Fisher Body Craftsman Guild - 2008 reunion - 08/19/08 04:12 PM
Fisher Body Craftsman Guild - 2008 reunion
The General Motors Craftsman's Guild, an auto design competition, was sponsored by the Fisher Body Division of General Motors.  The original competition was to build Coaches based on the Fisher Body Emblem.
Clicking on the below image opens up a photo album containing all the pictures from the event

 
The competition later encouraged teenagers to build scale models of their dream cars. 
 
 Clicking on the below image opens up a photo album containing all the pictures from the event
 
 
 
The competition for Dream Cars was from the late … (15 comments)

Chairs on the walls OH MY New trend in staging - 08/18/08 03:48 PM
Chairs on the walls   OH MY
We've all seen trends come and go and of course in staging we want them to go.
  
This chair on the wall was in a home that we staged a couple of months ago.   Of course, we took if off thinking that it was a little too much for a home that was for sale.
This past week I was in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  
Maybe I was wrong and should have kept the chair on the wall.   The museum has good taste doesn't it?
What do you think?   New trend in … (9 comments)

Staging - is it the fiduciary responsibility of the Realtor - 08/04/08 05:08 PM
I'm really serious about this.  We, stagers, know that staged home sell faster and for more money.  We can't guarantee a sale.  We can make the home look it's best for potential buyers.
Isn't it possible that Realtors should suggest to their clients that they should talk to a stager?
Stagers know how to talk to the sellers about preparing their home for sale.   Isn't it better that they prepare their home for sale than take many price reductions?
 Everyday I see fliers that come to me saying a house has had a big price reduction and the photos show that the … (15 comments)

recap recap recap STOP IT HGTV - 08/04/08 03:24 PM
We've had so many discussion about the stagers and many other HGTV shows.  We haven't discussed how annoying it is to have the story line given to us in the beginning of the show.   We have two minutes of the show and then a commercial break.   When the commercial break is over we have the show ReCapped again.  I guess we are all so stupid that during the commercial we forgot what they were doing.
I've noticed this on all of the design shows.
It's really annoying. 
Matthew said that the shows were 23 minutes long without the commercials.  How much … (18 comments)

This staging cost the Owners Nothing, nadda, zippo and we did it in 15 1/2 man hours - 08/02/08 09:50 AM
Matthew, eat your heart out.  We did this in 15 1/2 man hours and it cost the sellers nothing. This staging won't show up on HGTV.   Maybe it should.
The senerio.  Two sisters have been trying for months to get the house ready to sell.  Both their aunt and uncle passed away and drained all the finances with nursing home care. It was their house.
The sisters were exhausted with many other family issues that are going on.
My crew stepped in and we organized the house for an estate sale and keeping the furniture that we wanted for staging.  We did this … (63 comments)

Stager going green with more greens - 08/02/08 08:52 AM
A couple of months ago I wrote a blog about the furniture that I was re-working for staging. http://activerain.com/blogsview/493352/Michigan-Stager-Goes-updated
I'm taking it a little bit further and adding as many real plants as I can.  Many of these plants I can propagate at home and plant in re-used clay pots.  For staging I place them in  nice looking clay pots.
On top of this bar is a cactus plant that was rescued from a house to be demonlished

Another cactus in the bathroom on the window sill

Aloe plant in the Florida room - on the right under the lamp
… (9 comments)

Dumpster Jumper saved my back yesterday - 08/01/08 08:12 AM
The Dumpster Jumpersare always on sight when I clean out an estate.  This was no different yesterday, after the estate sale and the "good stuff" was sold off.  We put the remaining items out to the street (after donating a whole truck load to different charities).  The pile was 3 feet high and 20 feet long.  A LOT OF STUFF.   40 year accumulation of STUFF.
We are so accustomed to this practice that when we put it out to the street we categorize it.
All tools and metals are in one section so they don't have to tear there way thru … (14 comments)