The last two days of this project went extremely well! Firstly, the final refresh of the landscaping made a huge difference to the curb appeal. Check it out, before and after:


With the home decluttered and cleaned, my pre-staging evaluation began. 3 hours later I had reviewed every square foot of the site and made detailed notes on what needed to be done in order to enhance the home for sale with the priorities that would garner my client the biggest bang for his buck. On the day of staging, my assistants and I worked laboriously for 7 hours re-designing and enhancing every room and space in the home. Normally I would be bringing in furniture and other items for staging. However, for this particular project my client’s wish was to use only existing furniture and accessories. On my recommendation, he also authorized a small expenditure for additional decorative items that I felt would enhance the living room and dining room areas. Not a lot of money, but I stretched those dollars to the max! I’ll be posting all the before and after pictures for this project on my gallery in the next few days so be sure to check them out.

As mentioned in my last blog post, we were facing very tight time lines for this project. Everything slated for either, recycle, donation or trash had to be clearly identified and/or outside ready for the disposal trucks. In over a dozen clear plastic recycle bags we packed clothing, linens and footwear slated for donation. Over a dozen green garbage bags of trash were removed together with various furnishings, many of which were slated for donation as well. Hundred of books were also packed up to be either recycled or donated depending on the condition.
As a result of mice droppings, many of the books were not suitable for donation. We had two full truck loads for removal and it took two men from JunkMaster Inc. a total of four hours to remove the targeted items from the site and load the trucks. Then there were the over 60 boxes of files that had to be shredded along with a number of clear plastic bags containing personal papers. Shred-It was hired to come by the site with their on-site truck to destroy these items. While all this was happening, I also had subcontracted a company, Dirt Girl Landscaping, to do a garden refresh to enhance the curb appeal of the home. Two extremely overgrown Skyrocket Junipers were overtaking the front entrance and the first order of business in that regard was to have them removed. Perennial gardens were also to be refreshed, weeded, mulched and enhanced with seasonal mums. By the end of the first week on site we were on target and things were looking good!

As promised in my last blog post, here are a few of the steps taken to get this project off the ground.
Upon arrival at my client’s site, we began reviewing each of the rooms and with various colour coded sticky paper in hand, we surveyed each and every space in the home to determine which items were destined to be removed from the home for donation, recycle or trash; which items were to be given to family members, and which items were going to be removed but stored in another location, off site. Once all the rooms were processed in this manner, we then made our way up to the attic. This is when my stomach began it’s acrobatic display of flipflops and twirls. Here are a couple of pictures taken to give you a sense of what we were dealing with. There was very little space to even maneuver. The ceilings were high enough, however there were so many items stored, that there was very little space to walk. Furthermore, there were sections of the attic where safe footing was sparse, so we had to be very carefull where we stepped. Once in the attic, the same process of selecting which items were to go where was continued. And, as luck would have it, this first day of the project the temperature outside was about 27 degrees celcius which meant that the attic was at least 10 degrees hotter and very humid. 5 of the 8 hours of this first day were spent in the attic, moving items out and onto the lawn in a collection area. The last two hours of the day additional labour was brought in for the heavy lifting and continued evacuation of the attic. We made a huge dent that first day! Hot, sweaty, tired and exhausted, (and, if I’m being honest, still a little overwhelmed,) I reviewed our progress for the day, reviewed with my client the anticipated agenda for day 2 and left to go home to a good night’s sleep. My client was very happy with the progress made and I still hear his words clearly in my head when he said, repeatedly, “this is so much happiness for me”. It’s good to hear that I can provide a little happiness to my clients. I just love that.