Ok, you've waited patiently for it since I alluded to this post in my last blog about Staging for a Low Income Housing Development. Now it's finally here...Bear with me because it's a long one!
Before I begin let me say that I absolutely LOVE the client who has given me a total of 3 different projects like this one. They are fun and easy to work with, they pay in advance and never give me a hassle about anything. Not to mention, they are always very pleased with my work! For these reasons I really hate to complain about anything related to the work I do for them. BUT in the spirit of a good laugh and some commiseration by fellow Stagers at the sheer lunacy of it all, I am going to dish...
According to Wikipedia, "Murphy's law is an adage in Western culture that broadly states, 'if anything can go wrong, it will.'" Well, that may be going a little too far since I'm sure there's a lot more that could've gone awry on this job, but you be the judge.
• Problem #1: A Delivery Dilemma
Since this was an interior design job versus a Staging, we were buying, rather than renting all the furnishings. And in order to get the best prices for my client I shopped with multiple vendors, most of which were online. This meant that deliveries were going to be coming from MANY different places, in MANY different boxes, at MANY different times. We had to have the items delivered to the jobsite directly since we don't have a large enough storage space to hold everything.
Since our installation was in mid-December, we ordered most of the items the week before Thanksgiving to make sure they all arrived on time. Literally MINUTES after I clicked the "SEND ORDER" button, I got an email from my client saying that the only stipulation to our delivering to their jobsite was that nothing could arrive before Thanksgiving, and if anything arrived after 3:30pm when the project manager left for the day, no one would be onsite to accept the delivery. Uh oh! I immediately called Overstock.com, where I had ordered a HUGE amount of stuff. They said the only way to ensure nothing arrived before Thanksgiving was to cancel the order and place it again after the holiday. Well I was nervous about that because if it didn't arrive in time we'd be in trouble. And really, how could they possibly ship things so fast that they would arrive in just a couple of days? Nothing to worry about.
Well, Murphy's Law prevailed and the first shipment of about 5 or 6 things (2 rugs, a couple of tables and some benches) arrived right before Thanksgiving and were promptly refused by whomever was on the job site at the time. No one alerted me to this fact, and I only figured it out when Overstock contacted me saying they received my returns and were processing a refund. RETURNS?? What do you mean returns???!!! I panicked because here we were in early December already and I had less than 2 weeks before the installation. When I called they said the items had been refused and now the only thing to do was to reorder them. Luckily all but one item was still in stock and the new rug I found to replace the one that was out of stock was actually better than the first one. So I reordered and all was well. Everything arrived on time for the installation. Note to self, Overstock has incredible shipping. Not only is it practically free, no matter what you order, but it's FAST!
• Problem #2: An Art Anomaly
Picking the art for this job was an organizational nightmare because there were so many different rooms and hallways which needed art in many different sizes, so I needed to choose pieces that coordinated with each other in exactly the right sizes and colors for each space. I also had to know in advance which pieces would be used in which spaces so that the accessories I bought for those rooms would coordinate with the art. When we had originally previewed the site, it was still under construction so I was nervous that what I ordered wouldn't work. Not to mention, this was an Art Deco building, so the art had to be from that period, which turned out to be hard to find in the quantity we needed.
We ended up choosing a series of Cuban magazine covers from the 1930s, which we had printed in poster size by CubanGraphics. They were the only affordable source of Art Deco posters I could find. And since I needed about 20 large posters, cost was definitely a factor. In order to keep all the pieces straight, I created a spreadsheet for each room with thumbnails of the art I had chosen. This way I could easily see which pieces were going where and could verify that my throw pillows and decor would work.
The other factor was that right when we were about to order the art, Michael's was having a HUGE sale on poster frames. No matter what size you bought, they were all $9.99! Now I could absolutely not pass this up, even though the sale actually happened before I had completely nailed down the sizes I was going to order. So I spent about an hour at Michael's looking at all the different sizes and referring back to my meticulous notes from the art supplier as to which sizes they could provide (the sizes of the frames didn't always match up with the sizes of the posters). Finally I left with about 20 frames in about 3 different sizes. I thought I was all set.
