—house fluffing pp.
She sees opportunities for beauty in the simplest actions.
"This is my biggest tip: Remove the ugly aluminum screen doors," Carroll said. "I can't tell you the number of people who have gorgeous wooden doors" and cover them up.
—Jennifer Quinn, "How to improve your curb appeal," The Toronto Star, June 20, 2002
With its unusual architectural detailing, hardwood floors, garden and prestigious address, the house was the epitome of San Francisco style. Except for a few minor matters: dog hairs, mismatched furniture and an overall interior design that David Crossen describes as "ex-college student. "
Enter Arthur McGlaughlin, a member of a little-known but growing breed of professionals paid to enhance a home's marketability. They are the "fluffers," interior decorators who not only fluff the sofa pillows but also point out lapses in taste and cleanliness that could impede a sale.
—Eileen Daspin, "A house 'fluffer' can help you fake good taste, and raise sale price," The Wall Street Journal, November 10, 1998
House fluffers are a much newer breed who take the fluffed-up pillow idea and extend it to the entire house. They're also known as stagers and resale decorators.
Here's an even earlier citation that uses "house fluffer" to refer to the house owners themselves, not the decorators they hire:
Instead, they've spent more than eight years and nearly twice the purchase price renovating their house on Woodland Avenue from the inside out, and they have no plans of moving.
Dana Klest says she knew they were in for the long haul when they bought a $ 125 Japanese maple tree for the back yard. By then they'd decided they weren't house "fluffers," people who coat a house with trendy shades of paint for resale at a tidy profit.
—Judy Hotchkiss, "Renovators ready to just relax," The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, October 5, 1995
