Yesterday, my son in law (who I call Mr. G QUE) came over to help my husband carry in our new bathroom vanity. Beautiful by the way, black granite countertop over cherry wood free standing vanity. LOVE IT! Anyway, as he was sitting and chatting with us in our living room he "suggested" that I get rid of this particular comfy yet old and okay kind of ugly chair that I was sitting on.
Well I now knew what it was like to be sitting across from a stager in the sellers hot seat. It wasn't pretty. I felt a strong emotional attachment to that chair and immediately began to protest. What will I put in that corner, I cannot afford to buy a new one, what will I sit on? The list went on and on!
Suddenly he and my husband got up and SWOOSH the chair was out on the curb! My heart broken. Well not really, I felt kind of relieved because I would never have done that.
I began to rearrange some chairs and tables and to my surprise my living room looks really BIG! My fireplace kind of POPS more. What do you know, I stage and could not let go of my ugliness. It wasn't clutter, it was just old and made the room look dated.
Stagers put yourself in the sellers shoes. It is not easy having someone come in your home and tell you that you need to remove this that or the other thing. Yes we will make their home look nicer, bigger, help them to get more money, etc., but let us ALWAYS keep in mind their feelings.
We need to gently COAX them into seeing the BIGGER PICTURE! Then once we have their confidence....SWOOSH out with the ugly chairs, curtains, pictures, etc. Gain their trust and respect and when they see one small change they will agree to the larger ones we suggest.
By the way the chair is still sitting by my curb, even the people who pick up these "items" don't want it, Ha, Ha!! I did try to convince my husband how nice it would look slipcovered but he just responded..."it will NEVER happen"
Happy Staging and Keep Staging It Forward
What is it with the attachment we all get to our "stuff", good, bad or ugly.
The other day I caught "someone" in my house wiping down a home-made stereo speaker bracket to put in a closet and save....it had served it's purpose and was no longer needed. It would likely never be used again, in this house or any other. It turned into a 20 minute discussion about why it should be "set free".
The hard part is determining the difference between "us owning stuff or "stuff owning us."
This is FUNNY! It also makes excellent points:
But, I will defend your poor ugly chair in that you are not preparing your home for sale...
Hey Phyllis,
Great minds DO think alike! How ironic that you and Judy Kincaid wrote along the same lines today! Even Craig's blog talked of being sympathetic to the seller....
I think that the Stagers of AR must have needed to hear this message today!
Staging It Forward,
Val
Phyllis, it looks like we both had the same epiphany....must be those little voices in our heads again!
Your story also drives home the point, "The way we live in our homes and the way we present them to sell are two different things". If my house were to go on the market tomorrow, I would have to stay up all night staging it!
Keep posting those great blogs....you inspire me!
Judy
P.S. That is the correct spelling.
Believe me - we have a couple of sofas that I would gladly set a match to! They were once beautiful little love seats that worked with just about any style and complimented any colour scheme.
That was before my boys discovered the lost art of sofa jumping, launching pillows, and using them for practice while training as Jedi knights...oh, and let's not forget when the youngest decided to use one as his canvass for his latest artistic creation.
I learnt a long time ago not to get attached to furniture...I also learnt not to sit on my brand new leather sofa just after slathering myself with body butter...but that's another story!
Hey Philis - I kind of talked about this same thing in my blog this week. I really didn't get into the emotional end of it so thanks for the reminder. There are some pics of my own homes in there - scary stuff.Myth # 5 BUSTED - Homeowners can stage a home themselves. WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
PS - If my spell checker had lips I would kiss it!!!