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Leave the towels alone! Thank you!

By
Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Professionals MN Broker #40288835

doggie towel     How do you keep visitors & Realtors at open houses and showings from using your nicely folded, perfectly hung, and oh so clean and fluffy towels?  I have read that some suggest tying them in ribbons or raffia and therefore signal that they are off limits.  But does everyone know how to read raffia?   

      A sign "Do Not Use Towels" along with "Do Not Use Toilet or If in the case of an Emergency :   please close lid & flush (or maybe flush and then close lid)", "Do Not Sit on Bed" ,  "Don't kiss the Mirror", "No eating or drinking in  any room", & "No smoking right outside the door and then throwing butt on doorstep" (still referring to the cigarette here) - might help!

     Why are staging towels so irresistible and tantalizing?

  • Is it the color?                                                                       photo by Vickie

 

  • Position?

 

  • Precision?towels

Apparently even paper towels lure artists into masterpieces.

Towels are so powerful - stagers know this- that is why they place them in every bathroom.

 Do towels sell houses? I'm not telling!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                              photo by Marc Johns

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Welcome from the Brainerd Lakes - where outdoor and indoor recreational opportunites abound. Looking to buy on one of our many lakes? Ready to move up or down?  Having trouble selling your home? 

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Irene Woodworth
Color and Redesign Academy & Redesign Boise - Garden City, ID
Color-Redesign-Staging, Trainer & Motivational Speaker - Idaho

Hi Kathleen ~ Towels are too big of a temptation.  I don't know how to solve it, but having darker towels sometimes helps to hide the uses.  Good comments and ideas from others I will have to try.  Glad to know I am not the only one that deals with this challenge! 

Have a Colorful Day!

Aug 01, 2008 05:28 PM
Dee Vaughn
Redesign with Dee - Sierra Vista, AZ

Good morning. Wow. I wish I had all these problems to deal with. I am unable to get my staging business off the ground. I have done one staging. I have visited Realtor after Realtor and they say I am too expensive for the area, but I can not charge any less than I am already. Any ideas, suggestions. I am desperate to make this part of my business. I real see the value.

Aug 05, 2008 02:39 AM
Holly Sirois
Sold on Staging - Atlanta, GA
Home Stager - Atlanta

Hi Dee, I'm just getting started too. I looked at your site and if those are your staging prices, they look lower than most others I've seen! Your realtors must not understand the value of staging. Can't imagine any one saying you are too expensive  - sounds like a greast deal to me.

As for towels...a pretty tray of paper hand towels and a nice bottle of hand soap? At least they are washing their hands!

Aug 05, 2008 03:30 AM
Kathleen Lordbock
Keller Williams Realty Professionals - Baxter, MN
Keller Williams Realty Professionals

Irene, I think we all have common problems and that is why AR blogs  can be so helpful.

Aug 05, 2008 03:52 PM
Kathleen Lordbock
Keller Williams Realty Professionals - Baxter, MN
Keller Williams Realty Professionals

Dee - Your prices are way under what I charge.  I do not credit my consultations as I feel they get much value out of that service and it takes hours of my time.  My time is valuable. Also $250 for a whole day - how many hours in your day ?  Check out other AR blogs about valuing your service and under pricing etc.  Good luck to you.

Aug 05, 2008 03:57 PM
Kathleen Lordbock
Keller Williams Realty Professionals - Baxter, MN
Keller Williams Realty Professionals

Holly , That is true, that way they won't be leaving germies on everything they touch - yucky.

Aug 05, 2008 03:59 PM
Joyce Zdenek
Hallmark Sotheby's International Realty & Joyce's Interiors - Hopkinton, MA

I always put one small towel on the vanity to use.  This way the displayed towels stay as placed.

