Emily Osmond is an Melbourne-based marketing mentor and interior design enthusiast. She specialises in helping service-based business owners to book out with clients, and scale with online programs.
What do you need to consider before styling your home for inspection?
A: The first decision to make when preparing to style your home, is whether you’ll do this yourself, or engage the help of a professional. Secondly, you need to allow enough time to organise sourcing the furniture or styling items – whether you’re buying, borrowing, or hiring them. Finally, it’s important to consider the prospective buyers of the home, so that you ensure the styling is relevant and appealing to their demographic and lifestyle.
Why is it important - and what are the benefits - of styling your property before an inspection?
A: I believe it’s essential to style your property before an inspection to present it in the best possible way and, in turn, achieve interest and the best sale price. You want a potential buyer to walk into a home that feels uncluttered and thoughtfully presented, and for them to be able to imagine themselves living there.
What are the advantages of styling it yourself, versus engaging a professional stylist?
A: If you already have most of the furniture and decor that you will use for styling your home, and feel confident in bringing a space together, then you may not need to engage a professional, which will save a lot of money. However, if you are looking around your home and thinking “where do I start?!” or know you need to hire lots of items, working with a stylist will make the process much easier and quicker for you.
What are your top three tips for styling your property yourself?
A:
1. In our day-to-day lives, we often have clutter taking up surfaces, which isn’t ideal for prospective buyers to be greeted with! So, the first step in preparing your home for an open house is to organise the clutter and put it out of sight.
2. Once the clutter is gone, it’s time to do a furniture and decor audit! What will stay for the opens, what needs to be tucked away or sold, and what gaps do you need to fill with new or hired furniture? When making your furniture and styling decisions, you want to ensure that you have a consistent “theme” or aesthetic across your home – which is often dictated by the home’s location, architecture, and interior finishes.
3. Remember that you’ll likely have your home photographed, so don’t forget to consider your spaces with photographic angles in mind and adjust your styling accordingly.
What are some easy ways to give your home an instant facelift?
A: A simple and budget-friendly way to give your home an instant facelift is by replacing tired, flat cushions with new plump feather-filled ones. There’s just something about a nicely chopped cushion that makes a room feel “set”.
Secondly, look around your garden for greenery or flowers you can cut and add to vases – or head along to your local florist to purchase some flowers or plants. This will add a sense of freshness, colour, and life to your spaces, making them feel more homely.
What areas of the home should be focused on when styling, and why?
A: All areas are important, including outside! First impressions really do count, so ensure your yard is tidy and the entrance is uncluttered.
The kitchen, living and dining area are key selling points of a home and should be the main place to focus on when styling. If you have multiple bedrooms, the most important ones to style are the master bedrooms or the ones with an ensuite. While the other bedrooms are just as important, you can afford to consider more simple, paired back styling in these spaces.
And don’t forget to style your bathrooms too - it really does make a difference!
How can flooring change the look and feel of your ‘for sale’ home?
A: Flooring can change the look, feel and appeal of your home enormously. If your carpet is stained, very dated or wearing thin, or your timber flooring needs replacing or maintenance, this will signal additional costs and efforts to the potential buyer.
Carpet Court’s engineered timber flooring, Florence Oak in Iluka, helped us emphasise the scale and vastness of our entrance, hallway, kitchen, living and dining area; and Carpet Court’s Far North carpet in Jardine helped create a sense of luxury throughout the bedrooms and retreat.
Image Credits:
Home: @emilyosmond
Builder: @goldlineconstructions
Interior Design Consultant: @whitewith1
Interior Styling Consultant: @kirstinkdesignco
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