Wellington woman Mandy Crozier styles homes to sell
Changing Rooms founder Mandy Crozier shows Stuff her style in a partially staged Ian Athfield house in Ngaio.
Wandering through someone else's home can be a strange — and sometimes intimidating — experience.
Whether it an open home, or a private viewing, you can't help but ogle at the beautiful furniture and lovely ornaments.
Everything seems to have its place. Very quickly, you find yourself falling in love with the layout, the feel and the simplicity.
Changing Rooms founder Mandy Crozier partially staged an Ian Athfield house in Ngaio.
And it is all in a day's work for one Wellington woman who styles homes for a living.
Mandy Crozier is the woman who makes all the marketing photos look perfect, in any light.
She arrives at your empty — or partially empty — house, and quickly gets to work.
Before: This cosy corner featured cane chairs with cushions.
She brings everything: beds, lounge suites, light bulbs, rugs, linen, magazines, books, bars of soap. You name it, she's got it.
After hours of dressing the house, photographers arrive and take shots to market the house.
The house stays like that until it is sold - usually within about five weeks.
After: The space was transformed with cow skin chairs.
But does "staging" really help?
"Houses can get 10 per cent more from being staged — statistically, they absolutely do," Crozier said
"It's a lot of money by the time you pay the listing fee, the marketing fee, and then someone comes along and says 'Oh and you should stage it as well', but it's worth it. You will get your return back. You don't lose."
Before: One of the bedrooms downstairs had a yellow theme, and only one bedside drawer.
Crozier started her business — Changing Rooms — after she decided she needed a change of pace following a lengthy career in human resources and career coaching.
She started off renovating her own homes, then flipping them, but soon starting doing it for family and friends.
"Then last year I decided, 'Right, you are either going to do it properly, or you're not,' and then it just took off."
After: The drawers have gone, new lamps are in, and new bedding was fitted.
At the moment, Crozier stages about three homes every week, "which is a lot," she said.
She has help from furniture movers, and works with florists and art hirers who help her achieve the look she wants.
De-cluttering was a big part of her job, Crozier said.
"There is stuff that is precious to people, that is special and has memories, and it could be an ornament that we don't like, but I will put it away.
"We might pack a couple of boxes up of there stuff, or we might ask them to, but de-cluttering is huge," she said.
"We want the spaces to look more roomier, less clutter, less junk."
Her favourite room to dress was the living room. And her least favourite? Bedrooms.
"The bedrooms get a little bit boring after a while, because for each bedroom we use big linen sacks and each bedroom takes three huge linen sacks, so you imagine you are doing a four-bedroom house, you are bringing 12 huge sacks of linen," she said.
"You really get sick of making beds."
Crozier always tried to keep things new and exciting - no two houses are styled the same.
"You do have to look at the market, who the buyer is and what the styles are to see what's in fashion, and what's in vogue," she said.
"You've got to be really careful that the look is new each time."
But she admitted it was tricky coming up with new ways of dressing rooms.
She has one full-time assistant, and a couple of casuals, but would look to take more staff as business picked up, Crozier said.
"We've already outgrown out warehouse, so without a doubt it will grow and that will need more people.
"I don't have all the ideas. People are doing really cool stuff out there," she said.
"I've never worked so hard, and I've worked pretty hard. It takes a huge amount of energy, but I think the company will just keep growing."
She hoped to have another interior designer on board within the next six months.
- Stuff
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