Property Styling – Yes or No

I’m not going to give you the big sell about the benefits of home staging. This is already available in many articles, so the costs and benefits are clear. What I do want to share is why I love what I do, what makes my work my happy place, and what a good styling experience should feel like for you.

Selling your home can be a stressful process, both physically and emotionally – I know this all too well. I started out my career as a Psychologist and worked in large corporates. Then my husband and I (with our young daughter in tow) had the opportunity to experience the expat lifestyle, spending many years living in Asia and North America. We made more moves than I care to remember – and international at that! But my passion was always in interiors and fashion. So, while I was overseas, I took the opportunity to chase my dream. I studied Interior Design, I worked with real estate agents and residential builders, before I took the big scary move to start up my own company when we relocated back to Australia.

I feel blessed to be able to do what I truly love, every day, and it has turned out even better than I could have expected. Not only do I get to play with beautiful furnishings, but I also get to spend my day with lovely people – share their stories – hear their fears and excitement – and assist to prepare their home for the sales campaign to ensure it looks it’s very best!

When you list your home for sale it’s like entering it into a popularity contest. Your home will be competing with the rest of the market, so it needs to appeal to the most buyers and have the ability to secure that sort after ‘emotional connection’. Like with most things these days, home buyers start their shopping online, so how your home photographs is the first challenge, then how it feels when prospective buyers walk through that door is the second. Your home has minutes to make its impression. This is where great styling is paramount.

I don’t believe you need to hire a house full of furniture to make an impact. In fact, some fully staged homes can look… well, “staged” and “cookie cutter”. Using a blend of existing furnishings will not only manage your styling budget and make the styling process much easier for you, but it will also make your house feel like a home and create a warmth that buyers will see themselves living in and fall in love with.

I help my clients decide what furnishings they might need to move out, what should be used for styling and what additions need to be made. It’s also essential to understand whether you will be living in the property during the sales campaign and what your day-to-day activities entail. After all, your home needs to keep functioning during the campaign while looking incredible and appealing to the widest pool of buyers possible.

A good styling experience is more than the addition of a few cushions and a vase of your favourite blooms. It’s the application of solid design principles, space planning to optimise size, decluttering to showcase storage, the selection of colour pallets to appeal to the masses, yet pieces which are on trend. It’s about understanding your local property market and working collaboratively with selling agents and photographers to ensure the house appeals to the largest number of buyers and get the best sale results. Attention to detail is key to creating a warmth that buyers will just have to have it!

I wake every day feeling blessed that I get to spend my time doing what I love.

BEVERLEY JACKSON REARDON
Owner | Stylist
My House 2 Home