that make
a difference.