Community Events & Sales

SEPTEMBER 13-14, 2008

HOME TOURS TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE
VIP WEEKEND PACKAGE ON SALE NOW!

L-R:Terry and Terry Architecture, Choy Residence; Walker Warner Architects, Wurster Renovation/Addition; Kwan Henmi Architecture/Planning, Arterra

AIA San Francisco’s popular San Francisco Living: Home Tours weekend is the first tour series of its kind in the Bay Area to promote a wide variety of architectural styles, neighborhoods, and residences—all from the architect’s point of view.

The annual program provides design enthusiasts and the general public with an inside look into the world of distinctive residences in San Francisco. Projects are showcased with the designer(s) via an open house format, and tour participants have the opportunity to see continue

I recently got an invite from California Home + Design for their Green Issue launch and a private reception since I got a brief editorial in their mag couple years ago . But I didn’t realize this until I get my Room & Board newsletter that there is a public tour!

This definitely is a must-see.

Proving that great design and green design can happily coexist, Mike McDonald and Jill Martinson built the country’s first new home to be both LEED-H certified and GreenPoint Rated. We’re always looking for more ways to spread the word of responsibility, so when they visited our San Francisco showroom looking for furnishings that combined style and sustainability, we were more than excited to be a part of it.

The house features a host of innovative practices like solar power, in-floor heating and a living roof. To see these green strategies first hand, you can tour the Margarido House on September 6 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Margarido House is located at 5950 Margarido Drive, Oakland, California.

To learn more, visit [Room & Board's] San Francisco store for a special exhibit August 22 - September 7 on the home’s construction and the local partners who helped make it possible—including Heath Ceramics, Chris French Metal and Concreteworks.
Step inside this remarkable home

[per Room & Board e-newsletter]

One of our clients HGTV (Home and Garden Television, Channel 67 in San Francisco bay area) is coming out with a new show and they want people!

Here is the description of the show:

HOME SELLERS & AGENTS FOR NEW & POPULAR HGTV REAL ESTATE SHOW!

HGTV is producing a new real estate show in the San Francisco Bay Area!

If you or anyone you know just recently sold their house, please get in touch with us right away! We are ideally looking for out-going, fun, energetic and very charismatic couples or families who just sold their house (price ranges from $350K-$850K). Each episode will feature homes that have just been sold (pending houses, currently under contract). We also feature realtors touring the home and reveal the actual selling price of the house along with the actual listing agent. It’s a fun and engaging show!

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So, if you know about ANY homes that are “pending”, ideally homes in the price range under $800,000 (but if it is slightly higher, that might work). We are most interested in a traditional sale by a homeowner and listing agent (not a short-sale or foreclosure).

Please contact me right away and/or email me details of any sale pending homes. I greatly appreciate your assistance and hope to see you on tv!

If you haven’t heard, Design Within Reach is having a HUGE sale down at the Fort Mason! I received this email from the PR person of DWR:

Design Within Reach – Fort Mason Warehouse Event

The DWR Warehouse Event is back in San Francisco in a big way, at the 50,000 square foot Fort Mason Festival Pavilion, with over 40 truckloads of furniture at savings of up to 80% off. This is a limited time opportunity to access an extensive selection of pieces at substantial discounts, including crystal-clear Louis Ghost armchairs, height-adjustable Lem Piston Stools, classic Eames Lounge and Ottoman sets and industrial chic stainless steel tables and credenzas. Dining solutions from $99, beds from $599, living room sofas and arm chairs 30-70% off. Delivery service will be available on site for a fee. Daily furniture replenishment will ensure that great deals are in stock around the clock.

When:

Thursday, August 7 Noon - 6pm

Friday, August 8 Noon - 7pm

Saturday, August 9 10am- 5pm

Sunday, August 10 11am- 5pm

Where:

Fort Mason Festival Pavilion

Fort Mason Center, Marina Boulevard , San Francisco

For more information:

http://www.dwr.com/category/warehouse+sale.do

So what did I do? Of course I jumped into the car once I finished at the office and headed over to DWR sale at Fort Mason.

I snagged some awesome deals on Knoll Classic chairs (Chadwick & Life) for the new office. These are NEVER on sale! Plus, me and my assistant have been lusting after these at the showroom. A great office chair is a great investment since you will be sitting in it for a long time. More importantly, you want to have a chair that will support your body so you are not at risk of hurting yourself. (Next week, I will be starting a series of what furniture you should splurge on and what you can save with cheaper substitutes)

Both come with lumbar support, which is important for long hours doing admin work.

I also have snagged 2 slightly banged up Prince Aha Stools. I have been wanting these forever! These are great everyday stools or side tables. They are also frequently used in spas & outdoor pools of hotels. They are very versatile and fun.

