Behind the Scenes

Today it is 65 degrees and sunny, so we are headed to the zoo!  I might even whip out my flip flops for the occasion.  In other news, it’s time I update you on the whole staging business, as many of you have asked about it.  Before I forget, let me say a huge thank you, as I received a ton of encouragement and support during this process.  And now for the nitty gritty details…

Unfortunately, I don’t know how much I’m allowed to share on the web, since this house is still on the market and there are likely privacy issues involved.  That said, I won’t be sharing many photos, but I will divulge a few of the projects that I tackled along the way. 

As it turns out, staging is not interior decorating.  It’s far more about minimizing, organizing, revealing the finer attributes of a room, and adding a few decorative touches here and there to enhance the space.  In a sense, you are depersonalizing a space.  The stager has to tactfully help the seller to part with their personal style, family photos, collections, etc.  Can you see how this might be a…tender process?  To get started, I met with the sellers one evening and completed a walk-through of their home.  They went through it with me the first time to explain the ins and outs of each room, and then I walked through it by myself, taking copious notes.  I also snapped some “before” photos for my personal portfolio and to remember what each room looked like when I was out running errands or brainstorming.  Then I raced home and typed up a lengthy consultation report breaking down what needed to be accomplished in each room by the seller and the stager.  I do love me a good list.  : )  Before slipping off to sleep, I emailed the consultation report to the sellers and realtor.  A few days later—after giving the sellers some time to get started on their end of the list—I popped back over to their house and spent a good chunk of time rearranging furniture (although being pregnant, the sellers did all the actual grunt work), organizing closets, and adding decorative touches from my personal staging inventory—which, at the moment, is pretty tiny. 

It bears mentioning here that I really did not have much of a staging budget going into this.  So I had to dig deep.  And fast.  My brain definitely worked overtime while I slept, because I would wake up in the middle of the night to write down ideas that I’d been dreaming about—and I’m normally a sound sleeper.  Digging deep meant using several items from our own home (Is that weird?  Turns out that many professional stagers actually did the same thing while getting their business off the ground).  I’m praying this house sells fast—yes, for the sake of the sellers and realtor involved—but also because I miss my lamps and art work and bowls and…you get the picture.  I’m pretty sure our neighbors thought we were moving out that week!  Here a few of my piles wait to be packed up…

But I didn’t just use items from our house.  I actually found some really cool art—textured and mountainesque—at a thrift store, so I snagged two pieces of it for under $15 total and then just spray painted the frames (Oil Rubbed Bronze by Rustoleum) to give it a more updated look. 

This black and silver mirror was also on super sale at Ross, because the mirror was unattached from the actual frame.  So I turned to my dear cans of spray paint (Oregano by Rustoleum this time—sorry for the horrendous final picture—promise that it looks really good) and also taped the mirror back into the frame.  Hodge podge?  You bet.  Will anyone ever know the difference?  Nope—although I tend to share my dirty secrets with you guys, so I’m counting on you to keep it quiet. 

And of course, I raided Pinterest for other art ideas, which led me to this herringbone paint sample piece, which I’d been wanting to try anyway.  It’s not a big piece, but it worked great in their entryway to add an interesting pop of color that tied in well with the green mirror. 

Clearly this would make a lot more sense if I was showing you pictures of the entire space, but alas, the scattered details will have to do.  At that point, I gave the sellers a few more days to finalize things on their end (more organizing, cleaning, etc.), and then I went back for a final walk-through.  I made a few final adjustments and then took my own “after” photos.  I also handed the sellers a very, very  final “to do” list, along with a list of things to complete before each showing.  I tried to make it as specific to their needs as possible by including items like, “Remove the strobe light from X’s room before each showing.”  Yes, they have little munchkins who have special things in their rooms—you can’t take everything away from the kiddos! 

Everything was finished within one week.  The realtor called me a “workhorse,” which cracks me up!  I’ll take it as a compliment—a trait I get honestly from my own parents.  The sellers were great to work with and did a ton of behind the scenes work as well.  They even rented a storage unit, which was awesome, as it allowed us to pare down and really simplify some of the spaces. 

