Staging for a Movement.
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
-Albert Einstein
Have you ever felt God ask you to do something really, really crazy? The idea seems to keep coming to mind, persisting even while you blow dry your hair? Then, every sermon, podcast or Bible verse confirms God’s crazy idea? BUT most importantly, the request makes you slightly sick to your stomach- in a butterfly, nervous way, not a 24-hour stomach bug way. (Side Note-usually God asks me to do something I would NEVER be able to do on my own or He pushes me outside my comfort zone thus eliciting the slightly sick stomach) So what does this have to do with staging a house?
Everything actually…well, sort of…
This week I stepped into Liz and Colin Harfield’s story. God asked their beautiful family to do something crazy. After years living in Michigan in a great home, surrounded by friends and family and growing ministries, they are moving to Boston to start a church. They are filled with joy, excitement and slightly sick stomachs as they realize "God is moving and we are joining Him."
In the Harfield's video message, Liz shares how they need to "paddle through their fear." I love this image. God calls us to new, yet scary kingdom building adventures, however, He is the boat carrying us. We need to trust that the boat will protect us and keep us afloat. And when the waters get rough and scary, we just need to paddle through the fear, trusting in His faithfulness. Check out their whole story at https://www.movementboston.org.
Anyway, the Harfields asked me to stage their house to rent. The touches added simply pulled together their already beautiful home. The biggest transformation was in the the living room. When Liz walked in the front door, she gasped in excitement and later said, "I feel like Joanna Gaines came to my house." Yay!!! I might have done a little happy dance.
The pillows and rug are from home goods. I moved over their trunk, a $5 garage sale treasure dating back to WW II, for a coffee table and anchored the space with a 5 x 7 rug. When choosing a rug size decide if you want to have your furniture on it or not. If not you can buy a smaller less expensive rug and, then, simply center it so no furniture is touching it. Remember less is more when it comes to staging to sell your home. Keep your pieces simple and uncluttered. Don't be afraid to move sofas and chairs away from the wall to provide intimate conversation spaces.
ALL the following photos were taken by the incredible Brian Craig, http://briancraigphotography.com.
Liz and Colin moved out some toys that were at home in the dining room leaving the table alone in the space. I decided to set the table to give the room more interest. I used a pop of color as the centerpiece but continued with the neutral colors on the tablescape. When showing your home, use little vignettes to prompt the buyer to see themselves in your home like at the dining room table or in a reading nook.
The Harfield's have a beautiful kitchen. I brought in pops of yellow and green to give it some color for the photos. I used quite a few lemons, and small faux plants. However, adding fresh flowers are a great touch as well. I chose the kalanchoe plants which flower for weeks requiring little care and some fresh,long lasting mums We cleared everything useful :) off their counters leaving a particularly clean, uncluttered look.
I LOVE the character of this old, leather recliner. Adding a throw blanket and a pillow distracts from the extremely worn areas and adds to the charm. Liz hung the palettes (from target) above the mantle, but I added the plants, the clock, and the eucalyptus to attach the palettes to the mantel visually. The light pillows brighten the whole space. We removed their personal pictures and Colin filled the holes and touched up the paint.
What a joy to step into the Harfield's story and help them on their adventure with God. It taught me trusting and following God's way is not always full of rainbows and buttercups, it can be risky and scary, but the adventure and joy that awaits are immeasurable. The truth is when God moves and we join Him, we get to see Him-and there is nothing more beautiful.
