Week 4 and I'm an expert!  I know it all.  I can do this.  It isn't so bad, after all.  The key is to have higher end stuff and then you're not trawling through shoals of the "greater unwashed"!  Blithely I deposited my first fat check for a flat fee rental in a swanky part of town, and confidently swash-buckled off to show my other big listing.

There, I fell down a small flight of attic stairs, off the ramp onto the insulation wadding and reality returned with a painful thump!

Well, it's long been said,

"pride comes before a fall"!

Now, in week 5, I have had 3 deals rupture in one day, thanks to poor credit, unpaid tax judgments, faked attorney letters....

How did we know it was fake?  It was from a Mrs. M. Lastname as opposed to M. Lastname, Esq.  and there were grammatical errors in the writing of the kind that it was hard to imagine a lawyer making.

As Week 5 draws to a close, I have been put back in training.  Actually, I welcome this.  Because, to have a tall 6'2" former timeshare salesman super-closer in my back pocket will really help with this week's batch of potential tenants:-

Huntington Beach State Park is an oceanfront state park, with a fresh water lagoon, salt marsh and overall, achingly beautiful nature preserve that anyone can visit for a meager fee during the summer months, or for free on a rainy Tuesday in February. Wow, it was beautiful!

Calm, quiet and filled with birds of all kinds, a few intrepid RV campers tucked privately into a thickly treed campground and me! 

The Park is widely recognized as one of the best birding sites along the East Coast. I'm not much into birds, personally, but it's hard not to be impressed when you see so many different varieties, quite happily enjoying their natural habitat, which in this case, is 2,500 acres of native flora and fauna. There are lots of observation decks and walking trails and even a bike path. Even in today's rain, there was a majesty quite unmatched by anything I've seen before. Except in Scotland, perhaps, in the mists there. 

Aren't the older trees of the Carolinas magnificent?

I have such a cute 2 bedroom, 1 bath listing, and no matter how I present it, it just isn't getting the traffic it deserves. I can't stage the thing, it's a rental. I can't lower the price, the owner is adamant that it's costing the full $600 to cover the carrying charges on the thing...what to do?

May I just mention that this is my ONLY listing that allows pets? It's located in Bahama Bay in the seemingly popular Forestbrook school district.

The clouds are lifting.

I have now rented the same home twice.  Fingers crossed on this current accepted offer.

I have some more listings, ( 8 now) and two are quite high-end for this marketplace which is great fun for me, and a nice jog back to my comfort zone. 

This week culminated in New Member Orientation at the Coastal Carolina Association of Realtors.  A 2 day fandango of MLS, PropTools, Professionalism, Volunteerism, PACs, Safety and of course, the dreaded 2 1/2 hours of Ethics training followed by a test.  This test was open book and we marked our own; the irony of which, given we were doing an Ethics Quiz, did NOT escape anyone!

But it was the Realtor Safety Segment that was just priceless!  A very nice police-officer, completely loaded at the waist band, I don't think I heard what he said for the whole of the first ten minutes, I was trying to work out what all the little leather pouches were for!

"I've been told to keep my stories tame; I don't want to scare you," he announced as he led us thru a 14 page PowerPoint presentation detailing the myriad ways realtors have been done in by "the professional dirt bags". (and he gestured the quote marks and sneered with disgust as he said those words!)

Then the bullet-pointed list ~

1.  Always wear your cell phone.  (Well I'm fat.  Fat clothes don't have pockets, nor belts, but oddly enough I do always wear my cell phone.  In my bra. Verizon has advised me of potential water damage to the unit and I have blatantly, and with mindful intent, ignored them!) 

2.  Don't wear expensive jewelry.  (Is there a realtor around who adhers to that one?)

3.  Wear shoes you can run in.  Run away in.  (Clearly the officer wants to see realtors dress down and frump up a bit...what do you think his mother did for a living?)

4.  Trust no-one; "you're dealing with the public."

5.  In Myrtle Beach you need a license to solicit.  (er...you mean, like for canvassing the neighborhood?)

6.  Take protection with you.  (We're realtors, man, not acoloytes of Heidi Fleiss)

and lastly

7. Know where all your exes are, especially if you have a Restraining Order in place and MOST especially if you're gonna do billboard advertising.

I mean no disrespect to the Men in Blue, nor the unfortunate folks who've had something seriously awful happen to them... but surely this is all overkill?  And if you expect the worst, aren't you inviting the plausibility and therefore possibility that that worst will come to fruition?

