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

Our house is a very,very,very fine house

Our house is a very, very, very fine house........

Crosby, Stills and Nash knew how to write a song.  But how do you sell that very, very ,very fine house with two other houses for sale in the neighborhood?

I had the privilege of working alongside a great home stager for a few months.  I learned so much.  I loved it and have gone on to stage a few homes for family and friends all with great results.

The most recent house I worked on was for one of our kids.  That is probably the hardest because people are emotional about their homes.  When the kids said they were about to list their house I told them that I wanted to give them a few pointers on what to do to make their house memorable.  I wasn't sure if they wanted my advice...but they said they did,  so here goes.....

The week before they listed we walked through the house together.  The house was in great shape and was recently painted both inside and out.

Clean and fresh ?-check

There were a couple of other homes for sale within a block.  One of them had an open house so I went to take a look.  It was very nice but not memorable

Can they compete?-check

We need to get people in the front door.  The pictures need to be awesome.

Their house was very Pottery Barn.  Striped down and not memorable.  Nothing special.

So I started at the front door.  Boring.  Nothing to make a drive by want to come in the door.  So  I lifted a turquoise star from my fireplace mantle, an orange pot from my backyard and moved some decorative pots from their backyard.  The front door still needed some life, so off to Home Depot for some blooming flowers for the pots out front.  Magic, now you want to come inside- check.

The living room was a little dull too, all neutral colors, no spark.  We added decorative pillows in the orange and turquoise that were at the front door.  Wow,  what a difference a few pillows make.  The room came alive.  We added a tray to the coffee table with a bright pot on top.  Make them remember.  The house with the orange pillows-check.

The dining room table was nice but not tablescaped.  We added beaded place mats, beautiful dishes and glassware and Mercury glass candle holders with the chunky,  fake candles.  Make them want to sit down at your table-check.

The kitchen was recently gutted and beautifully updated but things were just not quite right on the soffits and the table was not set.  We found some great placemats in a closet, used their regular, everyday pottery and added a couple of accent small plates. To take it over the top we added fresh sunflowers that perfectly matched the stoneware.  Fresh flowers-Check.

Family room....another easy one, a few bright pillows and some fresh flowers.  Make them want to cuddle up in front of the fireplace.  Check.

Their bedrooms and office needed the same little spruce up.  Just pillows and a few plants and fresh flowers. Check.

The kids bathroom needed a  few bright towels that we pulled from my towel stash, another touch of turquoise with the already there grey towels and we were in business-check.

Back yard just needed a few rolled beach towels and a few pot spruce ups.  There were kids toys in the backyard and they were all moved to the side yard, still accessible to the kids for play but out of sight to the people looking to buy. Sold in three days amidst some stiff competition.

I have a few funny stories about homes I have visited.  Most people do not want to rent furniture and do the whole rent furniture staging, like you see on tv.  Most of the time you can make  a home look better with just a few simple touches and a trip to Home Goods and Home Depot. I also would add a trip to Trader Joes for some flowers,  especially when you first list and before pictures.  The pictures have to be good or your house does not even make it to the drive by.

Unsaid but critically important, choose the right realtor and price it right.  Our kids uses a longtime friend,  Brian Gubernick,  at Home Helper Consultants.  Thanks to Brian and his team for the amazing photos.

"Home where my music's playing, home where my love lies waiting, silently for me".....Homeward Bound- Simon and Garfunkel

Coming soon:
A rehearsal dinner from afar
How to pack for a beach get way
A girls outing and mini reunion
Ya-Ya's Bookshelf
A Boy's Baby Shower
Top Five Albums- another fun one

Keep singing and hug those kids and puppies.
Love, Ya-Ya