Home Staging News

From www.110mag.com Magazine
January/February 2008
By Jane Carlisle

See the .pdf of the article >>

STAGING YOUR HOME

JANE APPROACHES HOME IMPROVEMENT FROM A STAGING POINT OF VIEW — GIVING US TIPS FOR MAKING OUR HOMES LOOK AS NICE WHILE WE STILL LIVE IN THEM AS THEY WOULD IF SHE PREPARED THEM FOR SALE.

I grew up in America but spoke Spanish as my mother tongue since my mom didn't speak English. My childhood home was in a small town called Harlingen not far from Brownsville deep in the heart of the barren wilderness of south Texas.

We didn't have TV when I was young so I would entertain myself by reading her big, imposing Spanish novels. When I would get stuck on a word I asked her to help me with the meaning.

My mother was a single woman who supported her family by holding down three jobs including running a housecleaning business. She extended her professional standards into her own life and kept her home pincushion neat. Never any mess, clutter, dirt, or dust.

She instilled in her daughter the virtue of neatness and order. "Values are caught not taught," they say and I caught that bug, for sure. I had a corporate career for nearly two decades as an Executive Adminis - trator in Silicon Valley working for some large technology firms and developed some business and organizational skills.

I attended Catholic School at Harlingen's Immaculate Heart of Mary. My education reinforced the qualities of my home life because a bunch of strict nuns taught us to keep our lives clear of spiritual and moral clutter, just as mom taught us to take care of physical clutter.

I'm a devout Catholic and throughout my life have felt guided by the intercessions of the blessed Mother.

We moved to Brentwood four years ago because my husband fell in love with the area and saw it as a great place to raise our daughter, Jacqueline. One of the first sights I saw as we drove into town was a large church that was still under construction.

The sight of that place provided a great affirmation for me, because when I saw the words Immaculate Heart of Mary beside that construction site, I knew that I had come home. My husband had wanted to make this move and seeing that sign got me onboard from my heart with his decision.

I'm a people person and developing relationships with the marvelous men and women in Brentwood was the other big thing that cemented my positive feelings about my new home. I saw an ad for The Delta Women's Connection and almost immediately began developing a network of associates, businesspeople and, especially, good friends.

Friends led to friends; groups led to groups. And experiences unexpectedly led to a profession in the home improvement industry. I had always viewed properties and living spaces with a judicial eye, imagining how I would fix up a waiting room, for example, thinking of how the furniture could be arranged to focus upon the entrance rather than blocking the entrance.

One day I actually did this. I was sitting in a waiting room. The receptionist was my friend so I asked if I could rearrange the furniture in order to help the place look better and so that people could move about more freely.

She was amused at the thought of my doing this, as were the doctors when they saw the result. But they left the arrangement since it was so obviously an improvement.

I'm constantly changing my own home — moving things around, adding an item here or moving a picture there. I have a passion to get things right. Now I've turned my passions into a profession. This began when I sold my own home and a Realtor hired a woman, whom she called a stager, to bring the property up to a bright cosmetic standard.

I had no idea what the word "stager" meant. I shadowed the person to find out what she was doing and suddenly came to an unexpected surmise: "I could do this."

I decided to take a course and become certified in the business. So since 2006 I’ve been Casa Linda Home Staging Services.

I love the title of my business because it reflects the mixed ethnicity of my background, plus I think the words have a lilting quality. As most people know, "casa" is the Spanish word for "home." Fewer people know that "linda" is the Spanish word for "lovely."

So translated into English my business name becomes "Home Lovely Home Staging Services," which I think would be a great title in any language for what I do.

I've become a resource to others about sources for property improvement. I have contact information for excellent and/or reasonably priced painters, landscapers, yard service people, floor specialists, window cleaners, electricians, and carpenters.

STAGING YOUR OWN HOME

Homeowners must often experience a little regret in selling their house when they see how easily a professional stager can make their property look with an investment of only a few hundred dollars and a couple of day's work.

I can imagine them looking at the place in their rear view mirror and wondering, "Why didn’t we keep our home looking this nice while we were still living in it?"

The regret must become especially poignant because of how easy the improvements were to make.

With just a little attention you can keep your house looking attractive and pleasing all the time. Why wait to sell before bringing your home up to a standard that a good Realtor would demand of a property going on the market?

Feel free to fall in love with your home all over again! Usually, with just a little TLC you can once again give your property a brilliant quality, making it a desirable place in which to live.

