Blog #3?!

Yes, I'm going to do ANOTHER blog.  3 blogs.  am I crazy?  I have a hard enough time with just this one, but here are my thoughts on this ...

• its the new me.  I can will do it.
• I can refer my Avon clients to my Avon blog.  This should will get me more online business.
• I can refer my Home Staging/Redesign clients to my Design blog.  This also should will get me more business.

In my opinion, word of mouth is still the best advertisement out there, but I have to say, online availability is a very close second.  Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, on and on ... dare I say, "everybody's doing it!"

Understandably not everyone wants to read my personal ramblings, but if you do, wonderful.  I have some doosies for you coming up, but please join my other blogs so you can see what else I'm about.

In order of their "birth" ...

blog #1 My Learning Curve - where you are, in my day to day

blog #2 Your Avon Lady - Anything and Everything to do with Avon ... 5 posts already people!

blog #3 Renew the View - the beginning to my Home Staging/Redesign business ... just birthed this evening, but will begin asap!

Be excited, because I am excited.  whoo hoo!

among other things ..

I've got lots happening right now in my life.  here is something from the "1/2 full" side of my glass.  look what I can do now ...


Katie Grimm, ASP


its pretty cool to have initials after your name. ha!


When I get my business license and when my business name is officially mine, I will have another blog exclusively for that.  I can't tell you my brilliant name ... you know, just in case. :)


This other blog will be mostly before & after pics of my projects, and also, design/decor tips & tricks that I learn along the way.


whoo hoo!

what home staging can do

I've recently finished a home staging class here in Hawaii, and I love it!  love love love.  its right up my alley, and I'm very excited to get involved.


long definition short -
home staging merchandises a home for a quick sell, at top dollar.  staging emphasizes all the positive aspects of a home, while down-playing the negative.  a stager designs to sell the home, whereas, an interior designer aims to design for the wants and needs of those living there.  very different.
the concept is great, its creative, its functional, and to top it off, it works!!


I plan to continue my training, and eventually, do this full time ... full time meaning around home school and whatever else the family is doing.  my own business??  maybe one day ... 
I headed to CA in April and I will be attending a 3-day seminar.  I will then be a certified ASP!  I'll even get to put those initials after my name.  awesome.


anyway-
I just wanted to share something I read in this book, by Barbara Schwarz, the "inventor" and original guru of home staging.
she included a chapter of testimonies; stories from ASP's about how staging really works - on selling a home faster than imaginable, but also, how it affects the lives of those involved.  whether the house is to be sold because a couple are divorcing, or maybe a parent died; lives are usually on hold until something like this (selling the estate) is taken care of.

"Maria lived in a 6,000 sq ft home that she and her husband had built and where they had raised a family of 6 children.  The house was still full: grandchildren, grown children back home, a retired husband, extended family.  The house had been on and off the market for 4 yrs.  The outside landscaping was overgrown and a broken statue sat on a pad at the dirty front door.  There were broken windows, and bordello-red walls and shag carpet in the master bedroom.  Kitchen cupboards, once white, were not gray with fingerprints, grease, and scratches.  Crystal collections, grandchildren's stuffed animals, and a lifetime of things full of memories were everywhere.  When I met Maria she was crippled with arthritis and had to walk backward down the spiral staircase to greet me.
I could tell this job would require work, patience, listening, and compassion, and I was right.  We removed red shag carpet, painted walls, cleaned rooms, packed collections, repaired the broken statue, and painted the front door black.  It took more than a month to stage, but Maria's husband and children got on board, and gradually the home evolved into a product.  The house went on the market and sold after the first open house!  When we went back to pick up our staging accessories, Maria ran down the stairs frontward!  She was free not only of her emotional attachment to the house, but of the crippling arthritis as well.  Can you believe it?  Just another small staging miracle.  We really do change lives!"


Jan Wilson, ASP, IAHSP
Ontario, Canada


when I was in school for interior design, one of the things that turned me off was how shallow it all was.  it was all focused on material possessions, without much concern of a budget ... it was just all selfish.  I couldn't do it.  I couldn't pretend all the arrogance didn't bother me.
many of these home staging jobs are about getting more money for your home (which can be awfully greedy & selfish too), however, its more about getting on with your life.  moving forward to what's next.  that, I love.