Here are a few tips when you are there:

• Do bring a buddy if you can. These sales tend to be chaotic. It’s great to have someone there to help you sit on the stuff that you want while you go off to grab a sales person.
• Do pay attention to the damage. There are things that are fixable such as nicks and dirt, but permanent stains or rips or broken legs may be a difficult/impossible fix. So ask your sales person to see what is wrong with the merchandise.
• Go EARLY if you can. Saturday and Sunday will be a total zoo.
• Bring a bigger car! At these prices, these are total steals!
• Do your homework before you go, know what kind of stuff you are looking for. Fort Mason is HUGE, it helps to have a focus on what you want.
• HAVE LOTS OF FUN!

Let me know if you have snagged some great deal, I would love to hear about them!

Cheers,

Cindy

July was a series of conferences and vendor fairs for me, very fruitful ones but also feeling very imbalanced. Finally today I am feeling more settled and getting ready back to the normal everyday life as a stager.

Before all the chaos started, I did sneak up to Vancouver to meet Jackson West, a very talented stager in Vancouver.

Jackson was very kind to show me around Vancouver when I arrived and we gabbed about real estate and home staging over dinner. He also showed me his staged properties. They were AWESOME and beautifully staged.

Jackson told me that there is an urban legend associated to this building… It was designed by a heroin addict… Believe it or not? See the entrance yourself.

The IAHSP (International Association of Home Staging Professionals) Convention was very successful, I spoke during all 3 days of the conference (ASPM panel, Meet the Pro sessions and Keynote) and all went off without a hitch. I still can’t believe people want to listen to me talk and my sessions were full. I enjoyed meeting new faces, and feel very honored to finally take the same stage as my staging idols.

I also caved into my inner tourist and rode the ducky in Seattle. (It’s a tour “boat” that drives on land and in water.) I used to live in DC and saw these all the time at Union Station but never occurred to me to ride one. But after seeing the duckies around Seattle in troves, I caved. I think the best part about my tour is that my duckie captain talked about the floating home real estate in Seattle. It was a very fun ride.

Rebarcamp was fantastically fun and great to finally meet my online friends in person.

(photo via the very cool Mr. BradCoy)

Inman’s Blogger Connect was interesting to see all the famed real estate bloggers in actions and sharing their words of wisdom.

(2 of my favorite people, ActiveRich & ActiveBrad of Active Rain)

One of our clients, HGTV, threw a party at Inman. I was lucky to meet HGTV’s Sabrina DeSoto before the crowd swarmed in. It was very nice to meet her. She is very personable, she is exactly how she is on her show. We also chatted a little bit about her background: She is a real estate agent, and her mother was a stager.(I still haven’t had a chance to put up photos from our HGTV shoots, but will do so soon! Also our episode already aired. You can see the re-run schedule here)

I also went to the Gift fair here in San Francisco and made connections with many great vendors that we can add to our staging arsenal and inventory. There are also cool products that are in the works, so keep your eyes peeled!

Our very own chalkboard candle! These will be in stock soon.

All and all, IT’S FINALLY NICE TO BE BACK TO BLOG & STAGE!!! There is truly NO PLACE LIKE HOME! This week is finally back to normal. I finally got my act together and figured out all the configuration of our welcoming and reception area, as well as the conference room set up. 50% of our office furniture are roughly assembled and coming along. (I will do video blogs on these soon ) Our used rackings all got processed, de-rusted, re-primed and finally up! Now we just need to run to Lowe’s to get plywood for the shelves part (::GULP:: writing a big check).

The most beautiful (and perhaps daunting and tedious) part will be photographing, writing up descriptions, and barcoding *every* item in our inventory.
(you can also read my additional notes on the photo via flickr)

So happy to be home and be staging again!

Just got an email from our client HGTV (Home & Garden Television, channel 67 here in San Francisco bay area) about a new show they are coming out with.

They are looking for someone who just recently sold their house. Ideally looking for out-going, fun, energetic and very charismatic couples or families who just sold their house (price ranges from $350K-650K). They will also need to be in touch with the realtor of the couple or family.

Let me know if this is you and I will put you in touch with the producer!

Cheers,

Cindy

This is going to be a great event with big industry people like Brad Inman, Trulia and others participating. Also it’s a day before Inman Conference! So it’s perfect! Come a day early and hang with us cool San Francisco (and bay area) folks.

Well, what is it anyway? It’s much wiser to just let someone who can explain it better than I do to explain it: Per Todd Carpenter via www.rebarcamp.com

What is a “Bar Camp” anyway?

By Todd Carpenter | April 14, 2008

I received a second email this morning, asking just such question. I like the definition wikipedia gives for it.

BarCamp is an international network of user generated conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants — often focusing on early-stage web applications, and related open source technologies, social protocols, and open data formats.

For us, it will be a meeting of the minds on how to use the web to better our marketing and communication efforts in the field of real estate. It’s going to be great, so be sure to book your travel plans for Inman Connect for one day ahead of time.