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what to do when dead plants in urns just aren't working for me

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Home Stager with a fresh space :: home staging & thoughtful organizing

So I'm doing a staging at a vacant house last fall and the client had left two really nice urns on the front entry.  Unfortunately, she left two very dead plants in them as well.  The realtor had scheduled a realtor tour that afternoon and I'd stopped by to do some fluffing up of stuff when I noticed the dead plants. 

What to do??

My solution:  I had twigs in my car, and a christmas wreath I'd been strong armed into purchasing from my daughter's school.  And a casserole dish.  So I ditched the dead plants and took my casserole dish to the construction site next door.  I started digging in a pile of dirt and gravel to fill these urns in which I placed the twigs.  Once I'd filled them, I dismantled the wreath with my pliers and laid the greenery around the twigs, finishing it off with some plum colored dainty garland I had left over from another staging and a few pinecones from the wreath.  I had more comments on the urns that just about anything else I did.  In fact, I bumped into a realtor at an event last week - and she remembered that staging job from the urns!!

Being that it was a rush job - next time I would put more twigs in for a bit more drama but I was pretty pleased with how they turned out.  This tip is for what to do in the upcoming season when you want some drama at a front entry but it's hard to keep plants alive.  Great way to add some height to tall entry and some color at the same time without resorting to fake plants.

exterior urnsYou should have seen me tiptoing across the grass stealing dirt and gravel with my casserole dish from the site next door - I kept waiting for one of the workers to yell at me but no-one said anything so I kept digging!

I really liked the way these turned out - hope other stagers can use this idea this fall. 

Kathy Passarette
Creative Home Expressions - Mount Sinai, NY
L.I. Staging/Decorating

Liz ~ I think you did a great job with what you had!  Much better than empty urns or urns with dead plants in them!

fabulousFeatured in Staging Crafts & Creatives Group

Oct 14, 2008 10:56 AM
Marybeth Barrett
Addressing Spaces - Winston-Salem, NC

Very cool and resourceful.  I love it!

Oct 14, 2008 12:40 PM
Wendy Timmons
Move Home Realty - Temecula, CA
Temecula Realtor

Very creative! It came out great :)

Oct 14, 2008 12:47 PM
Cathy Lee
CL Design Services Home Staging - Danville, CA
ASP, IAHSP, RESA Danville, CA

HI! You live in my favorite place in Tennessee! We almost moved to Franklin about ten years ago. Very clever you are indeed!!  Thanks for sharing!

Oct 14, 2008 01:21 PM
Liz Jenkins
a fresh space :: home staging & thoughtful organizing - Franklin, TN

Hi Cathy - we love it here - we moved here from Florida several years ago and are quite happy.  The weather is beautiful now - getting a bit cooler so that's why I thought this post would be appropriate.  Live plants and vacant houses just don't really mix!

Thanks to all for the comments - hope you found it useful!

Oct 14, 2008 02:02 PM
Kym Hough
www.Staged-to-Sell - Danville, CA
Staged to Sell East Bay - Danville, CA

Love it very creative. Often clients have these pots on the their front porch and when they move out the put flowers in which promptly die and there they remain. Love your idea. Kym

Oct 14, 2008 02:31 PM
Kathy Dyer Roseville Sacramento Staging Real Estate Home Stager Services
One Step Staging- Home Staging services Roseville/Sac areas - Roseville, CA

Liz, You are amazingly creative- that's why we all love to stage- we can use our minds to do something we never did before! Never boring right?

Kathy Dyer

Oct 16, 2008 08:17 AM
Leslie Hoyt
Hello Home! - Greenville, SC
Hello Home!

Wonderful idea- don't you just love coming up with stuff at the last minute, occasionally?

It keeps ideas fresh, resourceful and creative!

Smart, you are!

~Leslie

Oct 16, 2008 09:40 AM
Robyn Guinn
StageAZ - Phoenix, AZ
Home staging, Arizona

Oh that is so funny and creative.  I too think they turned out great.  Thanks for sharing that great idea.  I have a picture in my mind of you tip toeing over digging in the dirt!

Oct 16, 2008 09:47 AM
Laurie Calhoun
Gloria Home Staging, Inc. - Winter Springs, FL
Seminole County FL Home Stager

Necessity is the mother of invention, all right! What a creative solution! Thanks for sharing it. Now we are all armed for our own dead-plants-in-the-urns emergency.

Oct 17, 2008 03:18 PM
C. Bartch
Newark, OH

Well Liz, I think you pulled a MacGyver  staging move. That was super resourceful & creative!!! Thanks for sharing.

Oct 22, 2008 12:26 AM
Sharon Tara
Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH
Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

I'm laughing picturing you running next door with your casserole dish and digging in their dirt!  What we won't do for our profession! 

 

Nov 08, 2008 10:23 AM
Maureen Bray Portland OR Home Stager ~ Room Solutions Staging
Room Solutions Staging, Portland OR - Portland, OR
"Staging Consultations that Sell Portland Homes"

Liz,  I love how the urn looks and especially the creative way you transformed it -- bravo!  As my mother used to say, that is using your noodle!

Nov 08, 2008 10:37 AM
Liz Jenkins
a fresh space :: home staging & thoughtful organizing - Franklin, TN

Thanks for all of the positive comments on this - I really hope some of you get a chance to use this idea - maybe without hiking in high heels through a construction site!  This is a great recycling tip, also for those wreaths we all get talked into getting.  I mean, just how many wreaths can one family use??  Once the holidays are over - start collecting those wreaths to get your urns through the cold weather!

Nov 09, 2008 02:39 AM
Lanette Branch
Taylor Properties - Bel Air, MD
Bel Air, MD Real Estate Agent

Liz - this is a great idea!  Thanks for posting the pic of the finished project.  I've got 2 urns in front of a vacant listing right now and it's the middle of coooold December in MD...Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Dec 18, 2008 02:59 AM
Dawn Bach Thurman
Eye to Eye Interiors, LLC - Chicago, IL
Redesign & Staging Services

I LOVE stories like this - awesome!  The urns look great, but I have to admit - my favorite part of your post is how you made such great use of your casserole dish!  LOL!

Dec 19, 2008 07:07 AM