Yesterday I spent 4 1/2 hours at a client's home with her home stager.  This is something I like to do - be there when the home stager is there to learn, to help and to problem solve with the home owner.  Now, yesterday was hot.  It was really really Ottawa humidex warm.  Double, double, toil and trouble..... My client's home is full to the brim with lovely things that she has collected and found ways to display.  She has things from every member of her family and her husband's family and from her children.   There are pieces that I would love to own.  However, you know it, her house is going on the market in a couple of weeks and it has to be turned around from her home to a product - something to be sold.  In terms of the process, the three of us, (owner, stager and real estate perso... 06/10/2011

Everything you read about staging says to take down personal photos and unusual pictures from the walls.  What some advisers fail to say is that you should also take out the hooks, the nails, the rods, the thumbtacks and any other type of hanger that is fixed in the wall or ceiling.  Buyers and I were looking at a wonderful bungalow.  The layout, while a bit unusual, was appealing.  However, everywhere you looked there were hooks and nails in the walls where the owners had previously hung their ‘art'.   These were owners who hung stuff over the doors, low on the walls (probably for the children), in collages, above cupboards, etc.  When we finally made it to the basement, there was the ‘art', stacked along the walls ready for packing. I would quesstimate that they had well over 200 ite... 01/18/2011