My Friend Didn't Want to Stage her Vacant House

I received a few requests to post the before and after pictures of my vacant home. Let me know what you think of my staging techniques on a smaller budget.

Living Room and Dining Room Before Great first impression.

Okay. I must start out with the fact that this is my first blog ever! Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I have to share a learning experience that shows how we Stagers can never educate enough about the benefits of Staging. I happended to be driving through my friends neighborhood, and my jaw dropped when I saw a "For Sale" sign on her front lawn. My first thought was "Why didn't she call me for my expert advice?" and then I realized she never even mentioned to me that she was moving - really strange. Come to find out, she had just put her house on the market - that day, so I was lucky. I also found out that I had not done a very good job of educating her on the benefits of Staging. The fact that she didn't think of me as someone that could help her sell her house, really affected me hard. After all, I am a "Professional", so what was the problem. She had to ask her agent first if she should Stage and the agent was all over it and supported the Staging 100% (thank goodness). Many people, still don't consider Staging as something they need to do before they put a house on the market. They think that it's just a fad that will soon pass. Well, these are the same people that end up calling me 6 months later because they've received zero offers and don't know what else to do to get their house sold. The main reason why my friend didn't think her house needed Staging was because it looked so much better vacant than when they were living in it. I had to agree with her, it did look better without all their 1980's stuff and the odd placement of their furnishings. However, I had to explain that it would look even more appealing once I got my hands on it. Now that I've Staged it, the house looks amazing and the homeowner still can't believe her eyes. I've done things to her house that I've wanted to do since I first stepped into it, so the moral of the story is be sure you've done a good job of convincing the people closest to you about the benefits of Staging - especially a vacant house. I still can't believe she didn't call me! But the good news is that I've converted a non-believer and she is now one of my biggest fans!