Joyce

Aug 05, 2008 09:37 PM
Anonymous
Jill Steinberg (Showcase Your Space, NY)

We have a clause in our staging contract that says that if they towels are used/soiled/stained, etc. than the client owns them, and they will be charged. If the job is big and profitable, we mostly chalk up the towels as an expense of the job, and we chuck them after the job without charging the client (or use them in our warehouse to pack breakables).

Aug 06, 2008 03:07 AM
#20
Kathleen Lordbock
Keller Williams Realty Professionals - Baxter, MN
Keller Williams Realty Professionals

Joyce - I do that with a dark colored small hand towel - they are about 1/2 the size of normal hand towels.  I suppose one could cut up a regular size and do a bit of sewing.

Aug 06, 2008 03:41 PM
Kathleen Lordbock
Keller Williams Realty Professionals - Baxter, MN
Keller Williams Realty Professionals

Jill, I bet that you have a lot of packing towels  LOL

Aug 06, 2008 03:48 PM
Michael Adams
Keller Williams Cornerstone Realty - Franklin Township, NJ
I Never Forget You Have A Choice!

Why not simply place high end paper napkins in the bathroom?  That should be hint enough not to touch the towels....I would think.

Aug 07, 2008 02:37 PM
Kathleen Lordbock
Keller Williams Realty Professionals - Baxter, MN
Keller Williams Realty Professionals

Michael,  Good suggestion and we stagers are willing to try just about any thing to keep those staging towels clean and in place.

Aug 09, 2008 02:01 PM
Karen Otto
Home Star Staging - Plano, TX
Plano Home Staging, Dallas Home Staging, www.homes

I put river rocks on folded towels but it's hard not to have them use the hand towels in the holders! Drives me nuts but I use a lot of fluffy white so if necessary, I can bleach and wash and they're good to go.

Aug 09, 2008 02:16 PM
Kathleen Lordbock
Keller Williams Realty Professionals - Baxter, MN
Keller Williams Realty Professionals

Karen - I use fluffy white often as well, nice and clean & (shhhh..... I like the smell of bleached towels)

Aug 09, 2008 02:37 PM
Betty Haney
Haney Consulting - Calgary, AB

Kathleen I read somewhere on AR how some stagers get potential buyers to use only the one bathroom where you have your lovely paper towels with a garbage can.  If I remember correctly - they put signs in the other bathrooms that tell clients which one to use.  May or may not work...  Betty

Aug 09, 2008 02:40 PM
Kathleen Lordbock
Keller Williams Realty Professionals - Baxter, MN
Keller Williams Realty Professionals

Betty - Signs are good and worth a try - thanks!

Aug 09, 2008 02:41 PM
Terri Lucas
Exclusive Home Staging - Redondo Beach, CA
Exclusive Home Staging Los Angeles

Hi Kathleen:  I put paper guest towels out. I do put card holders in the baths as to which bathroom to use.

Aug 10, 2008 03:20 AM
Jessica Cox
Perfectly Polished Home - Dallas, TX
Dallas Home Staging

Great ideas! I actually use all white towels in our home because it looks fresh, clean and of course with three little kids running around I can bleach out any spots.

And they are oh so spa-like :)

I think a sign in a really nice frame is fine to let people know which bathroom can be used. Or what if it said they could find a hand towel and soap for use under the sink if there is a cabinet below?

Aug 10, 2008 08:25 AM
Tori Lynn Wallitsch
Prudential Ambassador / Ross Designs, LLC - Omaha, NE

This is one of the biggest issues in Staging that seems impossible to address. I once had a client (he was a total pain in the neck in every way possible) complain that the towels I had installed had yellow stains on them.  I KNOW that those brand new, perfectly white towels did not have any stains on them when I left them in place, but who knows who used them in a vacant house??????

Aug 10, 2008 02:06 PM
Kathleen Lordbock
Keller Williams Realty Professionals - Baxter, MN
Keller Williams Realty Professionals

Terri - You should do a blog with pictures of your card holders for this purpose. Let me know when you do so I can see!!!

Aug 11, 2008 04:16 AM