Placing "stainless steel viynl film" on refrigerator and dishwasher.  My experience with this product is that I would only recommend using it on the dishwasher panel.  I was easy to remove the panel and roll out the film on a flat surface.  Just need to be careful about not having any air bubbles when placing the film.  It looked great and it was almost impossible to tell that it was a film on the panel.  The refrigerator was another story... The film buckled around the handle and around corners.  The film is only sold in 36" sheets so there was a seam on the front.  Not pretty!  I don't recommend it for refrigerators.  Of course, you can't use a plastic film on stoves.

1. Painting stove, refrigerator and dishwaser with "stainless steel paint".  I used Thomson' stainless steel Paint.  It has stainless steel particles in the paint so you can actually put magnets on the refrigerator. (Not that stagers would recommend putting magnets on refrigerators).  I purchased a kit from a local paint store but if you can't find it, you can order it online at www.liquidstainlesssteel.com for about $100.   I painted the refrigerator, stove and dishwasher and LOVED the transformation.  With the kit include a video that has step-by-step instructions. The only caution is that this is a several day project since there is waiting time between coats of paint.

White, Outdated Appliances                        Transformed Painted Appliances  

Rearrange with Style is an accredited home staging company servicing Philadelphia, Chester County, Montgomery County and Delaware County in Pennsylvania.  To stage your home to sell or if you simply need a room makeover, visit our webite at www.rearrangewithstyle.com or call us at 610-608-9025.

I don't know about you but I'm tired of all this snow!  Did you know that in February, 2010, forty-nine states received some amount of snowfall? Yup, it's a true fact. That's enough to create a little madness in us all.  So, while we are stuck in our homes let's take the opportunity to  organize and declutter our homes.  This dreadful but important task, with a posiitive attitude, will help us to feel liberated and free to embrace new style changes.  My best advice to make this task manageable are:

• Define your priorities.
  Identify which areas need the most attention.  Should you begin with your clothes closets, your stack of magazines piled on a shelf or on the floor, or perhaps your office?  Focusing on one area at a time will help you from becoming overwhelmed.  Don't tackle another space until you have completed the area you are working on.  Once you see the positive results, you'll be energized to begin the next area until your home is clutter-free.
• Reacess you storage space.
  You can never have enough storage space so look for creative ways to additional storage.  Need another closet? No problem..A curtained-off niche with lots of shelving creates a closet where there was none.  A freestanding cupboard or amoire set perpendicular to a wall can also act as a room divider.  Baskets are a great way to organize and hide items you don't want to leave exposed.  Line them up in bookcases or stack them in a home office to hold supplies or extra printer paper.
• Find a new home for your discarded belongings.
  Sometimes it's easier to part with your stuff is you know it's going to be put to good use or appreciated by someone else.  Consider holding a yard sales in the spring.  Charitable donations help someone else in need and also give you a nice tax deduction.  If you have a number of valuable things that you no longer want or need, you may decide to consign them to an auction house to sell or auction them yourself on e-bay.
• Trash it!
  This is where emotions come into play.  If you know you should throw an item away because it's broken or lost it's usefulness but can't bear to part with it, take a picture of the item and put it in a scrapbook.  You can savor the memory by looking at the scrapbook.  Then take the trashed items to the dumpster on trash day so you're not tempted to remove it from the trash. 

Rearrange with Style partnered with real estate agent from Century 21 to stage this home to sell quickly and for top dollar.  Based on the detailed consultation report, the homeowners completed all the structural recommendations themselves; painting, replacing broken windows and decluttering the garage.  Deb Waters, Accredited Staging Professional (ASP), staged the property by rearranging the furniture, replacing artwork and providing updated accessories.  Below are pictures of the transformation:

BEFORE ......                                                           AFTER ......

Rearrange with Style is an accredited home staging company servicing Philadelphia, Chester County, Montgomery County and Delaware County in Pennsylvania.  To stage your home to sell or if you simply need a room makeover, visit our webite at www.rearrangewithstyle.com or call us at 610-608-9025.

It's that time of year for me to ask Santa for all the things I need as a stager.  Since 2008 was my first year as a full time stager, I have many requests from Santa.  What's on your list?

1.  MORE CUSTOMERS.  Prior to this year, I staged properties for friends, realtor-friends and referrals.  In 2008, I decided to jump into the waters and dedicate myself to staging full time.  Most of my business this year has been consultations and several "whole house" stagings.  However, I feel that I need to expand my business to make it viable for me to make a living doing what I love.  Santa, I'm asking you to send me more leads.

2.  BETTER MARKETING COLLATERAL.   I've spent an enormous amount of time this year creating brochures, business cards, PowerPoint Presentations, boiler-plate proposals and website.  While these are OK for initial start-up, I need more professional looking collateral.  Santa, please send me a marketing guru that knows our industry - staging.

3.  MORE TECHNICAL EXPERTISE.  I'm just learning about blogging and tweetering.  Now that I have my feet wet, I now understand what a wonderful tool this is for building community by sharing ideas.  Santa, I need to learn how to use this technology to reach more customers. 

4.  MORE INVENTORY.  This year I made the commitment to re-invest all my earnings back into the business.  Most of my earnings have been to purchase inventory.  So far, I've been reluctant to buy the larger items, such as sofas, chairs.  I also felt that I did not want to incur the expense of external storage (all of it's in my basement).   I see from other stagers website, that some even own their own trucks!  Santa, help me to grow my business so I can afford to buy and store more inventory.

5.  MORE EDUCATION.  It's wonderful to share this exciting world of staging.  This year, I joined NAWBO (National Association of Women Owned Businesses) and HBA (Home Builders Association).  I also became certified as a stager (ASP).  Santa, please give me the time to join more business related organizations and further my training. 

Our goal was to stage an occupied home with 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths in 6 hours. AND WE DID IT!

HOW, you may ask???   The following items were crucial to getting this done on time.

1.  I did a home visit several weeks before the scheduled staging date.   Having adequate time allows for PLANNING so that when the staging team arrived, we all knew our action plan and began to stage immediately. 

  
 2. Take lots of "before" pictures and measure every room with doorways, windows, furniture and any other immovable objects.  I also took note of size of sofas, beds and other furniture that I planned on using.  Back at the office, we created a floor plan also placing accessories in the room.  

3.  Looking at the amount of time and rooms to be staged, I knew I needed 3 stagers and gave them the floor & accessory plan prior to the day of staging.  We also determined that our strategy of execution for the day of the staging would be that all 3 stagers would move furniture in each room, then leave 1 stager in each room to complete accessorizing.   Our goal was to spend an average of 1 hour to complete each room. 

4.  I had empty boxes in each room for items that were not used.  The homeowner agreed that we would leave them in the hallway and he would remove them for us at the end of the day.

5.  We brought our own lunch and took 20 minutes eating in the house.  Every minute was precious.

The seller returned at 3:00pm and we were putting on the finishing touches!  He was amazed that we accomplished all we did in 6 hours and couldn't believe the transformation.  

What do you think?  (this is my first time posting pictures)

I just discovered Active Rain while researching ways to promote my home staging business.  I can't believe what I've been missing.  Great information and sharing of information by professional stagers like me.  I hope to be posting several blog messages in the near future even though I am new to the blogging concept!  

Thankfully,   Deb Waters,  Rearrange with Style