Timing Matters...
/Like most things in life timing is a major key to a successful outcome, especially when it comes to staging in the real estate market. I’m used to working around contractors because home renovations and flips usually come down to the last second. This is something I 100% understand which is why I am very flexible with the clients needs and conditions, but there has been a few...extreme cases to say the least.
Nothing is more heartbreaking than getting your whole crew and furniture to the location and realizing the conditions are unworkable. Take a look at a four bedroom, three bath, two living room project we encountered.
This is a BEAUTIFUL house that I actually helped design from the ground up, but when the list date was pushed up two weeks we were all a bit frazzled. An inch of dirt covered the whole house and flooring wasn’t even complete. At first glance I said no way can we work in these conditions because our furniture will get ruined. I had never had to work in this kind of environment but knew I could not let my client fall behind on his dates. Our client contacted us with an urgent request that went something like this:
“Hey Michelle I NEEEED you to come stage this Tuesday because I want the house on the market at the end of the week...oh and we have photographers coming Wednesday at 3pm. Can you make this happen???”
As you can probably guess by first thought went something like this after seeing the conditions of the home:
“Ummm….NOT POSSIBLE!!!”
My actual response however, went something like this:
“Sure thing...we’ll be there...no problem…”
With all of the dust and unfinished construction I was doubtful that anyone would actually finish on time. And full disclosure...this is not a normal request/turnaround time! We worked HARD for two days straight not only designing rooms, but also cleaning as we go!
And all of my fellow stagers and designers out there know the feeling of getting a room perfect and having contractors moving it around to place light switch covers or place baseboards (insert eye roll emoji here).
This was definitely a learning experience but it was also one of my favorite home designs I’ve ever done! It also taught me to revise my contract for working conditions!
Check out the finished product!
