Styling and staging an interior that will attract affluent buyers to your doorstep, and answer all of their needs regarding aesthetics and functionality, has become an art form in its own right. Nowadays, it is important to accentuate the functional nature of the space in order to provide manoeuvrability and purpose in every room, but function alone cannot seal the deal. Remember, form must be present as well.

Words: Lillian Connors

Of all the essential elements that go into interior decorating and staging, furniture will play a vital role. Choosing the right style, material, era, finish, size, and more, can help you create a welcoming, homey setting the potential buyer will love, so let’s take a look at some of the best ways to use furniture when styling your home.

Support openness and spaciousness
The open-plan living plan has never been more popular than in recent years, and nowadays the affluent homebuyer is looking for that feeling of openness and capaciousness that emanates freedom and positivity throughout the household. Naturally, this requires a streamlined floorplan and meticulous furniture positioning in order to free up space and allow the open-space plan to come to life.

The first thing to tend is a thorough decluttering of the space in order to present a clean and organised foundation. From there, you can use key furniture pieces, unique to every room, to set up focal points, guide the guest through the room, and evoke the feeling of freedom. Needless to say, this means that there can be no room for oversized, bulky furniture, except when you’re designing a focal point.

Grab the guest’s attention with focal points
Accents play a vital role in presenting an interesting, aesthetic interior, and they should find their place in every room of your home. These focal points will not only serve a functional purpose but they will also grab the guest’s attention and reel them in with their aesthetic features.

For instance, a bathroom setting boasting a grand free-standing bathtub in the centre, complemented by a side table and a beautiful landing rug, can do a magnificent job at catching the eye of the observer and presenting an aesthetic design they won’t be able to resist. Following the same principle, you want to use furniture in every room to set a striking foundation that will inspire and bewilder the guest, complementing larger pieces of furniture with some trendy room accessories.

Introduce a homey vibe in every room
When styling and staging a property, there is an imperative to take your ideal customer’s needs, wishes, and aspirations into consideration. You want the visitor to feel right at home, to let the interior play with their imagination and help them envision their future there. For instance, these property styling solutions in Sydney show us that bringing a homey feel to life will depend on the ability of the interior to create an emotional connection with the observer, and also win them over with unimpeded functionality at every corner.

To achieve this, it’s important that furniture in every room follows a certain design pattern, a certain motif that will welcome vibrant accents, complementary pieces, and in this way evoke the right emotions. This is where symmetry and zoning will play the leading roles.

Arrange pieces with symmetry in mind
Truth be told, there are  number of ways you can evoke the right emotions and appeal to the ideal buyer, and sometimes asymmetrical arrangements just work better. However, you also want to keep in mind that not only does the human eye appreciate symmetry, but that playing with asymmetrical layouts is like playing with fire.

Of course, there can always be that one chaise lounge in the corner that defiantly stands on its own, separated from the symmetrical seating area in the middle of the room, but that is about as quirky and “laid-back” as you want to go. Don’t worry, the new homeowner will re-decorate to their liking, but if you want to maximise your chances of appealing to a potential buyer in the first place, your best bet is to arrange zones symmetrically.

Use furniture to define zones
Lastly, keep in mind that people are naturally drawn to zones in every room, such as a well-crafted sitting area in the living room, or the island in the kitchen, as well as the welcoming sleeping area complemented with rugs and side tables in the bedroom. So naturally, this is a great opportunity to invite people to experience the beautiful interior for all it’s worth by using furniture to create zones in every room of the household.

Consider a seating area in the living room with sofas surrounding a coffee table atop a fluffy area rug that frames the entire design. Following this mind-set, you can create such welcoming zones in other rooms by strategically positioning furniture, and choosing the right pieces to complement and accentuate the purpose of the space.

Styling a home for viewing is not exactly an easy project, as numerous factors will play their vital roles in bringing the welcoming feeling to life throughout the household. With these staging tips in mind, though, you will have no problem creating an aesthetic and functional interior every prospective homebuyer will love.