And yesterday I got my paycheck in the mail—woot!  Today the mister and I are trying to figure out exactly how to break the paycheck down.  So far we’ve split it into percentages for giving, taxes, replenishing our checking account with money I spent on a few items, putting a lot back into future staging opportunities so that I’ll have more of a buffer when I make future purchases, and then paying myself a small amount.  (Note: We have a good friend who is a CPA, and she's been super helpful, especially as we traverse the tangled web of taxes.)  While we would love to save more of this money, we also feel like it might be necessary to put some of it back into the business side of things, as future staging opportunities have already been mentioned to us.  Over time, we likely will not need to put such a large percentage back into the business side of things.  Also, the realtors I’m working with are willing to purchase some items, so we’ll figure that out as we go.  The good news is that anything I buy, I get to add to my small staging inventory—and some things I’ll probably use in our own house.  We did purchase an earthy pendant for their dining room—which will stay with the house—but the realtor eats that cost in hopes that it will attract more potential buyers.  It’s a tad tricky figuring out who pays for what, which is why I tried to be extra saver savvy.  

Whew.  I’m exhausted just writing about all of it.  The good news is that I loved every minute of the process.  Do we know if this will lead anywhere?  Not really.  I’m not sure if I can handle a kid, teaching, the occasional stage, and all the other things we’re involved in.  I want to guard my time, but if there is one thing I’ve learned about being busy, it’s that you tend to get more done in the amount of time you have.  I adhere to the old adage, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.”  There is something in me that loves to create, to renew, to inspire spaces and the people living in them, so for now, I’ll take the busyness.

To Be or Not to Be…

Can you tell that my students are in the thick of studying Shakespeare (although Hamlet isn’t part of our junior high curriculum)?  Let me just say that my college classes on Shakespeare do not hold a candle to watching 7th graders perform The Comedy of Errors.  If laughter is the best medicine, than I should be the healthiest teacher alive right now. 

Anyway, this post is one where I think through life’s deep questions aloud…deep questions like whether I’ll “be or not.”  Now when you hear what I’m pondering, you might think that “deep” is far too dramatic of an adjective to use when one is referring to home staging jitters.  That’s right.  Today I was asked to stage another house!  More details on that in a minute.  The point is…I get nervous!  I wonder if I’ll freeze and have no decorating ideas.  More than that, I get nervous telling other people what they need to change about their home.  I mean, our homes are nothing if not personal—we live in them!  In reality, I’m often afraid to use the gifts and passions that God has given me.  When it boils right down to it, I will never be more ready to do this than now!  I just need to plunge in and allow myself the awkward mistakes that come with new territory.  The feeling of taking a step in the darkness when you’re not sure what lies ahead.  The battle for making time to do one more thing.  The willingness to fail and never be called again.  And yes, some called me a drama queen when I was younger, although I like to think that I’ve outgrown it…hmm.  Well, you see what I’m saying.  Doing new things is hard.  It’s exciting, too, but sometimes you have to plow through the hard and the murky in order to get to the exciting. 

The house I’ll be staging this time around is actually a townhouse, and it’s in a completely different area of town from the previous home I staged, which was literally three doors down from us.  The owners are also currently living in the home, so instead of starting with a blank slate, I’ll help them pare down, rearrange, and add items where necessary.  This means I have to be honest, yet tactful.  Although I’m good at speaking my mind when it comes to my own home, it’s a whole ‘nother ball game when you’re working with strangers.  To top it all off, the realtor I’m working with—bless his heart—wants this finished by early next week.  While that is totally doable and probably somewhat typical in the staging world, it feels like a close deadline for a planner like me.  “They” say flexibility is key though, so here goes nothing.

I’ve never considered myself too much of a dreamer, as I tend to be a realist who often sees things in black or white.  And yet this feels sort of a like a dream that’s beginning to take shape.  I really have no qualifications, but someone is giving me a chance to do something I love—and to top it off, I now have a more flexible teaching schedule that allows me to do it!  Who knows what will come of it—maybe nothing.  But it’s go time.  And I mean that quite literally, as there is a lot to be done in order to get this house ship shape by early next week!  I’ll let ya know how it goes.

Oh, and since I’ve just been rambling, here’s a photo of the tulips my boy sweetly gave me for Valentine’s Day.

