DAY 88 - STAGING THE HOUSE

Hello, today I finally got enough courage to start getting the house into sale mode. I started in our gross kitchen. I was inspired after I realized that my blinds could actually be washed after about 7 years. I went through all the cupboards and organized our stuff (I want to give the impression that the house has good storage). I also washed the walls, took the stuff of the counter and removed all pictures from the refrigerator. I was impressed in the end of the day that the kitchen actually looked decent. That is if you are not into stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops or a walk in pantry.

Tomorrow we are going to tackle the lawn, flowers and ultimate curb appeal. We have a lot of work to do. I figured if I pick rooms each day, I will just make it before I leave for Harrisburg. It is a good process to come to terms with vacating the house.

We have been receiving a nice reaction about leaving. People generally seem sad that we are moving out of Michigan. We are also excited as the reception coming into PA has been so warm. It is a weird time as we are still half into Michigan and half in PA.

STAGING THE HOUSE
I want to see if the hundreds of hours of watching HGTV will pay off in my knowledge about staging. My husband thinks I am nuts but I am convinced that I am a designer brought in to get this house sold. I have visions of how to lay out the furniture, cover up little issues and find creative ways to use non personal artwork that was not worthy of making the walls before. It's kind of like a Design on a Time and Sell Your House episode.

UPDATE ON MY JOB STATUS
My references and drug screen came back fine and all the company is waiting for is my background check. I don't know why I am nervous. I just think what happens if someone stole my identity and did bad things. Maybe I was off on a date or two. I mean I can't actually remember the exact year I graduated from my Masters Program or the exact amount I was paid at a position 12 years ago. Let's just hope everything works out. I mean as far as I know, I am not a criminal, I did work where I said I did and I did attend and graduate college. I guess I am ok...

REALIZATION
My house is super cute - we fell in love with it when we saw it so there is no reason to believe that someone else will not have the same feelings - at least we hope. Realization 2 - HGTV makes everything seem easy and fast. It took me 7 hours doing unglamorous work and I still have 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 1 office, 1 dinning room and 1 living room and 1 family room and 1 laundry room, 1 garage and a basement to go... oooh that is alot of days. Realization 3 - I am sure my background check is fine ---