Are you currently prepping a property for sale? Then think like a magazine editor and follow these simple tips from our panel of style experts.

Circa 2016, tools in the kit bag for styling homes can include interior styling, garden makeovers, in-home events and art placed by the hands of a curator. Still, top Sydney stylists Megan Morton, Tanya Guiffre and Adam de Launay say it’s the simple things that count most. While Instagram and blogging platforms have raised the bar on home interiors, they stress that great presentation starts with getting the basics right.

Smart styling, can and will, affect the final sale price. Follow these 6 simple steps to reap the rewards.

Books, greenery and artfully placed soft furnishings are just the details needed to impart a sense of warmth in the master bedroom, at Marriott Street in Redfern.
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1. Proportion

Gaining an understanding of proportion is the ‘101’ of styling. Understanding the space and volume of your home is crucial to getting the look right. Most people have furniture in their home out of sheer habit and accumulation.

Choose the right sized pieces of furniture for each room, while keeping it comfortable and functional. Then consider a dignified and logical walk through of your home objectively.

2. Get inspired

A really well styled home should not look generic or like a Harvey Norman catalogue. Push the envelope when it comes to “on trend” details – then stay classic and restrained in the rest of your choices. Read great magazines and window shop at your favourite design stores to get ideas.

5 Mary Place, Paddington was purchased for $890,000 in May 2013. Less than 2 years later the owners were able to achieve almost $200,000 more without actually doing any work to the property. The impressive presentation contributed to the sale prior to auction and this home was styled by the team at Evolve.

3. Make the most of it

Lower price properties will need decorative spirit and spunk to pull them over the line. This is because they fall into the most over-run sector of the market which includes big block apartments in the east. Get creative. Be artistic.

4. Follow the story

Remember even though it’s your home – it’s advertising. You are telling a story. Appeal to the kind of activities that sit at the heart of your buyer’s lifestyle. It could be cooking, the great outdoors, entertaining, fitness or micro gardening.

Be professional and consistent with your chosen narrative. Don’t neglect whole chunks of the house and forget to style them. Picture the house as scenes from a film, then keep the theme running throughout.

In Paddington at 2 Hopewell Lane – styling, gardening, painting, storage and new photography was needed. The highest offer received on this property prior to completing the works was $1.08m. Approximately $6,000 was spent on improvements, before being sold within 1 week for $1,190,000.

5. A feminine touch

Often the trick is putting a feminine touch on the property, because women have the ‘fall in love’ factor. Don’t forget how influential women are in choosing a home. For example, things like dead plants say you gave up years ago. Hire fresh plants and use them to perk up the interior with their fresh scent and bright green leaves.

With floral arrangements also be sure to think outside the square. Contemporary arrangements can be huge branches of spring blossoms, a tropical collection of leaves or something more rural. Don’t make flowers the after-thought. It will show.

This terrace at 174 Underwood Street, Paddington was newly renovated and the owners required help to style the property in a way that would make the most of the renovation and ensure it appealed to a wide range of buyers. After styling, plus gardening and cleaning, it sold prior to the auction, well above the owners expectations for $2,210,000.

6. Get a stylist involved

Staying objective is the most important aspect of your campaign. Most owners can’t take themselves out of the equation to see clearly what needs to be done. The key for successful styling for an owner-occupier would be essentially to declutter. Refreshing soft furnishings is a big winner. As is new artworks, rugs and some live greenery.

A professional stylist  adds value by being an independent, 3rd party opinion to guide you to where the market is. The professional stylist gives you ‘intel’ from the coalface of successful property presentation. Use it.