I thought it was a time again to jolt the minds of those that think staging is merely fluffing with the realities of what we see as stagers on a daily basis. I was inspired by Jennie's blog today about the many ways that stagers can create a niche for their services- call it residential staging, office staging, senior staging, personal shopping or staging to live- what we do each day is more than staging- we are hand holders, therapists, divorce counselors, personal stylists, investment advisers, space planners, and above all else business owners.
Last week I decided that I wanted to share my wisdom on the arts of home staging with a student from a local design school. I had mentored and allowed new home stagers to assist me on jobs but found that they were merely there to gain insight into my marketing practices, my target client list, my consultation forms and above all else my $6,000 contract for my services. A design student however did not know anything about staging, was not about to forge out on her own to start a competitive business in my back yard and would frankly be willing to work because she needed the 6 credits as part of her Summer internship.
I called a local design school and soon was put in touch with a lovely woman who had previously been a math teacher, currently worked at a technology firm and did not have any practical design experience. This was exactly what I wanted- a mind to corrupt with the realities of home staging. I called the student and told her right away all the negatives of the job- how we needed to lift things, hang things, load things and she still wanted to come and observe the next day. When she arrived at the job and quickly rolled up her sleeves and began detagging things I knew I had to hire her right away. Below is a summary of her second day on the job and the amazing things we encountered:
9:00 I meet my intern in front of client's home. I was contacted by a Realtor who had not previously used our services for a consultation for one of her clients. I encouraged my new protege to come along so she could observe how I interact with clients and how I determine what the client needs to do to prepare their home for sale. I pull up to the house and I am relieved that it is a charming home with gorgeous landscaping- nothing too scary for her first client experience.
9:02 We know on the door and we are instantly bombarded by a giant sheep dog that jumps on me and leaves muddy paw prints on my new pants. I smirk and tell the homeowner how much I love dogs and mine do this to me all the time. The home owner does not smile back- she is in her bathrobe- she forgot we were coming. I offer to return at a later time but she ushers us in.
9:04 I begin my introduction to the homeowner explaining how I am there not to judge her personal taste but merely to give her a plan on how she can make her home more competitive with other homes on the market. I tell her that typically the client walks with me through the home so we can discuss how the buyer sees the space. She tells me she is not interested and that she will be outside on the patio until we are done.
9:10 The intern and I walk through the home. I explain to her that typically clients are excited to see us and interested in our advice and not to take this morning as any indication of what the Summer holds for her. The first floor of the home is typical. Too much wall paper, floors that need to be polished, dingy carpet on the stairs that needs to be removed, built in bookcases that need decluttering and furniture that needs to be thinned out and arranged to better showcase the size of the room. I robotically dictate my notes to my assistant and explain the reasons behind each of my suggestions as if she is the client.
9:45 We make our way up to the second floor. I am happy that the client is outside. We can finish this house quickly, go to the coffee shop down the street, pull out my laptop and email this report to the client before lunchtime. When I open the door to her daughter's room I gasp. On the floor there are mountains of clothes blocking the entry way. I literally step over a weeks worth of school uniforms, jeans of all shades of denim, a rainbow of polo shirts, and underwear in all sorts of patterns and sizes. Yikes. I turn to the student and ask her how she would describe this space- "gross" she replies. Ahhhhhh the glamour of homestaging.
9:47 We enter the bathroom and find the same situation as the bedroom. I look quickly at the vanity- well at least they have marble counters I exclaim trying to find the positive in this situation. I look again- it is not marble. The daughter has smeared her foundation all over the countertop and it has made marble like patterns when mixed with her hair that has fallen into the sink. Imaging adding this to the checklist- "Before showing your home make sure to have your daughter clean the makeup off her vanity since at first glance it looks like marble. We do not want buyers to mistake this for an upgrade and be disappointed when they purchase the home and discover that you only have white formica."
9:52 We leave the bedroom and go down the hall to the son's room. The mother had warned me that he had some personal items that he agreed to put away such as posters of women and his weight lifting items. I open the door and cannot believe my eyes. There on the wall in front of me are gigantic plastic BOOBS. I turn to the intern and tell her to take note- this is not something we see every day. We go through the room creating our checklist- "To make your home more welcoming to families with young children you may want to consider removing the boobs, the naked women posters, the kegerator, the beer tap, the 5 guns on the dresser, the dirty underwear on the bathroom floor and the half eaten hamburger on your pillow."
10:27 We have finished with the rest of the house. I offered to summarize our findings for the homeowner but she told me to send her the email and she would get back to me with questions. As we walk to the car I tell the intern that this was a good experience for her- she got to see how some of our clients live. This was a unique situation and obviously there are some issues going on for that client.
10:35 We are on our way to write up the report when I get a frantic call from a Realtor that is a client of mine. She asks me if I can come right away and stage a house for her that needs to be photographed that day. I make mental note to write up the consult later that day and agree to go to the home so that the intern can get some hands on experience- I also cannot say no to this Realtor she gives me 4 stagings a month.
11:00 We arrive at the house and we are awestruck. It is a charming 1800's farmhouse that has been lovingly restored with a new Viking Kitchen, spa like bathrooms and an amazing post and beam master suite. There is no one there but we have permission to begin preparing the home.
11:10 We have toured the house. It is immaculate. The cleaning woman has just been there- I can tell because the toilet paper is folded into roses and the house smells like Mr. Clean. There is no clutter, there is no extra furniture, there is no tacky sofa or animal head collection to hide. In fact there is nothing- no kitchen accessories, no towels or spa products to primp the bathroom, no pillows to fluff the master bedroom, no tray to add the typical tea set to the guest bedroom- no food in the cabinets, no coffee mugs, no fruit bowls, no wine glasses. We call the realtor and she informs me that this house needs me to rent them some of my accessories to give it some oomph. She thought I had those things in the back of the car and could just drop some items off. I do not have a magic stager mobile but I do have a full storage unit so we are off to pick a few items to add some drama to this pristine space.
