Cynthia Pulsifer - www.acharlestonhouse.com

Last week I just finished up a commercial project whereby the client needed short term rental furniture. The problem was this: It was a hotel that was VERY modern in style and he needed tables, chairs and barstools. Most of the time, I like to mix things up as I tend to be more eclectic in my design style. This particular project screamed...modern only!

To start with, the rug in the lobby area was geometric and quite colorful. Very colorful. Very primary. The sofa was ultra modern and bright. We needed 2 lounge chairs, end tables and a coffee table to go with that. My first thought was the short term furniture rental stores! Surely they would have a way to put together the amount of furniture I needed by pulling from several of their store locations....NOT! They simply did not have anything that would work.

The biggest problem turned out to be the 6 tables, with 4 chairs each that matched and 8 modern, tall barstools. Charleston is predominately traditional in design with an eclectic feel, so short term furniture rental places don't even carry the contemporary styles that are on their website AND they definately don't have multiple matching tables and chairs of anything that would remotely work. After much searching, here is how I met the need:

Event rental places! They actually had modern furniture...really modern. Of course, the price was high, and they normally only put furniture in short term events...but they were able to work with us, though to only charge us 2 event fees for a whole month of furniture rental.

For the 2 lounge chairs, we used armless microfiber chairs and put some modern pillows on them for a pop of color and drama. The end tables had to be painted a color to match the style as they only had white or dark wood. For a coffee table, we selected 4 cubes and made them into a square.

The 6 tables were very "mod" and looked like they were straight from the 60's. They actually were fine, but the matching mod swivel chairs were just too much. Simple clean-lined silver painted chairs with cushions did the trick. Modern swivel barstools in white leather really worked at the eating counter.

This was a very challenging project as I did all of this in just under 8 hours! It was a lot of work, but worth it for the challenge and the fun of it. Hopefully their furniture that is on order will be here in about a month.

I am not sure if any of you stagers out there have run into this problem, but I hope this will help save you some time if you run into a similar problem.

I recently responded to another stagers blog about the difference between staging and decorating and it made me think that I wanted to blog on the subject from a design background. First of all, yes, staging and decorating are different. The whole purpose is so different that the whole approach and outcome of the design would have to be.

In comes the habit! I say it...."decorating, decorating, decorating" ahhhhhhh!

Because I come from a design background, it is hard for me to not interchange the terms, but I am really trying to watch it. Sometimes my peers will catch me saying it, and will say, "staging is not decorating!" with a certain amount of what seems like frustration. In my case, I just need to break the habit of interchanging the terms.

Home Staging: Some of the best home stagings I have done, from a strict design standpoint looked incomplete. In my mind, there was still a "blank wall" to be filled, or more accessories that could be brought in, when in fact the very absence of these is what made the staging work! To draw the eye to a particular area of the room sometimes requires a blank wall! Having said this, my decorating background definately helps, but must be brought into "check" on a home staging. Home Staging for me, requires more thought (so much for the artsy side) and a much more practical approach than redesign. In short, from a decorating standpoint, I have to hold back! That can be hard, when the decorator in me says, "just a little touch here and there would make it picture perfect." So I have had to embrace my love of staging for different reasons than just the "look"....like making a client happy that there house sold. Now that is very rewarding! That is what we all love in this industry...a sucessful staging that sold and happy homeowners who sold their house.

Here is an example of a low budget occupied staging that sold where I had to hold back the "decorator side." In the before photo below you can see that the room had to be opened up since the sofa cut off the room to showcase it's size. In my mind....where are the living room chairs??? ...and what about a real dining room table??? A pub table in a dining room area???

After Staging: The room was opened up, simply staged and the pub table did the trick after all. This would not be my choice for a rug, but the client purchased it on her own and we had to use it. It was a smaller scale than what I would have liked. But, it all worked because it sold.

Here is another example: These clients were also on a tight budget, but in my mind...what about a rug??? and window treatments??? They would really "complete the space". The truth is that it was fine and sold in 30 days! For staging purposes, the absence of the rug actually showcased the beauty of the hardwood floors and made it appear huge, which it was.

Redesign: In redesign, there is a total freedom to express myself artistically (within the customer's parameters, of course.) I feel like I can "fly." The ideas are in my head and there are lots of design choices and directions we can go and...well... it is just plain fun! It is a real joy when a customer gets as excited as I do about the redesign process (that's hard to do). As you can tell, there is still a very big part of me that loves to redecorate. The most rewarding part is helping someone come home to a house that they only "liked" before to now love and embrace it in a new way.