There again, this is Myrtle Beach, affectionately known as the Redneck Riviera to some, and Pahtee Town to others ... maybe this is just a town where everyone carries protection and a permit to solicit?

Yee-Haa!

_________

Week 1

Week 2

They always say, if you're relocating, rent for a year and get to know the place before you buy.  The challenge here is that we are in the bottom of the pricing cycle; it's really tempting to feel like it's important to jump in and buy NOW! You may feel like a customer of mine last night, who said, "if I have to rent for a year, I want someplace nice."  And if you do feel the same way, let me tell you about Kalmia court in Plantation Lakes.

5 BR Beauty on the water...

	Here is an outstanding mostly furnished Plantation Lakes home is on the end of a cul de sac. When you walk into the front door, get ready to explore over 4,500 feet of exquisite living and entertaining bliss!
From the front door, this is your view at the other end of the first floor -- one of the many lakes that make Plantation Lakes one of the prettiest developments in the Carolina Forest area.
	This home was originally built by a chef. This explains the 5 burner gas cooktop, two convection ovens, and a convection microwave. There are many cabinets and more counter space than you can possibly use. The kitchen does not lack a single detail. "Even the most picky cook will find it perfect."
Once in the front door, you will find a formal dining room to one side, and a library or office to the other. You then flow into a very large great room with a sectional in one corner and a bar for entertaining in the other. You will also have a large eat in kitchen as you flow through to the formal living room with its own fireplace.   Now out to the oversized screened in porch. This porch overlooks a very large lake, a patio with a fire pit. There is a lovely fountain in the back yard and a beautiful boat dock.
	Let's go to the bedrooms. There are two master bedrooms that are exactly the same with oversized bathrooms and walk in closets. There is another Bedroom with its own bath and a walk in closet. The 4th bedroom also has a bath sitting right outside its door. You will see that the utility room has both a washer, dryer, and a deep sink.
Finally, lets go upstairs to the Theatre room or the largest 5th bedroom around. It has its own media room to the side with all hookups for surround sound and its own bathroom. You will also see a picture of the storage off to the side of the theatre room. Let's not forget the garage with a double door, a single door, and even a smaller door for the golf cart and riding mower that you will have to bring with you.

All of the furniture that you see in place is included in rental.

[Written January 13, 2010, but delayed in posting because I don't have a routine organized yet.]

I WAS Juliet Johnson Staging, one of the top staging firms in NJ that served homes in the $1 - 3 million niche.  My clients were top producing realtors at the top of their game and my customers all well-heeled moneyed folks simply selling a beautiful home and moving to another one.  Unlike most colleagues, I did a volume business, with a good mix of consultations, owner occupieds and vacants.  It was creative and fun, though not particularly lucrative; I kept my prices reasonable so as to have a lot of work.  Not the model for everyone, perhaps, but it worked for me.

Now...

I'm rookie realtor Juliet Johnson from Myrtle Beach Rental Connections in South Carolina.  My license went active last Wednesday, so that I service the Myrtle Beach long term rentals market.  Why rentals?  I knew I had to start at the bottom.  I know no-one in MB, so needed a space where the phone would ring anyway.  Eventually my renters would be become buyers; my buyers would become sellers and then I'd have a business.  It would take a while, but at least I'd be busy while it developed and seeing some income coming in...no matter how small.

It's been quite the week!  Just when I think I've made every mistake in the book, I find I've just made another one!

My manager gave me 3 units to start out with:-

-  a modest 2 BR, 1 Bth for $600 a month 

- a less modest 2 BR 1.5 townhouse for $650 in a busy neighborhood

- a fancy 2 BR, 2 Bath asking $800 that rewards your haul up 3 flights of stairs with soothing views of a gorgeous Greg Norman-designed golf course.  The soaring ceilings, tons of light and softly wafting ocean breezes... it's miles away.  No other property manager wants to drive that far north all the time to show the thing.  I don't mind.  I expected to be given stuff no-one else wanted.  I am enjoying the challenge.

I put the ads on Craigslist that my manager had used before and sat back waiting for the phone to ring.  Which it didn't.  I rewrote the ads with a bit more spin.  The phone started to ring.  Often.  Great!  We have ignition; let's roll!

Quickly I learned:-

1.  Prequalify before you jump in your car.  Imagine! I had to learn for myself that showing is NOT the most efficient way to get to know your customer, no matter how smart you think you're being reading the way they answer your questions as they try to get out of earshot to look at the property you're all standing in!