12:38 We are back from the storage unit and we quickly get to work. Fake lemons, topiary trees, orchids, mirrors, gold thow pillows and tea sets go into the space and it magically goes from hospital sterile to sophisticated sleek. The homeowner comes home and is elated.
2:15 No time for lunch. That staging detour cost us some time today which I will have to make up later. We are scheduled to go see a vacant home for a builder that he wants staged. I am familiar with the neighborhood- grand homes, mini mansions, all stunning and all expensive. As we proceed up the driveway I am speechless for the second time today. This is no mini mansion- this is an French Provincial Estate. The intern smiles. This is way better than CAD class.
2:30 We meet with the builder who was referred to me by a former client. He gives us a tour of the home explaining the attention to detail- the hand-carved plaster moldings, the pure white onyx fireplace surrounds, the $14,000 chandelier that was flown in from France to mimic the one at Versailles, the $8,000 sinks in the jack and jill bathroom and the landscaping designed by a world renowned landscape architect. Can I help him display the accessories he has from another model and can I help him purchase a table for the dining room? I try not to drool as I nod yes and promise to get him a proposal that evening.
3:37 We get in the car and the interns eyes are as big as saucers. "You have the coolest job" she whispers. "I know I say- not bad for not being an interior designer" We head off to do our last task of the day. We have a home to stage tomorrow and we need to pull the inventory and pack the car.
4:12 We arrive at the storage unit. I has just destaged a home last week and most of the items we would be using tomorrow for the next house. Always the teacher, I explain to her how I use color to pull the room together. I lay the items out in the parking lot of the storage unit. Living Room items in one area, dining room items in another area etc. We begin to wrap and pack. After 45 minutes I can tell that this task pales in comparison to touring European Estates.
5:19 We have loaded up the car. I will have to take one load over in the morning and return after the furniture delivery to gather the rest of the items. We have determined that we need a few more throw pillows and plants so we decide to hit up Home Goods on the way home.
5:42 We arrive at Home Goods and I realize that we need another area rug for the dining room- it was not on our list. I quickly pick out a neutral 8x10 and head to the register. $419.00 and we are out the door.
5:45 I have to unpack the car to fit the rug in the back. We look like gypsies arranging our wares beside the car- it is sprinkling and I tell her not to worry about the art- we can wipe it down but to guard the silk pillows so they don't stain.
6:13 We pull into my driveway "Is is ok if I use your bathroom" she asks " I have not peed yet today" I forgot that interns have not developed iron bladders and the ability like me to exist on chardalattes.
6:35 She has gone home and I am typing away on my lap top trying to get the consultation from that morning out to the client so she can begin her staging assignment. Artfully I make macaroni and cheese for the kids and bullet point suggestions to make her space more saleable. My husband is out of town so I do not worry about eating until after the kids are in bed.
7:48 Baths done, nails clipped, clothes laid out for tomorrow. I finish up the report and hit send. I then get to work on the estimate for the builder. I do not even want to charge him- payment enough is just want to be in that house, breath the air in that house, touch the sinks in that house. BUT I have to keep us in fake fruit and faux plants so I write up a proposal for our services and send it off to him.
9:02 I am brushing my teeth. I am washing my face. I am setting the alarm when I hear the ding from my computer alerting me that I have a new email. Don't look I tell myself. Do not go into the office and look. Go to bed like normal people do. Watch American Idol. Watch HGTV until you fall asleep. Like a zombie I open my laptop and there it is an email from my morning consultation client. I am sure that she has a question about the bookcases or something. She writes:
"This was a waste of time and money. To neat up the house to show is not what
I expected to hear. I am not that stupid.This was to be a design consult.
I am now officially finished. No offense, but the review is USELESS. Strip
and paint everything white or paint everything white???????
I am now out of the house hunting market."
What! My heart sinks. I have never in 3 years received an email like this. I am shocked, stunned, floored. I had sent her an 8 page report detailing how to arrange each room, how to lighten and brighten the space, recommendations for wall paper removal and repainting and carpeting rooms never once judging her or the condition of her children's rooms. I do not know how to respond.
9:27 I have gotten off the phone with the Realtor. She is not surprised. Remember how the client did not seem interested at all in the proposal this morning? She did not want to hear the truth about her home, her life, her children and was afraid of seeing how others see it. The Realtor was pleased with the report, thought it thorough and fair and that I made design recommendations that were reasonable for a woman going through a divorce that did not want to spend a fortune getting her home ready for sale.
9:42 I want to turn out the lights, switch off that client from my thoughts. My cellphone rings. I assume it is the realtor calling me back telling me she calmed the client down and all is well. It is not. It is the Realtor for my job in the morning. The job I just packed and loaded and prepped and scheduled and purchased an emergency rug for. She cheerfully tells me that her client got an offer this evening and we will not need you to stage the house in the morning. I feel like I am choking. I calmly tell her"Wow that is so wonderful. I know that he will be so relieved and you too since you have put so much work into marketing it. Do not worry about us- we are in the business of marketing and selling homes and this is the end result we want all our clients to have." She tells me that she knows I will have to keep the deposit since the job was cancelled so suddenly- $500.00 on a 3.2 million dollar listing.
10:07 I am at the computer again- emailing the team not to come tomorrow. I call the rental company to leave a message for the dispatcher to deliver the news to his crew.
10:13 I go to bed and lay there staring at the ceiling. Was it a bad day? Dirty underwear, plastic boobs, $14,000 chandeliers, emergency stagings aside it was typical. I needed to get some sleep- I had a car to unpack tomorrow. Wait until I tell the intern!
