Sharon Tara New Hampshire Home Stager

A recent staging job has resulted in a creative way to replace personal photos. This home had a beautiful arrangement of photos on a wall. The family photos had to go, but the arrangement really worked well there.

Here is a photo of what the wall arrangement

looked liked. The wall would have been so empty,

not to mention having to fill all the nail holes, if we

removed all the pictures. Wall art to fill this space would

have been expensive.

I took some photos around the property and emailed them to the seller. She printed them and put them in the frames in place of the family photos. They look beautiful!

As a personal touch and bonus, the whole arrangement could be left with the house for the new owners.

Here are the photos we used:

I used a personal touch to de-personalize the wall arrangement!

Here are some of my photographs taken in the Portsmouth, NH area.

Final photos are in...this is the end of the road... the fat lady is singing!

For those of you who have been wondering "when will it end" "how much longer can this series be?" Your prayers have been answered, this is the big finale!

The Master Bedroom....

Even though this is my daughter's new home and not a staging job, this project is still a testimonial to the power of staging. This condo was listed on MLS without photos because it's condition was so bad. So many sellers today are making the same mistake. This is one time I approve of a listing not being staged...the result was a great price for my daughter!

Thanks to all of you who were so supportive and enthusiastic in your comments on this project!

Original Before Photos

Part 2 Dog Hair in the Microwave

Part 3 A New Door and More Paint

Part 4 Kitchen Tile, Nasty Carpet, Nana's Dresser

Part 5 Nana's Dresser Goes Heavy Metal

Part 6 What a Difference a Light Makes

Part 7 You Don't Always Get it Right The First Time

Part 8 From Charming to Functional Using Shelves

Part 9 Custom Wood Radiator Covers by Rick

Part 10 Final photos are in

We aren't totally finished our "not-so-extreme" make-over yet, but we are close enough for some "After" photos. I first posted on this project back on March 3 and considering we only had weekends and some evenings to work on it, we made pretty good time. Since my daughter has actually moved in and we only have some minor finish work to do, I decided not to keep you waiting any longer for the "after" photos.

Here goes:

The only room left to photograph is the master bedroom, which I will do at another time.

To check out past posts on this transformation:

Part 2 Dog Hair in the Microwave

Part 3 A New Door and More Paint

Part 4 Kitchen Tile, Nasty Carpet, Nana's Dresser

Part 5 Nana's Dresser Goes Heavy Metal

Part 6 What a Difference a Light Makes

Part 7 You Don't Always Get it Right The First Time

Part 8 From Charming to Functional Using Shelves

Part 9 Custom Wood Radiator Covers by Rick

There are certain moments in life when emotion floods over and a kind of numb feeling takes over your body. Hearing my son is going to be a dad was one of those moments.

"Ashley is pregnant" Josh said with a big smile.

It came out of the blue, totally unexpected. Surprise! My boy...a father?

A baby, we are going to have a new baby, our first grandchild!

When Ashley pulled out the pregnancy test, I think I went into a type of shock...I don't know why, but for some reason my top priority at the time was "don't cry" and not being emotional was the main thing on my mind. I am sure I didn't have the reaction they were expecting.

I hugged them both and I let them know how happy I was, but there was this surreal feeling to the whole thing...joy and fear all mixed together.

Please don't misunderstand, I couldn't be happier! It is just that I have this history of anxiety...I tend to worry about most everything and sometimes my fears get the better of me. If this isn't breeding ground for worry, I don't know what is...a whole eight months until we count the toes and fingers!

In just a few moments my mind rode the emotion roller coaster from "shocked" up the hill to "anxious" and then back down again to "sentimental". This is my boy we are talking about here...he may be all grown up but when I look at him I still see:

Memories of other times in his life when Josh has given my nervous system a run for it's money came to mind:

The phone call I got from the elementary school that he had been injured on the playground. . . I was assured he was ok, but until I got to that school, I couldn't breath.

When I got to the school he informed me that a "fat kid' had fallen off the jungle gym and landed on him. No sports injury here, folks, just a kid minding his own business and out of the sky comes another kid...

It sounded funny when he said it,

but the broken leg was serious.

I stayed up all night with him playing video games to keep his mind off the pain.

The hockey game, the only one his Dad ever missed, when he broke his collar bone and he was sitting on the bench with the coach's tie wrapped around him as a sling...up in the stands alone, I felt miles away.

When we got him to the hospital he sat bravely as the doctor and nurses attended to me...

evidently I had turned rather pale and there was some concern I may pass out.

Years later, a similar reaction in the recovery room after his wisdom teeth were removed. A nurse tried to explain to me that I would have to change the bloody gauze and she almost lost me.

He broke his collar bone two more times during his brief hockey career, and the pain for a parent at moments like these is something you never forget.

He is going to be a daddy...

I really shouldn't be that surprised. After all this is the same guy that called me one night last July to tell me he was getting married in September. I told him we should just put "no she's not" on the invitations because it would be assumed they were expecting. Why the rush?

They just wanted to get married and didn't see any reason in making a big production out of it.

They love the Red Sox,

They love their beer,

They love each other!

They will make great parents...they have a lot of love to share.

I look at pictures and it seems like yesterday, but at the same time it feels like a hundred years ago.

I miss that little guy...

but not that hair, what was I thinking?

Going blonde was certainly the right

way to go!

Anyways, I can't wait for my grandbaby to get here. In a way it will be like getting a chance to go back in time to my babies and play with them all over again.

Best of all is knowing that Josh and Ashley are going to get to experience the love that only a parent can feel.

Congratulations to my boy and his

beautiful wife ...

If the baby is a girl, lets hope she

looks just like Ashley....

If it is a boy, I hope he looks like

his dad, the cutest little guy ever!