Providing Services to Prepare the Home for Sale: Michigan: Warren

I was recently working an Estate in Warren Michigan.  The owners had passed and it was time to sell.  Those who follow me know that this is my forte.  I love it.

This last home had carpet in one room that had to be torn out.  No if and or buts it had to go.

Tearing it out was easy.  The hardwood floor underneath had a few issues that were difficult to deal with.  Do you remember the yellow padding that be used to have under carpets?   The kind that turned to dust when it was old?  Well that the problem.  The padding was stuck to the floor.

I tried scraping.  I tried a wall paper steamer.  I tried every fancy cleaner for hardwood floors.

Finally, I was reminded that for an oil problem I should use an oil product.    The old padding were petroleum based.

The problem was solved.  Murphy Oil Soap and a floor scrubber and it was in good shape

Stage-Show-Sell, offers affordable home staging solutions in the Birmingham – Bloomfield and surrounding areas in getting your home ready for the market. We service both home sellers and realtors. We have the experience, our own rental furniture and accessories to stage many homes. We specialize in Estate work. The house can be put into our hands for the whole process of getting the house on the market

Fisher Body Craftsman Guild - 2008 reunion

The General Motors Craftsman's Guild, an auto design competition, was sponsored by the Fisher Body Division of General Motors.  The original competition was to build Coaches based on the Fisher Body Emblem.

Clicking on the below image opens up a photo album containing all the pictures from the event

The competition later encouraged teenagers to build scale models of their dream cars. 

 Clicking on the below image opens up a photo album containing all the pictures from the event

The competition for Dream Cars was from the late 1930's thru 1968 and it provided thousands of scholarships to the winners.  My husband, Paul Tatseos, won three times on different levels of the competition giving him a good start on his education at the Art Center College of Design in California.  He went on to work at General Motors Design Staff, in Warren Michigan, as did many of the other competitors.   Other winners went to other auto companies, industrial design, engineering, medicine and many other careers. 

August 2008 is the 100^th anniversary of Fisher Body and a re-union of the winners and their cars was put together at the Museum of Fine Arts  in Boston.  Approx 60 winners, many who have never met before, brought their cars to the museum for public showings.

The turnout was far more than I expected.   Hundreds of people, over the weekend, viewed the cars and talked to their creators.

Clicking on the below image opens up a photo album containing all the pictures from the event

One young man was so enthralled with the designs that he was allowed to hold my husbands cars. 

His father said You and Paul really made all the difference for my sons experience there. By the end of the day he was totally comfortable going up and talking to some of the guys about the models they built and what they did later in their life. He's still a little young to appreciate what the men in that room have done but I'm not and I would love it if you passed on to Paul that as soon as we got home we went down in the basement and pulled out a 5 pound bag of clay and started to sculpt a "Dream Car".  You both made a very memorable day for a wide eyed little boy and these pictures are going to send him over the top.

I would like for all of those interested to know that there are still young people out there who want to learn what only they can teach them. In my profession I work very hard to keep the tradition of "Craftsman and Apprentice" alive and I hope to see some of that carry on here. Even in financially challenging times the one thing you can't afford not to have is creativity. Hopefully we can even spark an interest to bring the contest back to life for some kids in the future.

Thanks again

jimi

John L. Jacobus wrote the definitive book about the Guild and was responsible was putting together this show.  We all want to thank him.  For more information about  John and  The Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild see John's  Website

The Fisher Body Craftsman's  Guild Exhibition Catalogue can be purchased  from the museum

The night before the show members gathered to share stories and memorbilia that was not in the show.

Clicking on the below image opens up a photo album containing all the pictures from the event

Great Article of the 100th Anniversary of GM

Harry Bentley Bradley Blog and show

My staging is mostly done on estates.  The budget for my work and all the work that is done comes from Estate Sales.  Selling off what the family doesn't want.

This condo was interesting to work with.  At first glance it was really clean and orderly.  The lady has a cleaning service every two weeks.  That's a real treat to get an estate like that.  As I said 'upon first glance'  the lady was a collector of everything.   Empty pill bottles to oriental knick knacks.  50 bags of trash went out before the Estate Sale began.

The condo is in Warren Michigan close to shopping and the GM Tech Center.  It's in a great well maintained complex.

Marianne has helped me with this project.

 for more before and after photos click here

 It's listed with Steve Macke a REALTOR that I do a lot of work with.

After reading the posts on photography of the rooms I'll go back and re-shoot some of these