2.  Most renters have horrible credit and move when they have had enough of their landlord.  So, checking their financial situation is a minefield of trauma, lies and possibly good intentions, no matter how seemingly demented!

3.  All renters have dogs.  Big ones.  Usually on the 10 Most Aggressive and Dangerous Dogs in the World list -- which we keep posted in each office.  Yeah.

4.  Lots of very nice, clean-looking people have motorbikes and felonies in their background.

5.  You can't ask if he's the baby daddy, no matter how much the owner wants to know.  And chances are if his name can't be on the lease, he's violating parole or worse!!

There was some culture shock, to put it mildly.  Sometimes it was fun;  mostly I was miserable.  I couldn't find anything polite to say about the properties.  I didn't know the rules of engagement or where the boundaries are.

... And then, I found myself wandering into a Home Goods, walking the aisles imagining and visualizing how things might fit together.  And after sorting and rearranging a few shelves I was healed.  Refreshed.  Renewed.  And ready for Week 2.

Mecca for Stagers, retired or otherwise!

Recent Staging before I started to close up shop to move down to Myrtle Beach.  All we really did was remove all the wallpaper and repaint.  Sadly I don't have befores of when the wall paper was up.

Are these After pictures not the worst in the world?  I didn't get back to take my own, but thought, oh well, not to worry.  The listing realtor is a high volume lister, she'll have lovely photos.  Not a bit of it!  If there was money spent on a professional photographer, that money should be rebated with penalties and interest.

Here's what they've put on the MLS as the theater space ~ a big selling feature for the home - the entire attic is a theater, pool table, fun entertaining kitchen - awesome!  But here's the representation, the enticement to get buyers to come see the property ------

Who polices this stuff?  The owner?  The Broker-in-Charge?  The Board?  Ridiculous!  These people are trying to sell an awkward location for $689,000; you'd think their realtor would be doing all she can to help.

_______________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Moving to a new place often means you have to start from scratch meeting people.  This is the case for me in Myrtle Beach; I know no-one.  We're going there because of the golf, the water and the incredibly well-valued cost of living.  So, I've signed up for Meet-Ups, as a first step.  The first one was part of the Carolina Power Women's Network (or something) and I thought it was going to be about "Living in Joy."

It turned out to be a Passion Party.  Not like those ones in the 90's for sex toys... thankfully, since it was held at 10 AM on a Saturday morning in the local Barnes and Noble.  (Can you imagine?! LOL)   No, it was an introduction to The Passion Test and its MLM "opportunities":- how to become a facilitator, sell the book and all the collateral stuff, then host a Passion Test party in your own home so that your friends can get in touch with their passion, too.  Of course, when you host, you get a 2 hour one-on-one consultation with the facilitator where she (or he) is obliged to walk you through the Passion Test and listen to all the reasons you're not pursuing your true calling.  (Just saying.)  But it got me thinking.

Hey, we could do this!

Couldn't we?

A girlfriend invites 5 - 10 friends over for .. tea, a glass of wine, hors d'ouevres, whatever your gang likes... and you arrive to talk about redesign, re-creating space on a budget, how moving the furniture around, painting an accent wall and adding some new colorful accessories can make your space feel fun all over again.  (I've actually been booked by the local library to do this as part of their New Year, New You thing.)

After all, we know this stuff c-o-l-d.  And there are so many folks who find spatial relationships impossible.  Infact, while at the Myrtle Beach Best Buy, the cashier told me, "Oh, do you have a card?  Expect my call. I am giving you to my mother for Mother's Day.  She can NOT get the layout right in her living room."

If 2 people sign up for a Redesign or consult, then the hostess gets a room done for free.  No? Or whatever makes sense for you and your income requirements to get off the sofa.

What extra stuff do you need?  Coupons, your Before and After photos...some slides, probably from your realtors' presentation anyway...

Do-able?  I think so.  And fun for people.  How many Pampered Chef, Arbonne, LudicrousBaskets , Tastefully Simple, Jewelry parties have you been to?  Now, you can get some of your goodwill back, huh?

Just saying.

______________________________________________________________

Is it too soon? There are a few consults scheduled for this next month in December, but it is unlikely that any real staging will take place now until January. (by which time, I shall be operating in our new community of Myrtle Beach, SC.)

