When we got the call from a prominent Horse breeder that he was getting his farm ready to sell and that it had to be staged my first thought was, "How are we gonna stage hay bails?"

Okay, so I knew we weren't going to stage the barn but let's just say that the barn was in better shape than the home. On the phone the homeowner warned us that he had hired a contractor to start a small bathroom renovation and that some of the rooms were being painted but we certainly weren't prepared for the horror show that would greet us when we walked through the front door.

The house had been purchased 3 years ago and while all of the expense and maintenance had been on the massive 10 acre grounds and 30 stall horse barn not much had been done to the house. The client had actually never moved into the residence and instead his stable manager had been living there with his girlfriend and two kids. My first emotion as I pulled down the long drive past the paddocks of beautiful horses and their young foals was complete bliss. I was so excited to see what the house was like on the inside because I fell in love with it from the outside!

However once stepping inside the front door bliss quickly turned to nausea. The smell hit us first, then when my eyes stopped watering the brightly colored wall paper blinded me! Okay, I'm exaggerating but only a little bit. The client was running behind so the Stable manager invited us in and told us to feel free to look around and that the huge Doberman that was now sniffing my pant leg was friendly! Snoop turned out to be an awesome friendly dog but they can be a bit disconcerting for anyone not used to big dogs. I am a big dog lover so I quite enjoyed the dog but I didn't think the smell could have come from him alone.

As we began looking around in disbelief a tiny little black & white kitten bolted out from behind a huge pile of clothes and attacked my shoe lace, there was no way we were taking off our shoes in this place! Amused we meandered around this huge house with my new little friend chasing us as we walked along. So did you catch the part where I mentioned the kitten darted out behind a pile of clothes? Each room, and I kid you not, had a huge pile of junk, clothes, toys, dirty dishes, etc. EVERY room! It was incredible, these people were living like absolute slobs. As if the pastel 1980's wall colors weren't bad enough the crap strewn everywhere just made it even worse.

When the home owner finally arrived we took him through each room and laid out a plan of action. Excited about what we had envisioned for the home he gave us carte blanche to have any painting done and a few other major areas that we felt needed to be addressed. All we had to do was communicate these changes with the contractor and the painter. Easier said than done! While it was no trouble at all convincing the home owner of the changes, convincing the contractor and painter was not easy.

The family room and kitchen had been painted many years ago with a fresco-ragging type of faux finish, while it was done very well it was not doing the home any favours. In fact the painter told the home owner that it didn't need to be repainted and that it had been an expensive finish in it's time. Needless to say we told the painter otherwise.

This project was so large it took about 4 weeks to get in order before we could even go in and stage. Once all the paint and renovation had been completed the huge task of cleaning had to begin. The homeowner assured us his stable manager would be moved out by the time we wanted to go in and start. He had moved all the mares and their foals to the new farm and the stables manager and his family would need to go where the horses went. If the stable manager was going to live in the home while it was being sold we would not have agreed to stage this home, it would have been a HUGE liability and all of our inventory would surely be ruined.

The first day our cleaning team went in they were almost ready to run the other way. Many of the closets were still full of junk and clothes. Cigarette butts were littered everywhere and the fireplace in the family room was a giant ashtray. To top it all off there was a HUGE pile of garbage by the back door that the crows or Raccoons had ripped apart. The stench was so bad it would gag a maggot. I actually almost lost my lunch when I was there to help install the new light fixtures. We had to ask the contractor to deliver a large bin so that the garbage could be taken away and all the junk left behind in the house was to be thrown out as well. The interior cleaning bill came to $1500.00.

Because this was such a huge job I've decided to break the bog into two parts. This first part of the story I will show you the top floor before and after's. The main level and pool area will be in Part Two.

Below is one of the biggest transformations, the Master Bedroom. New carpet was put in upstairs and all the walls were painted. When we arrived on site the master bedroom had already been painted however the walk in closet was still forest green. It actually surprised the painter that we suggested the walk in be painted the same color as the bedroom, SHOCKING I know! The transformation of this room knocked the home owner's socks off, he just couldn't believe it was the same room and the nook that we placed the sectional in now made perfect sense to him, he always thought it was such a waste of space before! Have a look.

In the adjoining en-suite the walls had been painted and we took it one step further and had all the dated oak trim and cabinetry painted white. This en-suite was really unique and featured all Kohler fixtures, it featured a bidet and a huge Cast iron Birthday Bath. The tub alone is worth over $4000.00! This en-suite also earned the prestigious "Toilet from Hell" award,(who knew it was actually white), I'll just leave that to your vivid imaginations.

Across the hall were two large bedrooms that received new carpet in one and new paint throughout. In one of the bedrooms we also had the contractor remove the large oak built in, we had to ask him twice because he thought it would be too much work patching everything since it had already been painted, needless to say the built in was removed! This bedroom also received goergeous new carpet that one of the kids managed to stain with a bright blue highlighter pen days before they moved out. I managed to get the stain out with Folex, that stuff is MAGIC!

The main bathroom received the major part of the reno and turned out beautiful. Unfortunatley I don't have the pre-reno pictures as we arrived on the job site while it was being put back together but apparently it had mirror on all the walls and ceiling! the painters would not let his crew go in that room to paint because it was so disgusting so the contractor and home owner decided to rip it all apart.

This is quite easliy one of the biggest transformations we have done to date. It really evolved into a stunning space that the home owner was thrilled with and that the Realtor was so excited to represent. Part two will be posted soon so that you can see the huge difference on the main level. I thought I would attach a few of the critters I got to meet while we were going through the process... Stay tuned. ~ Emily

www.celebratestaging.com