Since creating the “to be continued” blog, I’ve been closing each post with the words “dwell in possibilities.” I must confess that I borrowed this phrase from the great poet, Emily Dickinson. I saw her quote and realized that it summed up what I am doing as a professional home stager and interior designer.

I am most grateful to Ms. Dickinson for her insightful and inspiring phrase.

Regardless of the size or price range of a house, my objective is to find the possibilities in that house. I am looking for those unique features of that house and finding possible ways to accentuate them for the potential buyer. I am analyzing those unusual spaces that buyers find difficult to understand upon first glance and finding possible functional uses for those spaces.

In the end, my mission is to help the potential buyer see how they could dwell in the possibilities of this house!


Friday, July 29, 2011

Friday Treat – Review of Best Staged Plans

I finally read the much touted (in real estate staging circles anyway) book Best Staged Plans by Claire Cook.  It was a very light and somewhat entertaining read.  It was also a bit “cutesy” for my taste, but, nonetheless, I enjoyed it.

The first sentence on the book cover pretty well sums up the premise.  “As a professional home stager, Sandy Sullivan is an expert at transforming cluttered rooms into attractive houses ready for sale.  If only reinventing her life were as easy as choosing the perfect paint color…….”

I could relate to Sandy as we are similar in some predictable ways.  She is a home stager, she is middle aged and her children are grown, and she wears reading glasses which she is constantly losing (my solution is to just have multiple pairs).   

I could also relate to how difficult it was for home stager, Sandy, to “de-clutter” and stage her own home.  I have to admit the progression of the storyline and the conclusion were clever and went a long way in explaining the title of the book.

As you can imagine, I especially enjoyed some of the story lines that involved specific home staging projects.  For instance Sandy had a very skeptical, territorial but motivated client with a very dated home (does this sound like it could happen in real life?).  

I don’t want to spoil the story, but, I can’t wait to use “million-dollar red” on a front door and try out her “neutral but chic, transitional palette” of “china white” and “pismo dunes”.   According to Sandy “a house will jump two and a half decades by the second coat”.  Of course, Sandy also handled her difficult client expertly!

So, if you want a quick and light summer read, you may enjoy Claire Cook’s Best Staged Plans. 

P.S.  Claire Cook also wrote the best seller that later became a movie “Must Love Dogs” which starred Diane Lane and John Cusack.   Could there be a Best Staged Plans movie in the future?  And if so, then who will play the home stager?  Just think of the possible glamorous actresses who could play a middle-aged home stager - Meryl, Julia, Gwyneth, Diane, or Roseanne!
 

Dwell in possibilities


Cindy

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