… apparently, it’s not just for inside the home any more: people selling homes on the ML also stage their yards:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/realestate/30cov.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Hmm, interesting concept. I have a small but nice yard, with some mature trees and plantings, and some I’ve added myself, but during certain times of the year, like now, when it’s so hot, I just sprint up the steps to my home and basically ignore the outside, except for watering the plants by the door. My housemate has commented on how nice the yard would look, if only it had some basic upkeep, and has been trimming some plants, weeding, etc. and when I took a fresh look at the place the other day, it did look better. I guess I’m more an inward-looking person (how does my home look to me) than outward (how does my home look to passers-by), but now her actions and this article are inspiring me to take a fresh look and do a little more outside (only in the early a.m. or late p.m., though, when it’s not so broiling!).

…all my musing about how to present/arrange/live in my home circle one question: do we arrange our homes to suit ourselves or to present them to others? Now, an individualist like me has a hard time not tossing out an indignant “to suit ourselves,” but a little reflection on that reveals that it’s not quite true, at least for me. For one thing, I don’t live in this house by myself. I still remember one of my daughter’s young friends coming over and looking around our home, which I thought was creative and stimulating, and frowning, said, “Why is your house so messy?” Since then, I’ve taken a more objective look at the house and tried to differentiate between the creatively messy and the just plain disorgaized and messy, so that (more…)

… well, I had the opportunity to go to the midnight show of Pirates of the Caribbean (part 2), but forwent the chance to stay home and put my money where my mouth is on the house (lest you think I’m a total dweeb who would forego fun just to stay home and clean, I note that the movie is well over 2 hours and I’d probably get home after 2:30 am, and I would have had to get up four hours later for work, so….).

Anyway, my bedroom is usually the nicest place in the house anyway, but it’s got clutter along the edges - clothes tossed on a chair (ok, two chairs), clutter on the vanity, by the closet … get the picture?  The main part of the room is clear and looking good, but the corners…!

Anyway, it’s almost all done now, and I have to say that it feels fresher in there already (it’s gotta be the decor, as the thermometer still reads 82.5 degrees).

As I said, I’ve been thinking a bit about the possibility of selling my house a few years down the line, and the idea of living in my home, now, as a staged house is intriguing. I love the lack of clutter and resultant spacious feel of a staged home. Why not live like that now? Why not get rid of clutter and come home to a house that looks special every day, not just when (after an exhausting bout of cleaning) I’m expecting company?

I guess what I like is (more…)

… back when I was looking at houses to buy, I didn’t realize that there even was a term for the art of decorating a house for sale so that it looked inviting. I do remember looking at some houses with the owners still living in them that were off-putting as they were dingy, crowded, and run-down. Fifteen years later, I still remember one home in Mililani with an awesomly crammed closet, one that made the whole bedroom seemed crowded and a little sad. It was only the new homes in Mililani that had the “staging” - furniture and decoration brought in to give people an idea of what it would be like to live in that house. In the early days, these staged homes looked somewhat contrived, but as we continued to look over the months and years, the new model that came on line became stunning. In fact, these Mililani homes looked so good that they launched the career of Shari Saiki, who decorated many of them, and became a professional stager and opened her own furniture store, mesh.

You’d think that (more…)