Home Staging Pennsylvania- Hart & Associates Servicing the Main Line, Philadelphia, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties.

Staging is a dirty, dirty business. Each and every day we have the glamorous job of delicately telling clients that their homes need to sparkle and shine in order to make the best first impression on buyers. Today however the clutter and the dirt was my own- I took on the twice yearly task of organizing and taking inventory of our storage space and it was a job I would not soon like to repeat again.

9:13 I meet my intern at the storage space. Neither one of us is looking forward to today's assignment and I did not have the heart to ask her to do it by herself. I try to look at it as a teaching assignment- one of the non glamorous tasks of owning your own business means that you are responsible for all aspects of it- Surely I could have hired a day laborer to do it for me but I decided to do it myself so frankly I could save the $$. We go through the shelves removing the items we have not used in months- placing kitchen items with kitchen items, office decor with similar accent pieces and arranging the art in neat rows along the wall.

1:37 We are finished and we have one clean and well organized space. I am so pleased with the results but I know that when 3 homes are destaged next week that the space will go back to looking chaotic. I load my car with the items we are discarding and make my way to my 2:00 appointment.

2:01 I meet my window treatment installer at a client's home to let her put up the window treatments. Luckily I can leave her there and return later to check her work.

2:45 I arrive back at my office and down a salad while I check emails and return voice mails. I look at the clock and an hour has passed. I jump in the car to take the boys to get a haircut since they have graduation this week.

4:52 We finish up at the barber shop and swing by the client's house to lock up after the window treatment installer. They are out of town and not returning until next week.

5:07 We are home and put them in front of the TV so I can shower before my 6:30 appointment. My sons asks me why I need to take a shower and I tell him because I cleaned out the unit today- he replies that he does not want to have a storage unit when he grows up- it is too much work! So smart....

6:03 My husband is late getting home and I am going to be late for my 6:30 consult. I speed there arriving 5 minutes late. No worries, we cannot get in the house because she has a buyer looking at it.

6:55 The buyer has left and I proceed with the appointment. It is a charming home with lots of light and very clean. Since her husband has already relocated for work I help her arrange some of the spaces to give the rooms better flow and hang up the artwork for her. An hour later we are done and I promise to send her the written report later this evening.

8:23 On the way home I grab a pizza.

8:46 Exhausted from manual labor I write up the report and send it to the client. Tomorrow I have two more consults- thank goodness there is no storage unit to deal with.

That's all the dirt on me today- just the real facts about running a staging business and all the dirty work that comes with it.