How do you keep visitors & Realtors at open houses and showings from using your nicely folded, perfectly hung, and oh so clean and fluffy towels? I have read that some suggest tying them in ribbons or raffia and therefore signal that they are off limits. But does everyone know how to read raffia?
A sign "Do Not Use Towels" along with "Do Not Use Toilet or If in the case of an Emergency : please close lid & flush (or maybe flush and then close lid)", "Do Not Sit on Bed" , "Don't kiss the Mirror", "No eating or drinking in any room", & "No smoking right outside the door and then throwing butt on doorstep" (still referring to the cigarette here) - might help!
Why are staging towels so irresistible and tantalizing?
- Is it the color? photo by Vickie
- Position?
- Precision?
Apparently even paper towels lure artists into masterpieces.
Towels are so powerful - stagers know this- that is why they place them in every bathroom.
Do towels sell houses? I'm not telling!
photo by Marc Johns
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I don't have an answer for the towel problem, but it sure is a pain.
What I want to know is, is that your dog in the picture. He/She is beautiful. Looks just like my German Shepherd.
It never fails, the towels always get used. You can buy fairly expensive looking napkins, but it takes away from staging, and they cost about the same as a discount hand towel by the sink. The others can be luxurious, but I've learned the one by the sink is going to get used, so it might as well be one that can be gotten rid of after the staging.
I think tying them up with a ribbon makes them decorative. If they are just hanging, people use them.
When someone figures this out, let me know. I have a staged vacant right now and:
I don't want to accuse the open house agent, so I'll let it go for now. If I find the answer, I'll let ya know!
I know the feeling. I wish there was a common sense button that you got when you recieve you liscence.
Unfortunately, people have to go when they gotta go - nice towels or not, tied up or folded up, they're going to use them (sometimes they use just a tiny little corner). The best advice that I got from our AR friends on this topic was to go ahead and invest in those disposable guest towels, soap and a garbage bin for one bathroom and hope that they use these instead.
Amy - this shepherd is not mine but I have 2. A female regular coat and a male long-haired. They are great dogs.
Cindy - I try for a dark colored one by the sink in somewhat of the color scheme or black if all else fails.
LaNita - good point, but sometimes I just need the length and /or ribbon is too formal for the setting.
Cindy G - sounds like a breakfast meeting at the home - any Krispy Kremes in the area?????????????
William - I thought common sense buttons were standard - or do you have to pay extra?
Emma - true when the urge comes upon you - sometimes you just have to go!!!!
Good idea to set one bathroom aside for such a time - just how does one get them to use that one exclusively?
Hi Kathleen ~ Towels are too big of a temptation. I don't know how to solve it, but having darker towels sometimes helps to hide the uses. Good comments and ideas from others I will have to try. Glad to know I am not the only one that deals with this challenge!
Have a Colorful Day!
Good morning. Wow. I wish I had all these problems to deal with. I am unable to get my staging business off the ground. I have done one staging. I have visited Realtor after Realtor and they say I am too expensive for the area, but I can not charge any less than I am already. Any ideas, suggestions. I am desperate to make this part of my business. I real see the value.
Hi Dee, I'm just getting started too. I looked at your site and if those are your staging prices, they look lower than most others I've seen! Your realtors must not understand the value of staging. Can't imagine any one saying you are too expensive - sounds like a greast deal to me.
As for towels...a pretty tray of paper hand towels and a nice bottle of hand soap? At least they are washing their hands!
Irene, I think we all have common problems and that is why AR blogs can be so helpful.
Dee - Your prices are way under what I charge. I do not credit my consultations as I feel they get much value out of that service and it takes hours of my time. My time is valuable. Also $250 for a whole day - how many hours in your day ? Check out other AR blogs about valuing your service and under pricing etc. Good luck to you.
Holly , That is true, that way they won't be leaving germies on everything they touch - yucky.
I always put one small towel on the vanity to use. This way the displayed towels stay as placed.
Joyce
We have a clause in our staging contract that says that if they towels are used/soiled/stained, etc. than the client owns them, and they will be charged. If the job is big and profitable, we mostly chalk up the towels as an expense of the job, and we chuck them after the job without charging the client (or use them in our warehouse to pack breakables).
Joyce - I do that with a dark colored small hand towel - they are about 1/2 the size of normal hand towels. I suppose one could cut up a regular size and do a bit of sewing.
Jill, I bet that you have a lot of packing towels LOL
Why not simply place high end paper napkins in the bathroom? That should be hint enough not to touch the towels....I would think.
Michael, Good suggestion and we stagers are willing to try just about any thing to keep those staging towels clean and in place.
I put river rocks on folded towels but it's hard not to have them use the hand towels in the holders! Drives me nuts but I use a lot of fluffy white so if necessary, I can bleach and wash and they're good to go.
Karen - I use fluffy white often as well, nice and clean & (shhhh..... I like the smell of bleached towels)
Kathleen I read somewhere on AR how some stagers get potential buyers to use only the one bathroom where you have your lovely paper towels with a garbage can. If I remember correctly - they put signs in the other bathrooms that tell clients which one to use. May or may not work... Betty
Betty - Signs are good and worth a try - thanks!
Hi Kathleen: I put paper guest towels out. I do put card holders in the baths as to which bathroom to use.
Great ideas! I actually use all white towels in our home because it looks fresh, clean and of course with three little kids running around I can bleach out any spots.
And they are oh so spa-like :)
I think a sign in a really nice frame is fine to let people know which bathroom can be used. Or what if it said they could find a hand towel and soap for use under the sink if there is a cabinet below?
This is one of the biggest issues in Staging that seems impossible to address. I once had a client (he was a total pain in the neck in every way possible) complain that the towels I had installed had yellow stains on them. I KNOW that those brand new, perfectly white towels did not have any stains on them when I left them in place, but who knows who used them in a vacant house??????
Terri - You should do a blog with pictures of your card holders for this purpose. Let me know when you do so I can see!!!