Fresh Juju is owned and operated by Melinda Calkins Bartling who has been an Overland Park Realtor for over 35 years. She is also a Home Stager, Downsizing Expert, and all-around Entrepreneur. She’s a Kansas City native, growing up in the Brookside area of Kansas City on Morningside Drive. Melinda attended The Barstow School when it was a girl’s school.
Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, she learned valuable lessons from them all. First of all, her dad owned apartment buildings. Her mom had various businesses based around fashion, food, and home. Then her brother was a local musician and celebrity in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Kansas Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
Melinda’s Businesses
Melinda has been involved in all aspects of home selling since she started in real estate in 1987. She started Overland Park Home Staging in 2006, which quickly became the busiest home staging company in the city.
In addition, she added Home Smudging to her services in 2008. The process came naturally to Melinda in order to clear the negativity from a home and to prepare it for the new buyers. Above all else, every buyer wants to start out with a home that is clean and purified.
Over the years, Melinda has worked with many distressed homes including a home where a gruesome murder was committed. After researching how to sell a home with a stigma, she was introduced to the art of smudging. Melinda knew it was important to rid a home of its past and quickly learned the best way to do that. She knows and understands the importance of removing the disgrace and stain from a previously owned home. Melinda feels that a Prayer Smudging Ceremony is the best way to do that. It’s not woo-woo or magic or anything to be taken lightly. Smudging dates back to ancient times and is a proven method to remove anything negative from a home.
Recently, Melinda added Prayer Smudging Ceremonies for the mind, body, and spirit to the Fresh Juju brand. She believes that everyone deserves a fresh start when life happens…to remove all negativity from your mind, body, spirit, and home, as well.
Melinda Bartling Walks her Talk
As a baby boomer, Melinda walks her talk. She currently lives large in an 800-square-foot home filled with vintage and repurposed finds with Bella and Bailey, her Lab, and Pit Bull rescue dogs.
Also, her love of vintage decorating caused her to turn an everyday ordinary backyard 11′ x 8′ shed into Shed Chic. The Shed Chic Social Club hosts Happy Hours for Women Who Wine. It’s a great way to bring women in business together to make new connections, support local non-profits with donations, and give back to the very cool Kansas City community.
Finally, when she’s not working on one of her businesses or hosting parties at her home, she enjoys working out, cooking, vintage shopping, decorating, and hanging out with her friends and grandchildren.
You can call or text Melinda at (913) 515-3250 or contact her here.