I had the pleasure of interviewing George Clarke (Amazing Spaces) at the opening of the Barker & Stonehouse Hove store. Here’s what he had to say about property styling.
“I think in this market anything that you can do to dress your home to make it look amazing is a great thing to do.
If you were a house builder you’re going to dress your house in a particular way and look to sell it, so why should it be any different if you want to sell your house?
I do the same, I design lovely houses that I’m really proud of, you still want them to feel good when they walk in.
I love all those clichés when someone has made coffee 10 minutes before someone turns up and you’ve got that lovely smell of coffee beans. I always want my house to feel nice, so I go out and buy some lovely flowers.
I don’t think there’s any harm in making an effort when you’re trying to sell you house. There’s nothing worse that going around and looking at someone’s house to buy and it’s full of rubbish and not clean, it puts you off.
“I think anything that puts you ahead of the game of other people selling similar houses in your area, it’s worth the effort.”
And I think more importantly it’s taking pride in your home. If you really look after your home, and yes there might be a little bit of staging that’s done to help it, people are going to come around and respect that you’ve taken that pride.
It’s like buying a car isn’t it? You’re not going to buy a car that someone’s not looked after and it’s horrible inside and there’s rubbish everywhere, you’re not going to do it! You’re going to go why would I buy a product that someone, A. does care about and B. has not looked after properly? So I think any effort you can make, even a bit of home staging is a good thing.”