Why I’m no longer a home stager…

It’s so funny, but I forget you all can’t read my mind. I have been mostly absent from social media and when I posted on facebook yesterday, I was selling my twig decor inventory, I received several messages asking me why. I realized I forgot to tell everyone but my family and close friends what I was doing with my life. So here is why I’m selling all my inventory.

Last year when the real estate market started to slow, I decided to scale down and sell off enough furniture so I only had to pay for one storage unit a month. After I did that, I was still doing jobs but I wasn’t loving it the way I had in the past. The emotional and physical side of staging was starting to wear away at me. Emotionally it is difficult to go into a stranger’s home and start moving all their personal belongings around. Even if they tell themselves they don’t mind me sorting through all their stuff and rearranging it, they do. Some are sweet and accommodating, others are downright rude and hostile. One woman screamed at me for putting a fake plant in her house. Another client thought it was okay to lay on his bed while I was trying to put on new bedding and seemed to follow me into each room I moved. Once his girlfriend saw how lecherous he was, she followed me to. I still get the creeps thinking about that job. One little boy started to cry because I moved legos into the closet. As you can imagine, I often took on my client’s emotions and felt completely drained by the end of the day.

Physically, staging is like moving all the time. Everyone loves to move, NOT! First I had to fill my inventory with items that I picked out, loaded into my car and unloaded into my house or storage unit while keeping them organized. Once I got a job, I had to look through everything I owned and decide what I should bring to the job. I packed everything up, loaded it all into my van and then unloaded everything into the house. Once I staged the house I loaded everything I didn’t use back into my car and unloaded back at my house. I always had to make at least two or more trips to my house because I needed different or additional items. Once the house sold, I had to pick everything up and put it away. I hired movers for the large items, but only if completely necessary. If I hired help, I would hardly make any money, so I tried to do almost everything myself.

I loved finishing a job and seeing the final results which always made the real estate agent happy, but often not the homeowner. The high I received from a job well done wasn’t lasting as long and I started dreading when agents called me for a job. It was starting to feel like I needed to make a change. The physical and emotional exhaustion staging provided helped me deal with my grief. But after 4 years, my heart and body were saying it’s time to slow down Tiffani. It no longer felt like my mission in life. Staging served it’s a purpose and it was a gift from God but now he wants me to do something else. Something that’s going to help more people.

The other issue was my van. I loved the van when I first got it, but after 4 accidents, in 3 years, I was scared to drive it. There were no windows in the back or the sides, it was a real cargo van, and I sucked at driving it. The lease came up in July and because it had so few miles on it, Lou said we could sell early and make a little money. He was able to sell it for me in May and which was a relief.

In February I decided I needed to finish my book about Tiara’s journey and once I started really focusing on writing, my business literally disappeared. It was like the universe was telling me, I have to finish the book. So that’s what I’m doing. I have been writing 8 hours a day, for several months and I’m almost done. I’m on the third edit and I wanted to have it self- published by October 27 for her birthday but that isn’t going to happen. I could possibly be done with my last edit by them, but I’ve learned I can’t rush to the detriment of my writing. Writing a book is very different from blogging and I’ve needed to adjust and learn. Which is why I haven’t posted on the blog or social media. I need to be completely focused on the book.

I forgot to tell you the title, drumroll please

“Loving Tiara”

I love the title. It finally came to me one day. I hope you like it.

Anyways, because I’m not bringing in any money and Lou changed jobs a few months ago, I’m a bit stressed about our finances. I gave myself until the end of October until I needed to start selling off my inventory but after paying my bills yesterday I decided I better start on the process because it’s going to take a few months. I have an entire sunroom filled with accessories, a garage filled with art and a large storage unit filled with furniture. It’s more than overwhelming to think about, so I needed to start in small pieces. I’m selling the accessories first so I can make room to bring in the furniture to sell. I can’t have a sale at my storage unit, so I need to move everything to my house so I can sell it. Yikes! So you will see me posting about selling stuff for months.

So my plan is to finish the book, self-publish, and spend my time promoting my book and writing another one. My goal is to be a full-time writer/speaker. I still have a few clients that I will always help with their homes and I’m helping our priest with remodeling the bathrooms and adding more color into the church, so I have plenty of creative design projects to keep me busy.

As for my family, they are thrilled I’m done with staging. They all think it’s the worst job in the world. Lou said I was a glorified slave and the girls would hide would I asked for their help. I’m happy and it feels like this is what I’m supposed to be doing.

Love to you all…

xoxo tiffani