In an earlier post I mentioned that I was staging a vacant 2 bedroom condo. I found (I didn’t actually hire anyone) a painter to do some work, and cleaners to really clean the place so it would be ready for selling. All good.

I selected the inventory (look at my earlier post) and it all arrived on time for the staging. The movers were fantastic as they put your large furnishings exactly where you want them which saves you time and energy.

So far so good – right? My team arrived on time – Lisa Maddocks and Cheryl Grattan were my paid assistants and since I teach home staging two other PRES members were invited for a work experience – Tracy Johnson and Elin Ife.

* Well when I went to inspect the painting I found that through a MISCOMMUNICATION the painter had painted the white mantel over the fireplace BLACK and what I had requested was that he paint out the BRASS not the mantel. What to do, what to do… we just got busy and staged the condo as you see here, and I am going to see what the home owner thinks about the black mantel. It’s not that bad so the lesson is – make sure you have everything in writing and not just verbally as I did with my painter.

* When we went to open up the blinds in the breakfast nook one of the blinds went flying off and so, we were slowed down by having to fix it. In my follow up email to the client I let them know about that, and also 2 of the hallway light fixtures were not working. It’s a nice little ‘value added’ that you can give your client once the job is done.

I’ll keep you posted on whether or not we repaint the fireplace!

Getting a home ready for selling is a very big job. Once a home seller realizes this and hires a home stager to do the work we do best,a huge amount of stress drops away. Sellers can then focus on what they need to do to get ready for the move.

This home is typical of a young, active family home. It was cluttered with everyday living items, toys, games, bowls, chairs, etc. The home owners did a terrific job in doing their pre-pack and cleared out everything except what they needed for daily living.

With a little bit of inventory and some of their own bedding used in different ways, we created a peaceful and inviting guest bedroom. The faux headboard was created by wrapping 2 pillows inside a throw! The children’s room still needed to be functional for them, but with just some moving of furniture around the space became much bigger and more serviceable.

PRES members Sharon Charboneau of Up Staging Your Homes, Irene Huva of Interio Deco and Cheryl Grattan of With Flair Home Staging & Redesign did a fantastic job helping stage this home. We had a lot of fun but then again to us, this is what staging is all about.

The home seller and her realtor were thrilled with the results. Open House this weekend and this house is ready to be sold!