Honey, Where's the Couch?

Getting Ready to Sell with the Experts in Staging

So far, for The Renovator and me, at the end of renovating comes the sale of the house. We find ourselves preparing for that stage now.

I like to think I have a decent sense of design and decor. Afterall, I am in charge of all the colours, finishes, trims, etc. when we redo a house, so I’ve come to believe that I know my stuff.

My mom would probably argue this point, until she sees the finished product (she fancies herself a stager as well as a wardrobe consultant after watching numerous episodes of “Sell this House” and “What not to Wear”),  but I digress.

So, when a stranger arrives at our home brandishing a tape measure, notebook and digital camera to help prepare our house for sale, I tend to feel a bit uptight. Hey, I know better than anyone that some of our furniture is, shall we say, dated and ugly? But I’m also confident that we have a number of nice pieces. When it comes to arranging our home, I have done the best I can with what I have, recognizing that the eclectic mix isn’t perfect.

This time, in the vein of shedding some of my former passive-aggressive tendencies, I decided to approach the house staging process head-on. I told the stager that I was a recovering passive-aggressive and that if she let me tell her what I thought first, we’d avoid my issues and hurt feelings later. She laughed. Good start.

We walked the house, notebooks in hands. I pointed out what we love and what we hate (anyone need a couch or two?) as well as those things we recognize as being counter-productive to the staging. In this way, she had an idea of what was negotiable and what wasn’t. We gelled instantly. She loved the fabrics I’d chosen. She told me the paint colours were great and advised that my design sense was good. She also pointed out a few things that required some attention. In the end, I feel good that I know what I’m doing as The Renovator’s Wife; she has an easier job setting up the house and we both feel good about moving forward.

What I hadn’t bargained for was The Renovator putting his foot down on an issue or two. “We are NOT moving the bed”, “That’s ridiculous, people know it’s a bedroom!” and “If you’re going to do it, it will get done, but I’m not doing it” have been heard while discussing the final tasks. I do my best to take it all in stride and accept that as The Renovator, he’s doing the lion’s share of the work and he has a right to weigh in and set boundaries.

We can’t do it all, we know that, but we’ll do our best or die trying. And that’s why I love being The Renovator’s Wife.