Fast forward a couple of weeks to when the art arrives. I actually left it in the packaging for over a week until we were ready to start framing. My assistant opens everything up and tells me that the sizes don't match up to my list. What?? I went back to the email I had sent to the art supplier to confirm that I had requested the right thing - I had. As it turns out though, they had sent me only 2 different sizes. Most of what they sent was the largest size (27x40) and these had not been trimmed down to size. They were actually a few inches wider and longer than they needed to be. There were none in the middle size I had ordered (24x36) and only a few in the smaller size (20x30). Once again, panic! I went back to my spreadsheet and pored over the list. Luckily I could work with the larger sizes in most cases, but what about the frames?? My $10 frames were now not going to work and to replace them was going to cost a LOT more than I had paid for them! Well, I had to bite the bullet. I went back to Michael's and upgraded to higher quality frames (turns out the $10 ones were really bad quality anyway) and there was another sale going on so the upgrade didn't cost as much as I thought it would.
I should also say that the vendor was very good about handling the problem. In order to get these to us quickly, she had them sent directly from the printer which meant she hadn't had the opportunity to review the order before it went out. She apologized profusely and resent out the one that needed to be reprinted immediately. We had actually gotten larger pieces for the same price as the smaller ones so I didn't haggle for a discount. It all worked out in the end. And the prints were just beautiful - the colors were vibrant and looked just like they had onscreen! If you ever need Art Deco Cuban magazine covers, CubanGraphics is your one stop shop!
• Problem #3: Previewing During Preconstruction is a Pain (I'm stretching for an alliteration for this one)
In each of their low income housing developments, this particular developer puts in a desk wtih 3 computer workstations that are available for the residents to use. This desk is built by the contractor, not something that we order and install ourselves. When we previewed the jobsite, the place was still under construction and the desk hadn't yet been installed. With our client, we determined where the desk was going to go based on where the computer and internet hookups were on the walls. I created my design and layout based on that assumption. Well, you know what they say about the word ASSUME (if you don't, email me offline). When we arrived onsite, the computer desk had been installed right where I was planning to put a loveseat, coffee table and a kids play area. So we had to rearrange on the fly and though it turned out ok, I wasn't thrilled with the new placement as I had something different in my head.
Now, the moment you've been waiting for...
• Problem #4: The Case of the Moldy Sofas
As I mentioned, we had to have all the furnishings shipped to the site before we arrived. The largest items we had shipped were the office furniture (which had to be assembled - UGH) and the coup de gras of the entire design, the Le Corbusier sofa/loveseat/chair/ottoman set.
When you see the after photos...
You can hardly imagine what they looked like when we arrived onsite and opened up the boxes...
Did I tell you it would be worth the wait? In all my years of Staging I have never seen anything as bad as this. These pieces were COVERED in mold! It took my assistant and I an additional hour or so to painstakingly wipe down each piece. We were using non-toxic cleaning fluid (this is all I had with me as no one told me I'd need "MOLD-BE-GONE" - I just made that up so don't go googling it). But as we breathed in the moldy dust that came up, I'm sure the non-toxic part of the equation was negated. The great thing about leather is that you can just wipe anything off of it. That's why I have a leather sofa and dining chairs in my house and leather upholstery in my car. Because with 2 young kids you never know what kind of mess you're going to have to clean up. But even being a mom did not prepare me for this one!
Of course I immediately took photos and emailed them to the vendor (EuroModerno). He was shocked and contacted his supplier immediately. The supplier responded that "it should wipe off and stay off." That made me think that I was not the first customer this had happened to! The boxes were dry and had been kept indoors so who knows how this happened!
I alerted the client, of course, in case the mold came back. I would be mortified if they went to see our handywork and the sofas were covered again. EuroModerno offered to swap out this set with another one as soon as they are in stock again (3 weeks) OR to issue a partial refund for the hassle. We are still waiting for word from the client as to whether or not the mold has returned. EuroModerno has great customer service, so I do recommend them despite this problem. Just make sure to check the boxes before you accept delivery!
We were very pleased with the end result, but boy did we have a time of it getting there!
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Annie Pinsker-Brown | Stage to Sell
Owner & Principal Designer
310-384-1084
www.stagetosell.biz
"We get you to SOLD so you can get on with your life!"
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Stage to Sell is the premier West Los Angeles Home Staging Company.
Owner & Principal Designer Annie Pinsker-Brown is an ASP Home Stager, a member of IAHSP (International Association of Home Staging Professionals), an affiliate member of the Beverly Hills/Greater Los Angeles Association of Realtors and a member of the Culver City and West LA Chambers of Commerce.
Annie has Staged LA homes for Bravo's hit show "Million Dollar Listing" and TLC's "Property Ladder." She has also been featured in recent articles on Home Staging in Los Angeles Magazine, The New York Times, Costco Connection and Frontiers Magazine.
If you would like to see more of our Home Staging work, visit our website. There is an extensive gallery of before & after photos, as well as a list of our Staged properties currently on the market.
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