By now, we all know that home staging has grown into a legitimate multi-million dollar industry, servicing many home sellers with talented interior solutions to maximize real estate value. But did you know the decorative talents of home stagers are being successfully used in other sectors such as temporary relocation and corporate housing?

As a furniture rental company, I am finding more opportunities to provide turn-key housing solutions to temporarily relocated employees by contracting or referring home stagers to plan and prepare corporate houses and suites. Companies who rent furniture as a housing option are beginning to demand the suite (or house) be completely ready for the employee to move in: furniture planned; kitchen; bath; bedrooms and linen all organized; and the house has become a home.

I truly enjoy providing a custom corporate residence option. The economic benefits for companies are immeasurable from a cost benefit analysis to instant employee productivity. When asked, in my mind there is no better qualified person to provide a decorative, budget conscious solution than the professional home stager.

Good news for all you office furniture fans like ourselves: the International Contemporary Furniture Fair is coming to a city near you, and soon!  Well, it’ll be “near you” if you happen to live near New York City, anyway.  But it could be farther!  From us, anyway.  Ahem.  Excuse us.

As we were saying, from May 15th through the 18th, the International Contemporary Furniture Fair is being held in New York City.  Organized with industry insiders in mind, the fair will be an eye-opening event for designers, architects, manufacturers, and retailers.  Attendees will be able to see all manner of exciting, fresh ideas for office and home furniture.

Much of what you typically see at these events is conceptual in nature.  There’s a lot of freewheeling, fun experimentation going on as designers and manufacturers try to one-up each other on a big stage like this.  (For good examples of some of the more wild & wooly offerings you might find at an event like this, check out this article about the 2010 Milan Furniture Fair.)

Incidentally, we were wondering: where does the International Contemporary Furniture Fair get its furniture?  Just a random thought from a curious blogger.  (If the event was being held in Toronto, we’d love to provide our special event furnishing services—but you probably already knew that!)

Nevertheless, events like these are great opportunities to see what the best and brightest are cooking up for us to sit, sleep, work, and eat on.  If you find yourself in the area—or, if you’re in our neck of the woods, if you feel like taking a pleasant, verdant road trip through Southwestern Ontario and upstate New York—don’t pass up this opportunity.  We recognize, though, that this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.  If you just want to stick around and see some homegrown Toronto furniture for hire, we won’t object!