Donna and Judee have always had an interest in interior design and home décor. While pursuing careers and raising young families they expressed their artistic talents decorating and redecorating their own homes and those of friends and family. Their special talent was re-arranging furniture and accessories in a room, or even amongst rooms to better showcase the features of the home. With their talents in sewing, furniture refinishing, and decorative painting they were able to create fabulous new rooms with a minimum of expense. Little did they know that there was a design movement developing called "Use What You Have Decorating" or "One-Day-Decorating".

In 2000, Donna made a career change and began working as an assistant for a successful real estate agent. One of her duties was to visit the homes being listed for sale to take the photographs for both MLS® and the Agent's website and to prepare the feature sheets that market the home to buyers. Many of these home-owners had one thing in common ….. they were unsure what they should be doing to best prepare their homes for sale. Although they had been given general advice from their real estate agent, Donna found herself answering many questions and offering detailed advice on furniture placement and the removal of excess furnishings, décor items and general clutter. The home-owners valued Donna's experience and Donna wished she had more time to spend at each home. It wasn't long before it was apparent that this could be just the career she'd been training for all those years!

In late 2002, with the young children all now teenagers, Donna and Judee joined forces and developed Room Remedy, a business whose primary focus is the preparation of homes for sale. The mission of Room Remedy is to help home-owners sell their homes in the shortest time and at the best price possible by providing a level of professional service that meets with the home-owners personal requirements and budget.

An ASP is a professional who has completed a rigorous training program that teaches specific techniques and concepts in home presentation. This includes both class room instruction and actual hands on staging experience in real homes on the market for sale.

In 2003, Judee and Donna travelled to Calgary to earn their Accredited Staging Professional™(ASP™) designations. An ASP™ is a professional who has completed the Staging® training program which teaches proven techniques and standards in home presentation with both classroom instruction and hands-on Staging® in homes that are currently or soon-to-be on the market for sale. Donna and Judee trained and certified in Staging® with Christine Rae, the Certified Accredited Staging Professional™ Trainer (CASPT) for Canada. Christine Rae was personally trained and certified by Barb Schwarz, of Stagedhomes.com, the founder and creator of "Staging®". Barb Schwarz has personally staged® over 1600 homes!

Donna and Judee look at the home with an objective eye, having the best interest of the homeowner in mind. They treat each home as a unique project and they pride themselves on their ability to creatively transform a home inside and out through Staging®.

The biggest challenge for Judee and Donna is to help the home-owner emotionally detach from their home. It's important that the home-owner become objective about their property and see it as a house, a product for sale on the real estate shelf, no longer their home filled with years of memories. Judee and Donna also help remind home-sellers that their house faces competition and, like any product for sale, requires effective packaging that will attract buyers. Only then can they successfully work with home-owners to develop that open and inviting space and create that impression of emotional warmth that buyers find so instantly appealing.

Room Remedy's projects have varied in size from a simple paint colour consultation to a total home de-clutter and furniture re-arrangement to the complete Staging® of vacant homes, where it is necessary to bring in furnishings and accessories and artwork from Room Remedy's tasteful inventory. Room Remedy will do whatever it takes to reveal your home's true selling potential!

Read about us in the March 27, 2004 Ottawa Citizen Article Reprint