Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head- Home Staging Lessons Learned

Estimated Reading Time.....2 minutes, 5 seconds

I was lucky to be invited to stage a beautifully remodeled home, thanks to a referral from a realtor friend.  The home was empty and the home owner wanted to use furniture from the home where they lived.  I thought no big deal- easy, right?   I walked the existing home of the homeowner and picked some pieces to be moved to the newly renovated house.

The homeowner said that they would have the chosen furniture moved to the remodeled house.  Good- I can’t move furniture…..We agreed on a time for the following day with the premise that there would be a couple of loads of furniture and one load would be at the house by the time I arrived.  I went to the home at the agreed upon time and no furniture,  so I proceeded to stage built in units, bathrooms, kitchen, anything I could do without furniture…..the waiting game began…..Lesson to learn.  Do not start on a house until the furniture is there.  I do not like to waste anyone’s money or my time.  I was doing both by waiting for furniture.  After the first load was delivered I went back to our storage unit to pick up a few items I had not had time to gather earlier…..

Arriving back at the house, still no second load, so I went back home…..It is about a 30 minute commute, so going back and forth is an hour…..not good use of my time.

Day Three- Arrived at the house and there is furniture that needs to be moved.  Beds were not all assembled.  I am not a mover.  I can’t lift beds and assemble frames and plop the mattress onto the frame.  This is totally my fault – I did not set the expectation that I am not a mover.  I thought that anyone would know that by looking at me- maybe I don’t look 64 years old, yeah right??But I am and I have a very fragile shoulder that bugs me whenever I abuse it.  Realtor to the rescue.  The wonderful, female realtor called me to see how it was going- there was an open house scheduled in two hours.  I told her that there was furniture to be moved and that I couldn’t do it.  She jumped in her car and came to my rescue. 

The house was ready for the Open House.  I took my lucky star so I am hopeful that the magic will work and the home will sell quickly.

My take aways:

1. Set the expectation- what is the time frame before the first open house, or the formal pictures?
2.  Be clear about my ability to not assemble beds or move heavy furniture.  There may not always be a realtor to rescue me.
3.  Furniture should be in the house before I begin.  Time is wasted and costly to both the seller and me.

The home looked great when it was ready,  as shown in the pictures.  It is still fun and I still want to stage homes and you can make the homeowners furniture work, but clear expectations need to be spelled out prior to the start of the stage.  I take full responsibility for my lack of concise details of what my abilities are.  Live and learn---Ya-Ya still has a lot to learn.

FYI- I missed my photography class---- Sad to miss it but will reschedule.

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head....BJ Thomas

"So I just did me some
Talking to the sun
And I said I didn't like the way
He got things done
Sleeping on the job
Those raindrops
Are falling on my head
They keep fallin'

But there's one thing I know
The blues they send to meet me
Won't defeat me, it won't be long
Till happiness
Steps up to greet me"

Coming Soon:

• The Desert Trip
• Cheap Internet Shopping
• Fall decorating
• A tribute to Papou- and our trip to Greece
• Another Engagement Party

Love, Ya-Ya