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Designer Profile: Priscilla Bettencourt, Halcyon Home Staging + Design

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Priscilla Bettencourt

Priscilla Bettencourt

Priscilla Bettencourt

Beautifying interiors is hardcoded in Priscilla Bettencourt’s DNA.

The Fremont native’s mother was a talented designer, her father a contractor and a grandfather a Realtor. In hindsight, Bettencourt said, it was really only a matter of time before she inhabited either of those circles.

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Priscilla Bettencourt, Halcyon Home Staging + Design, LLC.

About: Halcyon Home Staging + Design is a full-service home staging firm specializing in services geared to maximize a property’s resale value. The firm transforms listed homes into inviting and warm environments for potential buyers. Thanks to its vast inventory of furniture, art, accessories, house plants and the firm on Market Street has staged more $200 million in real estate, helping Bay Area home owners, Realtors and investors sell their homes quickly and at record-high prices.

The firm has been recognized by Redfin for its staging expertise and it’s rated among the top 10 home staging companies in San Francisco.

Halcyon Home Staging + Design earned the “Best of Houzz Service” award in 2017, 2018 and 2019, as well as the “Best of Houzz Design” award in 2019. The “Best of Houzz Design” award is designated for those whose work is the most popular among Houzz’s 40 million monthly users.

Website:

www.halcyonhomedesign.com.

Phone: 415-794-9533

Email: halcyonhomedesign@

gmail.com.

“I was exposed to the world of real estate and design my whole life,” said Bettencourt, who launched Halcyon Staging + Design on Aug. 15, 2014. “It sounds cliche, but I love what I do. “I feel so passionately about working on these homes and making them beautiful.”

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Bettencourt’s staging portfolio contains hundreds of homes in the Bay Area, and beyond. Some of her most recent projects occurred in the Mission District, Pacific Heights, Mission Bay, Eureka Valley, and she’s even staged in Southern California.

“There are Realtors who refer to us as the ‘good luck stagers’ because the homes we stage for them can go into contract in one to two days,” Bettencourt said.

While she studied interior design before launching her firm, Bettencourt said decorating comes naturally to her.

“I didn’t realize how easy it came to me until I started my business and saw how many people needed help,” she said.

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And the general consensus is Bettencourt is very good at staging homes.

Her firm on Market Street earned the “Best of Houzz Service” Award in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Halcyon Staging + Design also received the “Best of Houzz Design” award in 2019, for their projects being among the most popular to Houzz’s roughly 40 million monthly users.

Bettencourt previously worked in the world of marketing, branding and advertising. She collaborated with companies including Google, Hewlett-Packard, Adobe and Motorola before diving into the world of staging a little more than five years ago.

Though she rarely gets the time, Bettencourt enjoys traveling to Europe and surfing in Maui.

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In this interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Bettencourt talks about her design philosophy, the most rewarding part of her job and what it takes to stage a home that will appeal to the majority of buyers who see it.

Q: What is your design philosophy?

A: Showcasing a home’s design potential and unlocking its true value. Halcyon Home Staging + Design brings life, beauty and warmth to every property we stage, which enables prospective buyers to envision themselves living in your home by emphasizing the space, features and functionality. Conscious application of colors, contrasts, shapes and textures bring to reality the imagery that creates significant return on investment.

Q: What’s a piece of technology you can’t imagine doing business without?

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A: While every design plan is created in an old fashioned sketchbook, running my business successfully without my phone would not be possible. Home staging takes you out of the office and away from your computer frequently, so having the ability to check email and answer texts or calls throughout the work day is crucial.

Since we can tour multiple properties in a single day, Waze has been extremely useful in helping navigate around San Francisco traffic. Two of our favorite small business apps are provided by Quickbooks and Houzz. Quickbooks makes it easy to handle accounting needs on the go and Houzz allows us to present portfolio samples, testimonials and ideas on the spot during client meetings.

Q: Is your interior designer/stager brain always “on?” Are you always dissecting places you go, looking for ideas or thinking about what you do or don’t like?

A: In short, yes. Some of my best ideas come to me in the middle of the night. Home staging design is a complex interplay between spontaneous and controlled thinking, so having the ability to create intuitively and deliberately evaluate ideas to determine whether they’ll actually work is essential.

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While inspiration is collected from places we travel and media platforms such as Pinterest, Houzz, Instagram, etc., the house will always dictate design direction and each stage is custom tailored to the home to help unlock its true value.

Q: What’s the most rewarding or satisfying part of your job?

A: My greatest satisfaction comes not just from seeing a room come together with my ideas that transfer from mind to reality, but from the reaction of a client who cannot believe how nice their home looks, or from a Realtor who is thrilled at a transformation of their listing. It also comes from a part of me that feels great joy at using my talent and creativity in a way that brings happiness to others.

Q: When staging a home, how do you appeal to the majority of potential buyers?

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A: Buyers in the San Francisco Bay Area love a classically modern home with eclectic touches. They are knowledgeable about the latest trends and appreciate quality furnishings and high-end design. Natural interior elements, original art and modern decor are incorporated into most homes we stage. This offers the “wow” factor that is highly appealing to buyers and allows them to mentally unpack while touring the home.

Q: How does staging help improve a home’s chances of selling?

A: I can’t stress this point enough: Home staging adds tremendous value and can provide a substantial return on investment. Calculating an exact return-on-investment percentage can be difficult since circumstances vary greatly, but at the end of the process, homes that are staged tend to sell much faster and for higher than their list price compared to vacant properties. We get non-believers all the time, but we prove to them home staging is worth every penny. Demonstrating the value of staging is especially important in San Francisco, which is so data-driven and analytical.

Q: Do you have any rules about staging?

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A: We always ask clients to remove personal items from the home, as we really require the property to be vacant. Part of the reason staging can be so impactful is because while it can neutralize a space, beautiful furniture, decor and art really does transform a house into a warm and inviting environment.

Every project and home has its own personality, requiring different decorating styles, so it’s important to keep a pulse on current design trends. We recently staged two properties, one downtown and the other in Pacific Heights. Those homes required more sophisticated details, while an upcoming project near Ocean Beach will have a Boho surfer-chic aesthetic that will incorporate surfboards, an abundance of plants, natural elements and fun art.

Q: Do you ever turn down projects, and why?

A: Simply put, we bring our ‘“A” game to every property we stage and every home gets the same amount of design attention, no matter how large or small. We are often booked three to four months in advance, so if we can’t provide an exceptional product due to schedule constraints, we will pass on staging.

Jordan Guinn is a writer, journalist, reporter, and columnist who regularly contributes to The San Francisco Chronicle's Sunday real estate section and SFisHomes. His work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, and Jordan previously covered crime for the Stockton Record.

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