The NJ real estate market - in the NYC suburbs I served - were a blood bath this year.  And yet, things sold.  Now this Fall, homes in great condition, attractively presented, in good locations that were priced right sold, with multiple offers, and in some cases went over.  Rarely do I sit down and really review the numbers.  I have done this year, because I wondered if the staging story would parallel the realtor's.  Does it?  You tell me.

That last line staggers me.  My unit volume is UP 126% but to be so off on income...wow!

What's happened?  Most people have made do with a consultation and then "taken their chances".  Very few have opted to do any serious restyling using furniture, props, etc.  The ecomony.

What's everyone else's experience like?

________________________________________________

Many kind folks have been asking "what's up wi choo?"  and while I have not intended to be strangely mysterious, I've not known when would be the right time to start telling folks.  It's not like I've the status of Oprah... as if!  

Now that Thanksgiving is over... here's what I'm up to.

My family and I are relocating to Myrtle Beach, SC.  Once there, I will continue to offer high end home staging services, while my primary focus will be on helping people to find a home that fits, and to sell on the one that doesn't.  Yup, I'm going back to being a realtor.

I was last a realtor in Manhattan in the mid-late 80s... before there was an MLS!  Yes, there were days like that, and New York city was one of the last places to adopt it.  I know much has changed.  But hopefully, the elements of good service and treating the customer with integrity haven't changed at all.

Why Myrtle Beach?

This is just any old morning in November --

It's a beautiful place to live.  My husband is a single digit handicapper - a boomer, even - and I always feel calmer and happier by the water.  Any old water and in Myrtle Beach, indeed anywhere on the Grand Strand, there's lots of it - all beautiful.

So JulietJohnsonStaging.com becomes http://myrtlebeachhomestaging.com and I start full-time in January 2010.  I'll be there for a few weeks in December getting situated but will return to Jersey for Christmas and the New Year.

I've met so many wonderful folks here on Active Rain, and I'm hoping we'll all stay friends  Even that you'll all come visit.  There's soooo much to do there.  Who knows you might even want to buy something -- the housing is incredibly affordable, pretty and completely delightful.  

My guess is a few retrospective blog posts will follow, and I hope you'll indulge me.  In the meantime, thank you for the last 8 years of home staging New Jersey.  It's been the most creative fun time I've had yet.  Hopefully, the best is yet to come!

Perched on the side of the Roxiticus Valley, with splendid views, rises this massive 8,100 sq. ft giant man-cave!  A 5 BR home designed by 4 men, who joined together to build the kind of house each of them dreamed of.

It is majestic.  It is huge.  It is kinda dark and definitely splendid.

Juliet Johnson Staging was brought in to "fem up" a few rooms and demonstrate how a family might love to live there.  My crew and I loved the home.  In fact, of all the homes I've done in the last 7 years, this is my favorite... and oddly the one I think the most livable... of the giants, at any rate.  One of my crew took the sales sheet home to a colleague who'd just won the Lottery!

Many more blogs on this to come - here's the preliminary slide show.

For more information, please visit ~ http://www.tourfactory.com/557040 ~ or call Ann Gegelys of Weichert Realtors' - Mendham at 908-812-4392.

A super house in Glen Ridge, NJ that had rich, specific colors freshly painted on beautifully restored walls.  Our challenge?  Make sense of it for as many potential buyers as possible.

You know the antique furniture guy who hasn't had much business lately?  Not surprisingly, it's a tough economy and maybe folks can live without the pair of gorgeous, French bergere chairs (THAT STILL NEED TO BE RE-UPHOLSTERED) for now! 

So, there's this builder and he needs furniture 'cos his thing's not selling at that price and he can't afford to fire-sale it (yet) and ... oh why not try it?  What have we got to lose?

  South Orange, NJ

We-ll.  What deal did you make with the guy?  Is he set to have a furniture sale every other weekend while you're trying to show the place?  Never know who might be interested in the home when all they thought they wanted was a wobbly Victorian settle!

You might want to set aside only certain hours, and make sure the pricing tags are off when regular showings are taking place...or you'll find people are looking at the crazy furniture not the pleasingly renovated house.  Or you could spend a few hours of time on your stager ($250 - 350) and have them modify the space a bit:-

Over the course of 5 rooms, it makes some sense, no?  But it still looks mismatched, and inexplicably odd.  Plus, now the question might be what do these people have about creepy, tufted armchairs?

Here's another example.  Here, the antique dealer is a relative of the listing agent:-

  Rural Morris County

   What room is this? 

   It's an office/library.  The first room you see when you walk into the home.

