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Karen Nardella (The Emporium Your Home for Elegant Resale) Services for Real Estate Pros

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Karen Nardella
location_on Conway, NH — The Emporium Your Home for Elegant Resale
Get to Know Karen Nardella

The Emporium:

I have a need to share a bit more about me, my shop and why I do what I do here in New Hampshire, hoping it will help make connections that are more valuable and personal with others doing the same or related work here on the www.  I love Quality Consignment, Home Staging and Redesign and my love for these keep propelling me forward to help grow the same here in New Hampshire.  Through vision, hard work and The Emporium's new series "Learning to Re-love and Romance Our Homes" as well as the creative workshop series, my hope is to excite many leading them to take up these rewarding these careers.  It saddened me that New Hampshire was without such a store or services.  The Emporium has been my dream since I was a young woman and you might imagine how hurt and then thrilled I may have been to find myself laid off from a very lucrative position in 2005, which opened the window for me to make this enormous step and I opened the shop in 2007.  I have not regretted it since.  The shop has 5000 sq ft set out in such a way as it offers me 18 rooms, from a five foot square to a banquet hall including a large lattice walled three-season sun porch.  With all these options, you can imagine it is as if I live each day in a giant dollhouse filled with ever changing stuff to play with.   Yes, this is my bliss and I love it.  I am sure now that my love for it shows because of the people that visit daily always say the same things, "we love coming here everything is always so beautiful and welcoming," and "coming here is like a breath of fresh air, it's peaceful and stress free." Lastly, "I have never seen a consignment shop like this."  These in themselves are enough to make my heart happy and a joy to go to work each day. 

 

Now, finally settled in it is time to grow forward.  It pleases me so much to find myself in this position having a perfect format to help others grow their businesses and offer others options in the event they had been looking for a more satisfying work.  In giving other area professionals space to help grow their business, I believe it creates a synergy that produces a win-win for all.  I firmly believe if you fertilize your own backyard the whole neighborhood benefits.

 

About me:

Over the last 35 years, I have mastered many talents in the areas of furniture transformation, faux finishes, decorative painting, Redesign and Home staging and business development.  In the 90,'s I was delighted and later learned, blessed, to have found and studied all that Barbra Jennings wrote.  I believe we all agree, she is a very talented pioneer in these fields and an elegant woman.  I admire her and am so proud to call her teacher.  I have had the great pleasure to meet and study with many talented pioneers within these fields such as Jeanette Fisher (Design Psychology), Deb Kennedy (Deco Diva), Debra Gould (Staging Diva), and our very sunny Ms. Sheron Cardin (Home2Home) to mention a few.  They teach from the heart, love of home, love of family, they teach in a common sense way that I understand and relate with.  They teach us how to care for our homes when we are dwelling and how to Stage them when we must leave them.  I am grateful to be among the many pioneers that are working to grow these professions and intend to water, feed and help flourish the same here in New Hampshire through education and excitement.  In realizing my dream, The Emporium will have become a small part in its growth by helping many learn to work more blissfully and help others buy or sell more joyfully. 

 

In regards to the current real estate market, many of us saw this freight train coming more than 4 years ago and as disheartening as it is too many, it was a necessary and needed correction.   It had become so fashionable to buy and sell homes as if they were commodities in the stock market.  Times have changed.  I believe when we come out the other end of this correction, we will all be wiser and appreciate our homes more than ever before.  I do not believe we will go back and relive our mistakes anytime soon. A lot of us forgot to remember the 70's and the 90's, this time I feel it is different.  We are the "New Fru".  Lessoned learned this time are going to stick with us, and that is a good thing. We are older and thank God, wiser in many ways.  My heart leads me to help teach many how to sell more politely, which in turn helps buyers begin to live more easily and as I aim for this goal, I hope the karma will catch on and both sellers and buyers will pay it forward.

 

Home ownership once meant a place for families to dwell, a sanctuary from the hectic world.  Owning a home is a right of passage we earn through hard work and how happy we are when the day arrived.  We would come home at the end of the day and smile at our accomplishment.  We spruced, fluffed and adored it and then...life sets in. It becomes busy and hectic again.  We keep buying and never find the time to use the treasures bought in the ways we intended.  It piles and piles and before we know it, we are disorganized, over burdened with stuff and dreading going to our homes. Such is "The Story of Stuff."  Leaving us wishing some genie or angel would show up and make it all right, bright and new again. This is where our story starts...

 


My personal experience taught me a valuable lesson that I aim to teach as many as want to realize similar results.  From 1998-1999 I listed my house for sale, utilizing 3 different agencies.  You remember that the 90's recession was in some ways worse than this one.  I was enlightened that I would have to lower my asking price considerably and after the first year, it was obvious to others that I would need to lower the asking price again in an attempt to renew interest and activity.  I was already losing far more than I was willing to bear, so for me that was a non-option.  When freed from my listing agreement, I "Staged" listed and sold my home myself.  I will say this process is not for everyone.  It takes a serious commitment, fortitude and skills.  I found myself skilled enough to pull it together and with the teachings of Barbara's training, it paid off in a big way.  I "Dressed my house for success" and the sign said, "SOLD" within 10 days.  I realized a $30,000.00 profit from my original asking price.  I held one open house and the last party through said "this house feels like a hug" and bought it.  Thirty days later everything was completed, it went as seamlessly as glass.  I share this because at that moment "I learned what Home Staging was all about and why it is important and that it must be "done well."  The process was no ones fault.  Skilled staging is a valued skill, still not valued as a perfect win-win for all parties.  We will work hard to change this. 

I sold my house for a fair market value because I cared about the buyer, they realized the gift of moving in a home that welcomed them and did not require immediate work.  They were able to settle in and wait until change spoke to them.  My hope is one day many will follow the benefits of staging for the sheer joy it can bring to all parties.

 

With a heart full of grateful bliss, I am ready to take this new step forward.  I believe "Helping neighbors helps us and our Planet."  It is a good thing to do, a good way to live and a good way to be.   Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to making good life connections.

 

A fellow pioneer in these fields and a friend

Karen Nardella

Certifications

My areas of expertise are in business to business development, Quality Consignment, Home Staging, Redesign, Merchandising, Furniture Transformation, Faux finishing and many styles of decorative painting, just to mention a few.  I am a great motivator and educator, helping people learn to think outside the box.  You could say I always take the road less traveled or if need be, I will create one.  I have a great passion for my work and for using my gifts to help others achieve a more blissful life and in doing that, we all learn to live more"Abundantly."

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I am stopping by to update my profile and share a new store name and the addition of a new shoppe here at The Emporium.