Environmentally Challenged

Yesterday we staged a house that was environmentally challenged. Maureen and Emily and I set out to take on the task bright and early before it got too hot! I thought I'd add a few of the photos just for fun.

What makes homes more difficult is when the homeowner is still living there we are working with their furniture and personal tastes. Often times I don't have things in the warehouse that go with the more dated furnishings. So I am always on a treasure hunt. Garage sales and thrift shops often yield some great finds. Who could not love a job that pays you to go shopping for fun decorating items that you get to keep after the house sells! Next week we are doing a vacant house where I have chosen the furnishings from our rental company...so much easier to do! I'll put those photos in next week so you can see the difference.

Shooting photos of the houses can be very challenging. It is hard to really see them on a 2 dimensional plane and get the feeling produced after the work is done. One room that is always so hard to capture is the bathroom because it is generally so small it is hard to get the essence of it in the photograph.

Here is what two of the bathrooms looked like
before and after~

This bathroom below was adjoining the guest room so colors had to be coordinated. The color scheme was set by the bedding and curtains so we had to find something from our gallery to match it. I was happy with this bathroom when it was done.

The bedroom before and after. Sometimes it just takes
a few touches to lift up the room to make it show well. I asked them to remove the end table on the right during the consultation as it was wall to closet furniture when left in. Leaving it empty was much more pleasing to the eye.


I really wrestled with this family room.


This room was really conflicted. It was full of huge furniture and a vintage coke machine, slot machine and a juke box. All the gaming stuff was taken out to give more space and less clutter. The other problem was the feminine fabric on the windows and throw pillows and the massive masculine furniture. The crowning blow was the yellow accent wall (of all the colors in the fabric..no yellow!) and the print over the sofa is hung too high and does not go with any of it except the yellow wall! So that is how we found it...

This is how we left it.
We did a little vignette with soda and popcorn
on the counter to give the room a little touch of
life and fun to go with the big screen across from the sofa!

Check out the print over the sofa~all wrong! Too small
and no connection to the fabrics in the room.


The solution! I was desperate to find ( and not necessarily have to buy) a print that incorporated the colors of the draperies and went nicely with the leather furniture. At 4:30 in the morning I took a walk around my own house and found the perfect thing in my guest room. So I broke one of my cardinal rules and swiped it from home! I miss it already~fingers crossed for a quick sale!

This house has a great kitchen.
It was fun to just add some vignettes in here.

Sometimes you don't get a good before picture
so you can't really use the after photo in your portfolio
but here is the master bedroom's dresser.

Sometimes you come on the staging day
and find something new you weren't expecting
like this patio table on the deck.

The dining area was crowded with a big wine rack on the wall on the right side of the window and a china hutch on the wall where the palm tree is now located.
Moving that out really made it seem so much more spacious.

Emily and Maureen are such great assistants~now if only
Laura was here too, there would be no stopping us!

Thanks & Hugs~Dear Friends!