This is the formal "away room" (if you read anything by Susan Zuzanka like the Not So Big House)  in an enormous new construction in rural Morris county.  According to the attractively typed price list, the sofa is actually an 1820s settee with vintage barkcloth fabric, offered at $4,200 and those chairs are a "Pair of 1930s Green Painted Arms Chairs" for $1,100.  Wanna close up of that Chess Set...sure?  If you get too close to it, it's yours at an investment of only $15,000:-

   It's a "Tramp Art Table and Chess Set - executed by Paul M. Cunningham, a member of the Hermitage Artists.  Chess pieces are all storage boxes that open!"

Imagine.

Magnificent it is.  In a certain horrific, terrible, kind of way.  It would most likely looks sensational in the right spot and be great fun.  And I'm sure the artist is a highly respeted, hugely talented craftsman.  But context, people!  Where it is now it junking up a $3 million library and scaring little children.

<sigh>

The first time we tried this - it was in a massive home in Short Hills.  We knew we had to accessorize to help, and we teamed up with an art dealer to provide spectacular wall decor of the highest quality. 

  Short Hills, NJ

Here we hit another problem.  Now people were looking at the paintings, not the rooms or the house.  And we still had this bloody awful, mismatched furniture.

In conconclusion, while I always try to make things work, and do honestly believe there are lots of ways to successfully present a home for sale, this free stuff is actually more trouble than it's worth.  It looks bad, and makes the home confusing.  Rarely does it get that job done, which let's recap, is to get 2 seperate folks to love the house so that it sells well, fast and with minimal stress on all sides.  (Why not 1?  Ask any realtor worth their salt and they'll tell you all about looking for a loony needle in a haystack!)

So nut up, folks and spend for proper staging.  It works every time!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When it's a teardown, does it matter what the home looks like?

My response?

1.  Who says it's a "tear down"?  Yes, great lot .82 acres in top suburb, with beautiful trees. (for $1,075,000) but a tear down?

2.  Is the estate sale imminent?  Is the house for sale or the candle sticks?

That turquoise and olive green is a current Crate and Barrel combo.  They started it last year and have been running with it.  I, even, used it last year, to garner multiple offers!

Mind you, they said this was a tear down, too.  And the family living there are very happy, thank you!

What d'you all think?

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[Disclaimer - "House for Sell" is being used as an experiment. According to keyword research, that phrase get 3x the traffic that House for Sale does. No idea why, but thought I'd try it for this challenge.]

* ~ *

This post is the 6th in my 7 part series illustrating Home Staging in NJ with Before and After Staging photos. Today's topic is ~

In New Jersey, as perhaps most parts of the country, the Master Bedroom is ideally a sanctuary.  No kids stuff, no photos of the children, just soothing, luxurious adult stuff.  And when I say "adult" I do not mean the "swing" in the corner for seriously adult behavior.  Everyone knows that this is where one hopes intimate life will take place, but no-one wants to think of other peole actually living it!

So the key elements in Master Bedrooms, here in NJ, at least, are simple and straightforward:-

• Soft, diffused light,

• Soothing, muted colors
  

• Rich, luxurious textures,
  

• Restful

Some examples of successfully staged Master Bedrooms in New Jersey:-

Owner Occupied Home ~ Using What They've Got Already

BEFORE	AFTER
Rumpled bedding just doesn't cut it anymore.	crsip bedding, lots of pillows, open the curtains...
Sometimes all it takes is to make the bed!	And add some bedside lights, a few sparkly accent pillows and... opening the curtains!

Owner Occupied Home ~ Using Rental Furniture

BEFORE	AFTER
This house was owned by a Lehman Brothers guy.  Because he was one of the first people caught up in the Wall Street crisis of 2008-2009, he got a job right away.  The guys that became available at year end were not so lucky.  A relocation to California was a nice silver lining, at least.	Rental furniture gives a fresh, finished look.  Once again, we see a grave preference for a certain Master Bedroom set huh? It's called the Pebble Beach, and I do confess, I love it!  it's so reliable.  Always looks excellent, for all price ranges.
Is it the stairs for the ailing, ancient cat that makes this room so depressing, or is it the lighting, the general untidyness, the tired, haphazard flinging of any and everything in all 4 corners?	We kept the bedskirt. That poor cat ...survived the move, last I heard.