I am smitten—and I love that he picks out all different types of flowers, as I’m not one to be suckered in by roses (although I definitely appreciate them on occasion—it’s just nice to mix it up).  Aren’t they cute in the oversized julep cup I found for a few bucks at a thrift store?  For the record, we were pretty low key on V-Day.  I made red velvet crepes for dinner and then we went to see the silent film, The Artist.  Has anyone else seen it?  We really liked it, even though I think one silent film a year is enough for me.  What did you all do for Valentine’s Day?  Is anyone else facing the “to be or not be” challenge?  Has anyone taken a plunge recently?  Was it refreshing?  I hope so.

Setting the Stage

When I get really excited I tend to say, “Oh my word, oh my word, oh my word!!!”  Sometimes I even jump up and down and do a little happy dance.  So you can imagine how I felt when a realtor in town who is a friend of ours called on Tuesday asking me to help her stage a house that’s going on the market in a few days!  Holy cats!  As it turns out, my friend has not been overly happy with her current stager; apparently she’s somewhat pricey and struggles to be flexible in her staging design.  Since I’ve worked with my realtor friend in planning a baby shower and buying a house, she has a pretty good idea of what my style is and decided to see if I would join her in executing our very own stage.

I got the call at 3 pm on Tuesday, and she needed the house staged by 12 noon on Thursday.  Within about 30 minutes of her initial phone call, she showed me the house layout and then handed me a wad of cash to go out and purchase furniture!  She kept saying, “I trust you and I really like your style—I want you to do this for me.”  Picture my jaw practically hitting the ground as I mentally freaked out.  Yes, I was on cloud nine, but I was definitely sweating the super short time frame—and the fact that I’ve never staged a house before!  Of course I had to call my mom and practically scream the good news to her—hardly letting her get a word in edgewise—as I flew across town to look for a sofa/love seat, chair, area rug, and ottoman.  The funny thing is that my mom always helps me pick things out and actually purchase them, because sometimes I get stage fright (pun definitely intended) and hem and haw without being able to make up my mind.  I knew this time I would have to be more decisive…eek!

There are many confusing details to this staging story which I won’t bother to share, but just know that finding great furniture at a reasonable price at the last minute is…difficult.  For example, I really thought I had found the perfect linen sofa—modern, clean lines, fantastic price, ready to be sold on the spot—when a sales lady informed me that the sofa was actually located in the wrong area of the store, which meant it had to be ordered and wouldn’t be available for at least a week. (In case you're wondering, that's not the price of the sofa--that was the price for a three piece set.)

Yeah, that wasn’t happening.  I needed to be able to walk out with a sofa in one hand and a chair in the other.  In the end, we found a sofa and chair on super clearance at a local furniture chain, so they were willing to sell them to us off the floor.  It didn’t hurt that they had two of each piece in stock.  I snapped a photo of the sofa, but I didn't get one of the chair.  You'll see it all together in the staged photos below.

As it turned out, my friend needed a few more pieces that we couldn’t find on such late notice, so she ended up renting some of our furniture—so fun, right?  You might recognize our dining room table and parsons chairs, along with our ottoman, tray, glass hurricane, and wicker end table.  If the layout feels a little sparse, that was intentional.  You can’t necessarily tell from my photos, but the house is actually quite modern.  We wanted to keep the space open, rather than feeling cluttered or overly traditional.  Also, the table was used to serve wine and appetizers, so it wasn’t quite so bare on the day of the initial showing.  And don't you just love those huge, bright white plantation shutters?

Oooo--I can't forget to mention the cool light fixture hanging above the dining room table.  After seeing our dining room light, my friend decided she needed something similar for this house.  I think it's fantastic.  While my friend had already purchased several of the accessories and some furniture herself, I was able to do some of the hard and fast searching for her when it came down to crunch time.  Often the thrill of the hunt is my favorite part of shopping, and this challenge was no exception.  I can’t wait to help her out in the future—yes, there might be a future to this!  And it involves being paid!  So.totally.awesome.and.unexpected.

Although these pieces may not be exactly what I would have picked out had I had a bit more time, they were available and worked great for the staging.  I spoke with my friend today about the initial showing to the realtors, and she said they loved it!  And...she even mentioned that a local real estate agency asked who had staged it for her!  Can you believe it?  I know…me neither.

While I’m certainly not counting on this to be a regular thing, I am so happy that I had a chance to try my hand at it.  I have lots more to learn, but the opportunity fell into my lap and I was able to jump on it.  Now here’s hoping the house sells in a snap when it goes on the market!