OK...Here is a recent redesign. I am flying now! :) This was a fun project. Now, I was comfortable...plenty of furniture available, rugs, some limitations on accessories, but all in all, plenty of nice stuff to work with! This is the room before:

She loved the room after: There was not a sense of restraint for me, other than working with her existing accessories. She was very traditional and it was fun to give her a traditional look, a "full" look that she could enjoy. She could not wait to have her friends over. That just made me feel good. I loved making her happy!

In Summery: Sometimes using the term "decorating" for staging can be misunderstood, and rightfully so. As decorators, maybe we tend to use terms interchangeably because we always have and are comfortable using them. Old habits die hard but need to be broken in this industry so that there is no misunderstanding. As the owner of a home staging and redesign company, I need to realize that terms mean a lot to others. Having an understanding of the difference is not always enough. For me, home staging from a decorating mindset is all about "holding back" whereas redesign is having a "freedom to express." It is very clear that staging is not decorating. Now, if I can just get rid of that "decorating" term when talking about staging! ...

Those of you who come from a design background, do you ever feel the same way?

In this townhouse community, there were 10 other homes for sale and most were 2 to 3 years newer. Another challenge of this home was the fact that the main level was on the second floor. From that main second level, you still have to continue up another flight of stairs to go to the bedrooms. To me, I knew this property really needed to stand out to sell. The house was on the market for two months before going under contract.

Here is the dining area off the great room

BEFORE... ...And AFTER!

The Great Room BEFORE staging...

and AFTER!...

Here is the BEFORE of the Great Room looking towards the kitchen:

And AFTER..

The Kitchen BEFORE...

And AFTER...

The homeowner actually did a great job with the upstairs bedrooms, so we did not have to stage them, other than putting some trays with coffee mugs and magazines on the bed and a throw!

These were super nice people who knew the value of staging, though they were on a strict budget. We worked hard and fast for about 3 hours and they rented only artwork and accessories. I love it when a property sells! Staging works, period. I am thankful to be in a business where I can really make a real difference in people's lives.

Normally, I don't like to do a one month staging, but as we stagers know, one month will almost invariably end up to be 2. With this hope in mind and the hope of gaining a new client, I accepted the job and the challenge. Little did we know, this one would sell in just 3 weeks and I was told that it was because of the staging! This was a vacant staging with a living area that you walked right into in the front door, as shown here.

This shot was taken just as I walked in the front door. The space did feel very cold, as vacant rooms do!

Furniture sure does warm up a room.

You know how one room always seems to be your favorite? Well, this one is mine! The kitchen. Here is the before:

That's better! This rug was one that I knew when I bought it would have to go in the right space to work. It is very unique, colorful and fun.

Looking back towards the dining room area...

And now for the kitchen looking towards the family room, which was small. In my rush to do the before pics, somehow I missed this room's before picture...

Because we put the sofa straight against the wall in the living room, we decided that this one should be on an angle to make the rooms feel totally different...

Here's a close up...

And finally, the Master Bedroom was upstairs...before staging: Not too inviting!

This custom bedding did the trick to bring needed warmth to the space.

Professional Home Staging once again is proving itself in a challenging market. Our client was excited and is keeping it staged the 2nd month (through the buyer's inspection). That was a smart move on her part. Everyone is happy!

The last staging I wrote about sold in 38 days, and this time it took only 30 days, so now we are really excited and very thankful! One thing that was great about this project was the genuine confidence our clients had for staging. They expressed over and over that they KNEW that staging makes a difference! It was on their list of "things to do" to get their house sold. Their list included painting, new carpet and HOME STAGING!

Here are some of the pictures of the home we did:

As you can see, their house has plenty of curb appeal. Our clients were smart enough to know that fresh pine straw does a lot for a house!

We purchased the coffee table, end table, lamps and chair on a couple of shopping trips. Note that it is dark outside....it never seems to fail that stagings run right into the night time hours for us. Lately our redesigns have been in the afternoon/evening hours as well since most ladies seem to work during the day.

Even though we bought a lot of furniture and accessories, it seems like it is never enough. We loaded up the van with artwork and accessories for rental "in case" we needed it and we came back home with an empty van!

The kitchen, clean and simple.

We tried to find a mirror that would work in both this house on the left wall and their new home as well. We couldn't find anything they liked in the short time frame we were dealing with.

A closer shot of this lowcountry dining room!

The red color in the master bedroom was strong and the dated, yellow curtains that were there needed to be removed. Painting was not an option for this room and we needed to work with the color. The artwork really helped this space.

Our clients knew this wallpaper was dated, but again removing it would have been too expensive. This mirror and strong colored towels and candles really helped draw your attention away from the wallpaper.

This large artwork really updated the space.

The other side of the master bathroom. Again, strong chocolate towels demand the attention and minimize the wallpaper.

This was a very enjoyable staging and the our clients were fun to work with! We are truly excited for them that their house sold so fast!