Vacant House ~ Using Rental Furniture

BEFORE	AFTER
Lovely big space...is it too big?  Where d'you put stuff?    This is the perfect example of a large room that works well with staging.  If obviously HUGE pieces of furniture are added and still look lost, the place must be spacious indeed, right?	We were going to hang a picture over the bed.  The problem was the mattress wasn't big enough to fit in the frame properly; it was sitting on a paint can.  We didn't want to move the bed, once we'd got it settled, and we certainly weren't about to stand on it!! So this is how we left it.  Fine enough!  The Saks Fifth Avenue Shopping bags were a fun lifestyle tell, and would have to carry the day.  (The thing sold fine.)

Other posts in this series:-

1. Living Rooms
2. Foyers
3. Dining Rooms
4. Kitchens
5. Family Rooms

* * *

~ Juliet Johnson ~ has been home staging NJ in the luxury real estate niche (with the predominant home value of $1 - 3 million) for the last 7 years. Juliet Johnson Staging is a founding contributor to the commercial blog - Property Marketing.

[Disclaimer - "House for Sell" is being used as an experiment. According to keyword research, that phrase get 3x the traffic that House for Sale does. No idea why, but thought I'd try it for this challenge.]

* ~ *

This post is the 5th in my 7 part series illustrating Home Staging in NJ with Before and After Staging photos. Today's topic is ~

In New Jersey's older homes (that have yet to be renovated) family rooms tend to very small.  In England we would call them snugs; here, they are often referred to as dens.  Also, they tend to be a long way away from the kitchen. As if the last thing the occupant wants to do is be anywhere near the cook, cooking!  Obviously, this doesn't work particularly well for modern life, where the "cook" likes (or maybe needs) to have the kids close by. Hence reason #347 why today's buyer's prefer new construction.  Or indeed anything built in the 80s forward so that the large family room is conveniently located adjacent to the kitchen.

So then what role in family life do family rooms have to be able to accommodate:-

• TV
  

• Games

• A place to "chill" - do they still say that, when they mean hanging out, supposedly talking to one another but actually texting other people on their phones and simply relaying those conversations?

• Homework?  Yeah, maybe not!

• A place to read (though more and more I find I am using our formal Living Room for this.  It's the only way the room gets used during the week.  Even Jane won't sit in there for tea these days; we're usually on the computer.... or the phone texting our kids and relaying... :-)

Owner Occupied Home ~ Using What They've Got Already

BEFORE	AFTER
The thing about Family Rooms, if they're used, is that they look used.  This one is a classic example.   Yet, buyers don't want to see reality, (despite all of the reality tv shows) they actually want to believe that neat, clean, happy living is possible!	Plus, we really didn't need that pink chair in the way.  I loved the architecture of this room, where the diagonal cutout was the perfect size for a sofa.  So smart of the builder.  Now, you really can zone the space - up by the fire for reading Facing the fire but angled at the tv for watching lots of floor space for games, toys, etc.

Owner Occupied Home ~ Using Rental Furniture

BEFORE	AFTER
Typical, really. Rubbish furniture because the kids play on it, and they're little, spill things and roll around on everything! Professional photos do make a huge difference, don't they?	Rental furniture gives a fresh, finished look. And I don't care how many buyers say "it was so nice to see some family photos in that house." It means that's what they noticed, not the house! This "hotel ready" look is much sleeker, and eminently more desirable.
You can see that the homeowner reckoned the black shiny wall unit tied in with the fireplace and the grand piano. It did.  But it made the room kinda heavy and disparate.  Odd, somehow.	During the renovation, and before I arrived to stage, this house had all the carpeting removed and marble put down.  How then, for me, to soften up that marble into a soothing, inviting place? Didn't work.  The house was crazy overpriced and I'm not sure it ever sold.  One of the builders bought out his partners and moved in, last I heard. (Notice the random, architectural detail glued onto the ceiling!:-)

Vacant House ~ Using Rental Furniture

BEFORE	AFTER
Massive, beautifully finished and... is it, maybe, too big?	Nah, not once you've got 2 sofas, a luxuriously soft leather ottoman, a snuggling chair and... well, actually behind there was a table and room for more chairs. Plenty of room for the #1 selling car in America - the Tyco Crazy Coupe - to do its, er, crazy thing.

Other posts in this series:-

1. Living Rooms
2. Foyers
3. Dining Rooms
4. Kitchens

* * *

~ Juliet Johnson ~ has been home staging NJ in the luxury real estate niche (with the predominant home value of $1 - 3 million) for the last 7 years. Juliet is taking the month of August to brush up her internet marketing skills by participating in Ed Dale's 30 Day Challenge with a blog on Property Marketing.