There is a very cool condo in Adams Morgan that I've shown for the second time. It is staged within an inch of its life and looks pretty good.
It's loft style place. The living-dining-kitchen is all open. The wood floors shine when the sun shines in through the huge windowns. You can just imagine how the fireplace is in the winter. The baths are even state of the art.
Then there's this industrial strength staircase leading up to a loft with big windows leading to a huge terrace.
And on that terrace, there were some chairs, a little fire pit, and a buch of mums - about eight of them.
Well, they used to be mums.
Now they are just dried out shells of former mums. Here are two of them.
So, bottom line. If you are going to use live plants in staging, you have to monitor their health and well being.
Dead plants are a complete turn-off.
This is so true.
Hi Patricia. Dead plants are bad Feng Shui. Get rid of them!
Anytime you use the word "dead" and staging can never result in anything good. LOL
Hi Pat -- Definitely have to monitor live plants! I'm guessing the stager, or agent, or homeowner is off to other things!-- and not paying attention.
Lessons learned so we know you won't repeat the same mistake. Blessings....
haha thats so funny - it is interesting how we can have our eye on a million things and still miss something!
Pat -- that's exactly why we don't use live plants in staging a vacant property. They must be watered and cared for, so if plants are really needed we use good quality fakes ... or other natural elements that enhance the space. Most clients can't afford a "plant watering" service.
Live plants does seem to be a lot of work when staging. Perhaps they were very optmistic the place would sell quickly.
I doubt the live plants were left by a stager. More than likely they were left over from an open house. Hopefully this will make everyone aware of this issue.
Just another example of the "set it and forget it" mentality of a lot of Realtors and/or stagers (of course, stagers are usually a one time shot at the beginning of the marketing period). Yeah, you need to go back to make sure the place continues to look nice but, truth be told, the buyer/new owner is probably going to toss the mums anyway. It's like paint and appliances. The buyer's agent should really help the buyer look past things that are going to disappear at settlement.
Patricia - Although I don't use live plants for just this reason I offer a follow-up service for vacant properties that I've staged and go back periodically to "fluff" up my inventory.
It's amazing what people will mess with - I've found throw pillows and towels on the floor, furniture rearranged and even had someone "straighten" the art that didn't need to be straightened.
Once I left a live plant in a staged home and asked the Realtor to keep an eye on it. She just lived around the corner so I thought she would. ( I lived too far away to check on it myself. ) When I returned to the property it looked very bad. I've not used a real plant since.
They make great faux plants and I'm always on the lookout for them. This deck display would have been better with a good grouping of artificial mums in a clay pot with real dirt and even a plant tag. Very realistic!
Pat, I agree. Only use the live plants if you are willing to keep them alive!
Oh dear, someone forgot the poor dears. Very bad chi.
Hi Patricia,
Not only is it a faux paux but it's bad Feng Shui as well.
Ooops ! They should have been watching those! Shame on that agent.