“I Know It's Going to Help Us Sell Our Home!” – Staging with the Prettiest View in Bartlesville

How is this for client feedback after staging a house? 

“You were wonderful and easy to work with, honest with your opinions and from the preliminary view, did a great job!  For us, that's as good as it gets!  Thank you so much for all the work you put into the house.  I know it's going to help us sell our home!”

Today, we feature a really great house with an even better view in the Circle Mountain area just west of Bartlesville, Oklahoma.  It was so much fun to stage, made even more so by enthusiastic homeowners and an encouraging Realtor.  The wonderful testimonial was icing on the cake for me.

This particular engagement was a type of “hybrid”.  The house had been vacated, but, fortunately for me, the homeowners left some handpicked larger pieces of furniture (like sofas, rugs, beds, etc) for me to embellish with my own artwork, accessories and accent pieces.

·         The recently updated and open kitchen had several best features to highlight.  I used glass, stainless and a simple color scheme to keep all eyes on the updates and prettiest view in Bartlesville. 

·         The wood beamed family room, also with the prettiest view in Bartlesville (not seen in our pictures) just needed some vibrant artwork, pillows and an accessorized coffee table.

·         The elegant living room is the first thing a potential buyer will see when entering the house.  Since this is the place a potential buyer will decide if this is their house, I take extra care in making sure this space doesn’t disappoint.  . I simply but fully filled the bookcases with covered books and consistent accessories.  Blue animal print wingback chairs, a cream shag rug and a mosaic piece of art over the mantle added freshness to the homeowner’s brown leather sofa.   

This home is located at 2520 Mountain Road in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and listed by Pat Poindexter - McAnaw & Company Realtors (http://patpoindexter.com).  You can find lots more photos of this Mountain Road home on our website at http://www.transitions-home-staging.com/Mountain-Road.html

It is great to be appreciated for your staging work.  The only better feeling is when the staged house sells quickly.  After all, that is why we did the staging in the first place.  It opens up the house to all of its possibilities!!

 

Dwell in possibilities

Cindy

Sound Familiar - I Documented My Life by Collecting Things

Sound familiar?  “I documented my life by collecting things – letters from friends and lold boyfriends . . . and the mugs, snow globes, and other kitsch picked up on rambling family trips to places like Tijuana and Niagara Falls.”

Realtor and their professional stager partners spend a good bit of time and lots of psychic energy convincing home sellers to clear out, box or reduce the photos, mementos, “and other kitsch” to help the house appeal to the potential buyers.  For many sellers, this request is very emotional because they believe the Realtor and stager are asking them to discard memories, important pieces of their life and symbols of their sense of self. 

The opening quote is from Pamela Weintraub, author of a Psychology Today article entitled “Lighten Up – How I Discovered the Power of Divestment and Living Small”.  This article contains many nuggets and insights useful to regular followers of “to be continued”.

·         “It was University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler who demonstrated the endowment effect – the phenomenon in which just owning something causes you to overestimate its worth.”

·         “The more an object reflects our self-worth, the more its loss hurts, says Rosellina Ferraro, an assistant professor at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and an expert on unconscious consumer choice.  “Those who value relationships most feel saddest at the loss of a possession that reflects relationships, such as gifts from friends.  The career-driven person values possessions like diplomas and awards; the spiritual person, symbols of faith.”

·         “Our innate tendency to acquire and collect has become especially problematic in the United States” says James Burroughs, an expert in consumer behavior at the University of Virginia.  “There is so much space that we have large dwellings and we put off prioritizing our possessions, sometimes for decades.”

·         Reclaiming my life meant divesting, but it was easier said than done.  “Our survival has shifted from a need for growth to one of sustainability”, says Matthew Knutson, author of The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking.  “But our instincts are rooted in the past.  Parting with things can fill us with fear.”

You can read the full article in the April, 2012 issue of Psychology Today or online at http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201203/lighten

Like the shoemaker’s children, I must confess that our house is chocked full of memories, important pieces of our life and symbols of our sense of self (and not photos, mementos, “and other kitsch”!?!?). 

And, we are always talking about finding time to clean out that closet, organize the garage and simplify our stuff.  But at least at this point, this is the house we live in and not the house we are selling.  We may need professional help (Realtors, therapists, movers, etc.,) when we decide to move and sell our wonderful house.

Imagine the possibilities when that day arrives at the Gasior household!!

Dwell in possibilities

 

Cindy