Annoyingly, fashion trends are always changing. The great wheel that is fashion is always on the move, and in spite of what we preach about eliminating outdated clothing in your wardrobe, it’s true that if you keep something long enough, it will come back into style. This is also true of the way home trends evolve. When you sink a tonne of money into the renovation of your kitchen, in 10 or 20 years it will probably be out of vogue if you rely only on what’s trendy to create your advantage. Styling a home, like buying a functional wardrobe, must be done using certain unwavering basics that don’t change much over time.

It’s particularly important to keep your feet firmly on the ground if you’re planning to renovate your house ahead of listing it for sale. Yes. You may get more money after the sale if your changes are those that honestly increase the value of your home. But too often, changing the looks of a home in expensive ways leads home-sellers to invest too heavily, leading to ultimate loss.

Updates to kitchens and bathrooms can be relied on as good ways to capture the attention of buyers. Home-buying decisions are often made by the feelings these rooms evoke, but you have to know how much value is actually achieved by the changes as compared to the overall cost.

Understand that the way in which advantage styling happens has more to do with emotion than it does bricks and mortar. That does not say that renos can be important, it only says that too much of a good thing can cost you dearly.

Naturally, updating your kitchen should be on your mind, but with the help of your home styling professional, choosing to add new appliances can be just as effective at upping your selling price as adding a kitchen island and far less expensive. So much depends on where and when your house goes on the market for sale. Depend on the professionals to help you walk this line.

Bathrooms, too, can be money sponges. You may hate the tiles in your master bathroom, but tearing them out and re-doing the room is a very expensive and time-consuming project. Instead, your stylist may suggest refinishing the tiles with paint to gain the same dramatic effect at a fraction of the cost. The trick is to evoke the feeling of an upgrade without the expense.

Another place where the fashion wheel tends to run over us is in the furnishings department. Often we think we can use our own furnishings to stage our homes. That floral sofa you bought five years back may not stir the imagination of your home-buyer however. What is comfortable and pleasing to you may not be anything like what your home buyer is looking for – it can even be off-putting. (Sorry.)

This is why all good home stylists look to neutralise the properties they dress. What they strive for is something between a day spa and a high-end hotel lobby. It needs to be as opulent as possible in an understated, timeless way. This is not an easy balance for most amateur stagers to find and maintain.

To appeal to the widest range of home-buyers, stylists who are worth their salt spend their resources learning about and understanding the needs and emotions of the buyers most likely to want your home. Then they match the décor to the tastes of the group most likely to make offers on your house and the result, if it’s done well, is a quick sale at a higher price. Few home-sellers have the energy to devote to such study.

Staying ahead of fashion trends, colour favourites, and ever-changing style and patterns of the furnishings with which we surround ourselves is tricky work. Not everyone has the talent or the time to be a fashionista. It makes sense, then, to hire the very best, most effective stylist possible when it comes time to present your home for sale.

Start with elegant essentials. (Never forget the little black dress.) From the colour on the wall to the texture of the sofa pillows, how your home introduces itself to potential buyers is critical to the satisfaction you’ll ultimately have with the sale process. Carefully creating and using every advantage styling can bring is what really good home stylists accomplish. Before you settle on a styling company, be sure to include a consultation with Urban Chic Property Styling. You will be glad you took the time to consider the best.

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