Here are five relatively simple steps you can take to spruce up your property and bring your home back to life:

1. SPRUCE UP THE FRONT ENTRANCE

The door to your home is like a smile on your face. It's what people might notice first. So freshen up your front door every year or two. A coat of fresh paint or clear varnish will make the entrance way stand out with gleaming freshness.

Many people feel they need to replace a warn or fading door, but a stager wouldn't go to that expense, so why should you? A fresh coat of varnish or paint works wonders and makes the entrance bright and appealing.

Feel free to change the color of the paint occasionally to bring attention to your front door and make it stand out. Do this every few years — whenever it begins to get tired or pick up some scrapes.

Clean out the entrance-way light. Every month or so scrub the porch light and make sure it's sparkling clean. Keep the threshold, moldings, and lintel around the door painted as well, if necessary.

Keep your porch and entryway clean of spider webs. Dust it off.

Paint your cement walkway, if it is fading. If the walkway is stone, rake it and keep it free of debris. Keep any vegetation trimmed and everything clear of weeds.

2. IMPROVE CURB APPEAL

If your front and backyards are looking a little sad, spruce them up by simply adding some color. Paint any fence you might have.

Go to your local home improvement store or nursery and purchase flowering plants in season. This will liven up your home and make it look fresh. Don't develop any attachment to the flowers if a hard freeze comes along, just replant them when the next warm spell arrives.

Some flowers will last through several seasons. Geraniums, for example are hardy plants that bloom until the first frost. Roses can bloom from year-toyear and season-to-season. Hibiscus will last throughout the entire growing season, at least as long as this global warming effect keeps up. They sometimes even bloom past the first frost.

One trick that no stager would use is to plant bulbs in the early spring and then above them plant some spring flowers. The spring flowers will fade just about the time that the bulbs begin to bloom. Check with your local nursery for varieties and planting times.

Citrus trees provide color into the winter with their fruit. They never lose their leaves.

There are a few other things you can do about color during the winter months. For one thing you can maintain potted plants that you simply bring into the house or into a heated garage during freezing times.

During the winter months sometimes the best thing you can do is simply to keep things trimmed and raked up. Sometimes you have to just settle for neat, but the absence of dead leaves and overgrowth will keep your yard attractive.

Freshen up your bark areas from time-to-time. Bark fades after a while, so simply add another coat. You'll be surprised at the difference that will make. Or replace bark with lava rock, which is much cheaper than river stones and will go for years without blemishing or fading.

3. DE-CLUTTER

If you've been in your home for a few years you might want to get rid of extraneous things you have accumulated that add neither quality nor interest to your decor. Be ruthless!

Walk through the rooms of your house and look at each of them as though you were considering buying the property. Fix anything you find that you don't like.

If you don't know where to begin, simply take the house one room at a time, one day at a time. By focusing on one room at a time, you'll be able to concentrate and rid the place of things that no longer belong there, or that you no longer need. Stagers always remove knick-knacks and collections, but you can display favorite collections.

However, keep these to a minimum. Don't get carried away. Use a zero sum game — always throw something away every time you get something new.

Participate in a lot of yard sales — from behind the tables and racks and not from in front. Otherwise the problem simply increases. Watch the show "Clean House" on TLC and take notes.

4. ARRANGE

Rearrange your furniture, change things around. For example, move things from your family room over to your living room, and vise versa. Do the same with pictures.

Consider adding some family portraits to your family room over the fireplace to make it more personal.

By going room by room and making simple changes such as new bedding, window coverings, or adding a piece or two, you will give your home an entirely newer and fresher look.

Avoid the status quo like the plague. Bring a painting from upstairs and put it downstairs. Refocus your furniture. Experiment. (You can always move things back, if you think you made a mistake.)

5. PAINT

Don't be afraid to use color. In our first house we had white walls. Never again! White walls can make you feel like you're in a hospital. Colors make rooms warm and cozy so add some to your walls, if you haven't already. A little paint can go a long way to giving your house a fresh rejuvenated appearance.

You made a big investment when you purchased your home, be proud of it! Consult with a local interior decorator or a home stager if you need suggestions and/or recommendations. Many people think they have to spend a fortune in order to make their home look beautiful. That's not true. Begin working with what you already have, and if necessary, buy an accessory or two to complete the picture.

Sometimes you can make a big difference with only a small change.

Take small steps. Do a little bit every week. You will be amazed by the change that will take place in a month or so.

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