Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Operation Listing: Staging on the Cheap...and Moldy


Staging.  

The icing on the cake.
The activity I'd fantasized about while I painted doors and steamed grout.
Time to transform our home into the likeness of an Architectural Digest cover!

I spent hours reading articles on the staging process and even watching related YouTube videos.  And, after calculating in our kitchen upgrade expenditures and subtracting them from the budget, thrice, maybe many more times, it became clear that I had nothing to spend on staging.

Zero.

Except enough change in my car to buy a can of gold spray paint.  For a shiny dusting of the random frames around the house.


To make them all matchy for a frame wall in the dining room.

I positioned it all out on the floor first.


 And then secured them to the wall with Velcro hanging strips.


Focal point that draws attention to the back wall then up to the high ceiling? Check.

In one of the bedrooms staged as an office, I employed the 'Distraction Deer' technique.  


I want to say that this room is on the small side and has inadequate lighting...wait, is that a ceramic deer head?  The possibilities here are endless.

In the kitchen we propped open a recipe book to a dessert that we have never made.  Ever.


I was worried people would see through the lies so I considered rubbing some cocoa on the bottom of the pages so they looked weathered.  But didn't act on it.

However, I did act on the urge to embezzle from Anthony for more staging money.

On a warm October night, I ran into Safeway with the $20 he handed me to grab apples and detergent and used the rest of the cash for pumpkins.  Pumpkins for staging on top of the kitchen cabinets on cake stands.  With the mini gourds snuggled underneath a cloche.


I was so pleased with my cuddled pumpkins.

For about 2 weeks.

Until:


Subtly sending potential buyers the message, Now this is a home I can mold my life around!


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