July 2012

A great book.  I got it from the library on 7-day loan, so I will have to get it again and read it slowly, to actually have a chance to implement some of the suggestions he makes.

An exceedingly annoying book.  I have two main arguments with it.  1. it could more accurately be called “how to be a real estate agent”, since that’s really the focus of the book.  2.  the secondary focus appears to be letting the whole world know that the author coined the phrase “home staging” and came up with the idea.  That’s fine, but I don’t care!

There are pictures of homes and yards that have been staged, but they are black and white, and don’t have any text explaining what was done or why.  There are barely any “how-to” tips, and the ones that are there are just common sense.  The only exception is putting beds with the headboard in the corner, which seems to be a particular ‘thing’ of hers that other home stagers don’t agree with.

Not recommended.

I wasn’t sure if I’d read this before when I found it on the library shelf, but it turned out I had.  I thought my 14-year-old son might enjoy it, since one of the characters is a 14-year-old boy.  I’m halfway through and have to take it back to the library today, but I will get it out again next week once they re-shelve it.  The character who is 14 is not particularly distinguishable from the adult characters, so it turns out not to be a draw for teens.

It’s not exactly a sequel to Last Call, but it takes place after it, and some of the events of that book are alluded to.

Surprisingly, this was the best of the three books I got out of the library on home staging.  I’d read it again.