The Sydney real estate market has really taken off and has become very competitive. To get buyers’ attention and secure sales, your property must stand out.

Property styling is essential in achieving this. Beyond being a visual selling tool, property styling allows prospective buyers to see the full potential of a space and envision their future home. It is about capturing their imagination with rooms styled to reflect their ideal lifestyle and trigger that urgent desire to make the purchase.  

Deciding on how to style is a task which experienced property stylists are equipped to help you with. Armed with interior decorating and design expertise as well as keen understanding of your target market, they know which look will suit your property and will delight your potential buyers.

To ensure the best results, here are key points to remember 

1. Style to complement your property and attract your target market

Before selecting a particular look, one must ask the following questions - Who is the target market and what makes them tick? What look and kind of lifestyle appeals to them? What kind of property is being presented? The answers to these questions will determine which look to choose.

As each project is different, we at Valiant Property Styling enjoy this initial stage. One day, we’re creating a coastal luxe look for an up market coastal penthouse unit. On a different day, we’re doingtraditional look with modern touches for a heritage home.

With the growth of urban units, one of the styles we often use is ‘contemporary’. This look does wonders for city apartments aimed at young middle class families. It’s a modern, practical, and easily flatters a wide range of properties. Its versatility allows for a variations of looks – you can do luxe, chic, or even arty – and it appeals to a wide range of potential buyers.

2. Play up the property’s best features

Each property has features that make it special and give it character. It is one thing to recognise these, it is another to know how to highlight them. There are subtle yet effective touches to bringing out the potential of these amazing features and adding that extra dimension to a space.

The property boom has brought many brand new apartments and units into the market. Two amazing features these tend to have in common are great views and/or generous light beaming through the space. There are different ways to take advantage of these but some our favourite tricks are –

• The use of low furniture pieces with slender legs
• Furniture with reflect surfaces such as marble table tops, mirrors, or pieces with shiny finishes.
• Introduction of a mirror to amplify the natural light in the room
• The use of light colour

3. Picking the correct furniture sizes

It is key to use appropriately sized furniture to showcase the optimal use of space and further play up its best features. A small room doesn’t necessarily mean you should use small furniture, or as with a large room and big furniture.By using the wrong scaled furniture, you only highlight the room’s weaknesses and miss the opportunity to showcase its real potential.

For small spaces, many assume that small furniture and accessories are the way to go. On the contrary, a few strategic large pieces can do wonders in widening the feel of the space. For example, a rug that spreads all the way under the lounges creates an illusion of a larger lounge room. Additionally, using rounded edge pieces, like a round coffee table, help create flow. Edges can slice up a room and make it feel even smaller.

When it comes to larger spaces, it’s about furniture positioning. One trick is to float furniture off the wall and arrange pieces to form living spaces within large floor areas. This way you don’t leave blank spots and you create a sense of cosiness and intimacy while allowing potential buyers to still feel the largeness of the room.

4. Create consistency throughout the home

Having one style applied throughout the property creates a strong sense of continuity and brings different parts of the home together. Doing otherwise disconnects one room from the other. It’s important to create that cohesive viewing experience and presenting the property as a whole, no matter what the size of the property is.

A great example is the Somerset Display Apartment. A subtle Scandi look was used throughout the apartment. We used a mixture of light oak timber tones, fresh whites and muted greys to complement the finishes.

Somerset, Carlingford Living Room

Somerset, Carlingford Children’s Bedroom

5.Leave ample space for people to walk through

Part of styling a property is finding that balance of empty and filled space. The rule is to allow a little more than enough space for people to comfortably move open for inspections. The aim of property styling is to enhance to fill every space with furniture or accessories.

6. Enhancing with the right accessories

Accessories are always a lot of fun. Like icing on a cake, it’s amazing to see how the space comes together once the little details are added. To maximise the effect accessories can create, balance is always needed. One can easily over accessorise and distract viewers from seeing the features of the space; while with under accessorising, you miss the opportunity to bring a space to life.

Always remember, styling to sell a property isn’t just making a space look beautiful, it’s bringing the right design elements together to appeal to your buyers. Make sure this is done well to enhance your selling prospects and get best results.

Visit Somerset Apartments, unit 510 7-13 Jenkins Road, Carlingford (entry from James Street)

If you’re looking to sell your property, call PIA’s Residential Sales Department on 02 9192 2800 or RSD@pia.coma.u

If you’re looking to rent or buy, or just interested in design inspiration, PIA have a range of furnished display units open, visit our website for open times www.pia.com.au

If you’d like to style your property for the best result, contact Valiant Property Styling on (02) 9690-4000 or email hire@valiant.com.au