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I Live Vicarously Through My Staged Homes!

By
Home Stager with Z Touch Design Services

Sometimes I just don't want to leave the home I just staged. There is no clutter, no toys, the pillows are where they were intended... it's visually very calm.

Then I go home. I am not the kind of stager that lives in an immaculately styled home. I have four kids ranging from 3rd grade to sophomore. I have 3 boys and a tomboy. Immaculate is a word that is lost in the black hole along with all the missing socks and the TV remote. Legos multiply, nerf bullets are found in every nook & cranny, video gaming stuff is constantly on the loose. It's my reality.

Anything that will get stepped on or sat on is chosen according to it's style and most importantly it's camouflaging ability. My design decor varies according to what's been stolen from my house to be used in the perfect spot in a staged home.

I once had a woman say to me (after she complimented me on my wonderfully stage home) "Your home must be beautiful!" Of course I didn't tell her that we were sitting on metal folding chairs because my dining chairs worked so perfectly with the staging!

At the end of the day when the staging is done, I just want to sit down (with a huge stack of decorating magazines) and enjoy the serenity of a quiet, beautifully staged home because when I go home it will be nothing like the staged house I just left!

me and kids

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Kristi DeFazio
RE/MAX Advantage - Colorado Springs, CO
Colorado Springs Rea lEstate 719-459-5468

I always tell people the way you live in a  home is way different than the way you do when you sell a home. I know what you mean though!

Dec 29, 2010 02:40 AM
Kathy Nielsen
http://atlantahomestaging.net - Marietta, GA
Atlanta Georgia Home Stager

I can relate. Not that I've used my own furniture but... that clutter-free environment is so peaceful that it's often times hard to leave.

Great post.

Kathy

Dec 29, 2010 03:02 AM
Cathy Lee
CL Design Services Home Staging - Danville, CA
ASP, IAHSP, RESA Danville, CA

My children are grown and married but I have my three grandboys for weekends and spoil them rotten then need a fire hose to clean the mess-LOL!! I love that you don't live staged. You wink, they are grown up! 

Dec 29, 2010 03:26 AM
Deb Harshman
Long and Foster - Christie's International Real Estate & Owner of Staged Home Decor - Potomac, MD
REALTOR & ASPMaster Stager, The Selling Advantage

Leanne,

I have moved to new home in the past year. I vowed to keep the home my sanctuary.  After years of working my business and getting it to the point of being able to move all out, I am clutter free and nothing from my home leaves my home. It is the reward of HARD WORK.  I REALLY LOVE THIS BUSINESS!!!!

Good luck in 2011!

Dec 29, 2010 04:14 AM
Michelle Molinari
FEATURE THIS... Real Estate Staging & Interior Decor - Lafayette, LA
Feature This Real, Estate Staging & Curb Appeal Concepts

Hi Leanne - Thanks for your candid post!

Staged homes are exactly what they say they are --- STAGED! As in "For the Show."

I have also used my own dining room set on more than one occasion. I have also swiped my mom's for our very first staging (sold to the first person who walked in the door, btw). I am even guilty of swiping my my girlfriend's farmhouse breakfast table when no other set could be found in town with a butcherblock top and the room needed it for cohesion with the kitchen cabinets.

However, I have no kids to explain myself to when something disappears.

We are all real people with real lives. I totally cop to having a refrigerator magnet collection as well as owning up to the fact that I don't make my bed every day. My toilet seat lids are in the upright position.

~Michelle

 

 

 

Dec 29, 2010 04:22 AM
Sharon Tara
Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH
Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

No one has a perfect home in real life.  Staged homes are fantasy time.  Your home has what no staged home has...love!

Dec 29, 2010 11:43 AM
Sally Weatherley
EXIT STAGE RIGHT - Vancouver, BC
Vancouver Home Staging, Home Stager Vancouver, B.C

Leanne - Love your post!  My home looks like a tornedo ran through it.  I can totally relate!  I have a geriatric cat that likes to run his claws over my once beautiful sofa, and a dog with muddy paws and long, shedding hair.  When my girls are home, cups, shoes, clothes are strewn everywhere!  I agree, serenity is a home we just staged, not where we live!!!!

Dec 29, 2010 02:41 PM
Leanne Zumbrunnen
Z Touch Design Services - Lenexa, KS

It's good to know there are many like me!  I sometimes picture myself after my kids have grown on gone with a beautiful, immaculate place like Deborah mentions but then I'm sure I will have grandchildren like Cathy Lee and just be starting all over again.  Obviously, what good is a nice house if you have no one to share it with!

Dec 30, 2010 01:08 AM
Maureen Bray Portland OR Home Stager ~ Room Solutions Staging
Room Solutions Staging, Portland OR - Portland, OR
"Staging Consultations that Sell Portland Homes"

Leanne ~  Many of us (probably most, if we are being honest) can relate!  My clients always say to me too .... "oh your home must be beautiful"  -- if they only knew I'm too busy working on other people's homes to do much to my own!  Spend precious time with your kids, as you know they grow far too quickly.  Happy New Year to you!

Dec 30, 2010 11:51 AM
Lori Donegan
Ready 2 Stage - Cleveland, TN

I can totally relate!  Thanks for sharing your imperfections with us and making us all feel a little better about those empty spaces on the walls and the basement room cluttered with staging accessories.  There will be plenty of time when your children are grown to enjoy a beautifully staged home.  Happy New Year to you and yours!

Dec 30, 2010 03:57 PM
Melissa Marro
Keller Williams First Coast Realty - The Marro Team - Orange Park, FL
Jacksonville Real Estate and Home Staging

haha!  I know what you mean!  I definately do not live in a staged home... so far from it that it's almost embarrasing... except my house isn't for sale.  That's not to say that I don't love my home, or it's contents and frankly I'm pretty comfortable with things not being 'perfect'... I'm not the least bit of a perfectionist in my own home... it's comfortably 'lived in'.  I agree that some days though I sit back and look at a room that I've just staged perfectly and longfully wish momentarily that I too could live like this... but if I tried it wouldn't stay that way for long.....

 

Dec 31, 2010 05:00 AM
Ana Hitzel
AccentPositives Home Staging - Corona, CA
Professional Home Stager Inland Empire

OMG Leanne, you are so like us! I have four, (3 girls one boy who is the youngest) my youngest is fifth grade, my oldest a sophomore.  My house is our storage unit. What we don't rent from providers the rest comes from my inventory stored in our unused living room!  My home does not look anything like I make others look like! Keep on keepin on!

 

Ana

Feb 28, 2012 11:56 AM