Staging - A Chance to Help

My most recent staging "job" is a pro-bono effort. Through mutual friends, a women who needs to sell her home fast (and has little spare funding) was referred to me. I am happy to help her get started down a new life path by working with her, her friends and family to get the home ready for sale.


I contrast this with my last staging effort which also involved a family that was looking to sell quickly. While these women shared a similar path, they had such different viewpoints when it came to getting things ready. It really drives home how we as stagers need to be neutral in every situation while still doing our best to meet the clients expectations.

My "quick-sell" client wanted as much work done as possible for as little money as possible. The house had been on the market a long time with no movement and I knew she was getting beat up financially, yet she did everything to make it harder than it had to be.

The day of the staging, her house was a mess, we had to work around a cleaning lady, her sleeping teenagers and her dogs. It took a few hours longer than necessary because of this and yet she still felt that I was charging too much. In many ways I felt that I had failed with this client.

But, in the end the house sold after the staging. I know what we did made the difference - we defined the spaces and removed a lot of the furniture and 80's feel to make the house look fresher. On that level it was a success.

So, it's with joy that I can help someone - no matter the circumstances. And I get to learn some lessons.

And that's a Chance to Help.

Back to Leno....Oh No!!!

My son was born the night that The Tonight Show ended. May 22, 1992. The night that Johnny Carson retired. The end of The Tonight Show.

Yes, I know that Jay Leno took over. Yes, I know that Johnny "endorsed" Jay Leno as his replacement.

But let's remember that was after a horrible fight with David Letterman, who ended up leaving the network to move to his own late night show.

Jay never made the show better - it was no longer "The Tonight Show".

15 years later, Jay Leno decided to "step down" and give Conan O'Brien - his handpicked successor - his chance at The Tonight Show. Time for a change and I for one was kind of looking forward to it.

You know - a whole new Tonight Show, not just the Jay Leno version of the Johnny Carson show. The new show was fun and while I did not watch it every day, I did tune in more that I had ever watched Leno - which was never.

So, less than 12 months later, Jay has decided he wants his old job back. In fact, if you read interviews over the last 12 months, he never "really wanted" to retire from the Tonight Show, he was "pushed" by network execs. So all of this stuff about how it just business may be true to a certain extent, but it's not JUST business.

Jay Leno wants The Tonight Show back. He can do all the cute jokes he wants, all the posturing about "business", but the bottom line is - he screwed Conan.

What did Conan joke NBC stands for? Was is "Never Back Conan?

NBC looks just as bad as Leno. Big bold move to fill 10pm with something different? Leno never made an effort - it was just his show at 10, not 11:30. No wonder it failed, no wonder Conan had lower ratings - Leno was and is NBC's priority.

Whatever the case is, I for one am not ever going to watch the Tonight Show again. Because with Jay Leno, it is not anything worth watching. I am going to go back to David Letterman. At least until Conan has a show.

Watching Leno - I say NO!

A Life in Magazines

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately - this is such a big year for me and my family. Major milestone birthdays, my youngest graduating from high school, empty nest soon and a few other things have really forced me to not only look ahead, but to look back.

I was sitting on my steps and going through my pile of magazines for recycling and I started to reflect back on the thousands of magazines I have read in my life and how they have reflected my growth (or lack thereof!)

Highlights - I remember these from the doctor's office and what I remember most was Goofus and Gallant. Does anyone else remember that? Can you imagine them using those titles today? I just always thought that Goofus was a klutzy person and today it has much more negative overtones. Gallant was always so polite - Goofus? Well, I sure felt more like him most of the time.

Teen Beat/Tiger Beat - These are the magazines that defined my preteen years. Bobby Sherman and David Cassidy pictures were always torn out and put up on my walls. I knew all about Bobby's trains and David's "desires". I was 13 - what did I really know about desires. But I did learn that boys are just as fickle as girls.

Seventeen - This was the magazine that taught many of us about fashion, hair and makeup. Oh yeah, and BOYS! What they like, how to impress them, how to dress for them and so much more. Sex was not really mentioned, but I seem to remember a lot of questions about "petting". I believe that at 17 many of us were past petting (it was the 70's after all).

Cosmo - Oh wow, the first magazine that approached sex like it was something we gals deserve, not something that we just do. And the clothes - I remember trying so hard to emulate how the models dressed - if only I had been that skinny! Remember the "Bedside Astrogler"? or how about the quizzes "How good are your Man skills?"....lol. Nowadays, it more like "How good are your Peri meds working?".

Good Housekeeping/McCall's - Remember Betsy McCall? How about Can this Marriage be Saved? These are the things I read when I was first married. These magazines had great recipes and dinner ideas and taught me how to first think about decorating.

More/Oprah - These days other than the decorating magazine I read for my business, I love these two magazines. They appeal to me on so many levels - written for a mature woman, thoughtful, smart, witty and insightful. Articles that make me think about myself and how the world around me works.

I am thankful to have had these magazines to help me throughout my life. Each one of them has given me something different, but something I needed at that time in my life. I only wish I had kept some of them - just for the memories.

of a Life in Magazines.

Decorating on a Budget - Even with an Interior Decorator

I read an interesting article in the New York Times recently about someone who was decorating an apartment and considered his $10,000 budget small.

Wow, $10,000 for furniture? A good decorator can use that money two ways:

1) Two or three statement pieces and fill in with thrift/sale/consignment items

2) Shop at sales/samples/outlets and get many good pieces that could fill several rooms.

Which way would you go? I think it depends on the client and what they love. Someone who is young and starting out option 1 may be smarter. This way they could get the pieces they love today and fill in as they get older or married. An more established client may have the bones of the room started and just needs to spend that money on filling in the gaps - so option 1 again.

But so many of us today fall into the option 2 catagory. Money is tight and we need to get the maximum benefit. You may be able to find the sofa of your dreams for $500. I may be able to get it for $400. You may find a great table at a furniture store. I may be able to find it on consignment. We may be able to get several rooms done for that $10,000. We may be able to do more with that budget.

The space in the article was a 600 square foot loft space - and the owner already had a dining table and chairs. That help's the budget as well. But the space needed to included sleeping, entertaining and living. Yes, the designer made it all happen. Is $10,000 in New York City the same as in a smaller town or city? Well, there are more sample opportunities, but labor is probably higher.

So think about your next decorating project. Whatever the budget, an Interior Decorator can help. Like me.

Just give me a call! :)