Staged To Perfection
When I started in real estate, home staging companies were few and far between, and the importance of property presentation wasn’t fully understood or promoted. Skip to 2025 and you will hardly ever see an entirely vacant property being advertised – in fact there are even virtual staging businesses that can add all the appropriate furniture and styling for the images to make a property be more inviting in the marketing.
So, what are some of the lessons that I have learnt working with many of the top home staging companies in Wellington? Well, here are my top five takeaway:
01 - Less Is Best
When a home stylist is preparing a home for sale they have the benefit of starting with a clean slate. When you are styling your own home, you have all of your existing “stuff” to work around. This is where the age old presentation story of decluttering comes in.
Every room in your home is likely to have too much stuff, and if you have small children then the task is even harder. In fact, I think there are some chapters in life where it’s just best to lean in to the semi chaos rather than make a rod for your own back.
But, when life does allow, starting with a healthy and comprehensive decluttering of all rooms, cupboards, nooks and crannies is the best way to start. It’s just not possible to have a beautifully presented home if there is too much stuff.
02 - Time For Bed
Your bed is likely to take up the majority of floor space in your bedroom and therefore will also command the majority of attention when you walk in the bedroom door. It makes total sense then that some effort should go in to how your bed is made and presented.
Bella and I went to a bed styling presentation at Citta design several years ago and recently talked about how we both use tips to this day that we learnt at that presentation. From linen combinations, to the right number of pillows, to how to position a throw rug to give an effortless and stylish finishing touch.
Have a good search through magazines or Pinterest to find your ideal bed setup and then look to re-create. There are so many wonderful places to buy linen, and it doesn’t have to be top shelf to create the bed of your dreams (and a beautiful bedroom as a result).
03 - Practical Bathroom Presentation
Many of the homes that we sell don’t have recently renovated bathrooms, and so the home stager needs to work with what they have. The simplest, quickest and most cost effective way of lifting this space is through carefully selected towels.
Working with whatever colours your bathroom currently has, whether that’s in the tiles, flooring or walls, look for towels to complement this. Shades that work in with the surroundings make the whole space feel more curated and intentional.
Again, this is a very cost-effective hack and a deeply practical one too, as you will get to use your new colour appropriate towels every day!
04 - Rugs For Zoning
Large living areas that play host to several purposes ie dining and lounge, or sitting area and tv space can be defined by furniture placement and rugs to show that they can be used as individual spaces.
A large rug also adds a cozy vibe to an area to make it feel warmer and more luxurious, which is particularly important in a large space. The rug can act as the primary colour to then accessorise within the defined space such as cushions, throws and art.
Zoning a space with rugs is a simple and effective presentation tool that you will see widely used by home stagers and you can do the same at your place too!
05 - Green Isn’t Just My Favourite Colour…
It is also the best way to bring oxygen and life into your home with abundant house plants used throughout. Staging companies mostly use faux plants, and these are fine to use if you don’t trust that you can keep up reasonable care of your plant family, but nothing beats the real deal in my opinion.
At last count, we have 25 plants in our home, and we just love them! Some large, some small, some in hero positions and some in surprising small spaces that you might not expect, they add texture, pattern and colour to whatever area they adorn and to add to their beauty is the oxygen they provide us with while also taking out carbon dioxide, so they truly do add value in many ways.
Images via our past listings, staged by Narrative Home Staging & Bridget Poppelwell-POP Inspired Interiors.