Tammy Kemp's Blog

Wrinkles may work for Sharpeis, but not for linens

Tammy Kemp (First Impressions Home Staging& Interior Redesign) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 07:39:39 -0800

Just wondering how everyone else handles the wrinkle issue with bed linens . . . there has to be a better solution that what I've tried:
1) Ironed everything at home the night before, but made packing next to impossible since I don't have room to lay all the linens flat AND transport my accessories, soooo sometimes the freshly pressed linens didn't arrive on site in the same pristine condition as when they left.
2) Purchased a steamer -- it hissed & leaked & made water spots unless it was held completely upright. Returned it because I thought it was broken.
3) Hauled my iron and ironing board to the site -- very cumbersome and took up way too much room in my SUV
4) Purchased another steamer -- this time a commercial grade -- but this one also only works if you hold the wand completely upright -- kind of difficult once the linens are on the bed. Can't try to hold the linens upright and steam at the same time.

Help! We are in the image business and the only wrinkles I want to see are on a four-legged animal (or one of the stuck-up girls I went to high school with! Hee-Hee.)

Farewell to my faithful Fridgidaire fridge

Tammy Kemp (First Impressions Home Staging& Interior Redesign) — Fri, 18 May 2007 19:55:34 -0700

My husband and I bought our Fridgidaire refrigerator second-hand from a friend when we got married 25 years ago. We purchased it for $25.00 and a case of beer (hey, we were only 22 and alcohol talked!) It was clean, white, paid-for, and it was ours. Religiously, once a month, I would defrost it, wipe it out, empty the drip pan, and somewhat systematically re-stack all the food back into it (I gave up trying to put the food back in alphabetical order because my husband just couldn't get that ice CREAM comes before ice CUBES -- oh well, at least I tried.).

Three years and 36 defrostings later, we took it with us when we bought our first house. Since our kitchen was red and white, it matched quite nicely. The adage "new house, new baby" really hit home and my once monthly defrostings became a little more sporadic. It really didn't matter though, because no matter how iced up the refrigerator became, it still worked just fine.

Four years later when we built our new home, our faithful Fridgidaire was still humming along, albeit not as nice of a tune, but nevertheless, humming, so we had it painted off-white and it proudly took up residence in our new kitchen. I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but for some reason, defrosting the freezer slowly but surely began it's descent down my priority list. I began to bait my husband with little blurbs about how he was so strong and how I'm sure he could chisel away at the built-up ice so much easier than I could. He fell for my flattery for just a short time and before I knew it, we were flipping coins to see who had to defrost the freezer. The coin-flipping gave way to arm wrestling. The arm wrestling gave way to avoidance ("I'm not opening the freezer, you open the freezer"). The avoidance gave way to denial (We really don't need to freeze food, it's much healthier for you if its fresh, anyway). And finally, the denial gave way to the heavy artillery. What once had entailed simply turning off the freezer and placing a pot of boiling water in it had turned into all out war. No more chipping away at the ice with a butter knife as deftly as a master ice carver. No more turning the blow dryer on high and aiming it at the ice until it had no choice but to surrender. No this was war and war called for the big guns: the acetylene torch! And boy, could that baby melt ice. It was then that I knew we had a problem. My God, we would have killed it!

And so it was with a heavy heart that I shopped for my new frost-free refigerator. It's not easy to say good-bye to something that has served you so faithfully for a quarter of a century . . . I can only wonder what I'll ever find to fill my time.

So what does Sarah Jessica Parker have to do with home staging?

Tammy Kemp (First Impressions Home Staging& Interior Redesign) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:08:57 -0700

The other day, I -- I mean a friend-- was watching tv when a commercial for haircolor came on (not that my friend was particularly interested in haircolor since she doesn't use it or even need it). The spokesperson for the haircolor was Sarah Jessica Parker. I, er, my friend noticed that Sarah was wearing very plain clothing and her make-up was extremely understated. I began to think about that for a minute and assimilated that really great marketing strategy to really great staging. Really great marketing never does anything to overshadow the product that's actually being sold, whether it be haircolor or a house. How much attention would people pay to Sarah's gorgeous haircolor if all they were noticing was her beautiful face or knock-out clothing? And the same holds true for staging. My goal as a home stager -- aka home marketer-- in the Lehigh Valley is NOT to have someone remark "My, what a beautiful home this is", but rather to have them say "I want to live in this beautiful home". That's when I know I have truly hit the mark. Oh, by the way, does anyone know what haircolor Sarah is wearing in the commercial? My friend wants to know.

Can't a girl just have some fun?

Tammy Kemp (First Impressions Home Staging& Interior Redesign) — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 11:56:13 -0700

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be working, but I just couldn't resist. Last week when I saw Sarah Cooper's bad photography blog, I couldn't help but think about our first investment property. Couple that with my new found love for realestateshows.com, and yup, I just had to make another show (the photos may be a bit wonky as they were taken in 2000 before I had a digital camera):http://www.realestateshows.com/157228
Although the property was really small, if you happened to live in Pen Argyl, PA (located about halfway between the Lehigh Valley and the Pocono Mountains) before the big real estate boom, this was definitely a familiar site.

Can you read these pictures?

Tammy Kemp (First Impressions Home Staging& Interior Redesign) — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:16:35 -0700

Translation: Yesterday, I made my first official show with realestateshows.com. I'm not the most cyber-savvy person in the Lehigh Valley, so I was feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing . . . nevertheless, I uploaded my photos, added the music, changed the camera movement, and hit "submit" all the while praying like heck to the computer gods . . . and then it happened: the whole darn thing actually worked!

So, thank you, thank you, thank you realestateshows for making me look like I knew what I was doing.

And for anyone that's considering using them, I know you'll be glad you did! Here's the link to my show:

www.realestateshows.com/156129

Tammy Kemp - First Impressions

DANA anyone?

Tammy Kemp (First Impressions Home Staging& Interior Redesign) — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:26:52 -0700

Hi, Everyone!

I just found a new group called DANA (Decorator's Alliance of North America) and they welcome stagers and redesigners (I was particularly impressed because they stress ongoing education). Their annual fee is $175.00, but as of this morning when I signed up, they had 300 openings at $25.00 a pop. They offer alot of what the other affiliations offer (discounts, teleclasses, SEO, etc.), but what the heck, for 25 bucks, you can't go wrong. Their address is http://www.decoratorsalliance.com/. When you go to check out, if there are still any $25 spots left, it will drop the price down from $175 to $25. See you there . . .

Tammy