After price, one of our client’s first questions is about the quality of Property Styling Melbourne’s
property styling stock.
It’s a great question to ask your stylist, and it’s also the first question we ask our customers when they start the process of comparing property styling quotations! It is often the quality of the property styling stock that can be the greatest variable in how and why stylists quotations will differ. This article about Property Styling Melbourne
Property Styling stock will hopefully answer many of your questions.
What is Property Styling Stock?
Property styling stock is the furniture, accessories, artwork, linen, floor rugs, lamps and much more that you will be hiring when engaging a property stylist.
This property styling stock is usually housed in a warehouse, which is what we do. However, depending on the size of the property styling business it may be kept in the stylist’s home or garage or an offsite storage facility if they don’t have a dedicated business premise.
Here are just a few of the sources of property styling stock used in the industry:
- Retail Purchasing The stylist simply buys at Adairs, Kmart, Ikea, Beacon or other retail store just like any consumer
- Wholesale Purchasing: The stylist sources stock not available directly to the public, at wholesale providers and prices* (This is primarily how we purchase)
- Importing: The stylist imports stock in bulk quantities, this activity is usually limited to only the largest property stylists. (We’re not there yet!)
- Seconds and samples: The stylist, due to their industry contacts, is offered seconds, ex-display items and samples at a discounted price* (we are sometimes able to get samples and exdisplay artworks from our suppliers like Bayliss Rugs and United Interiors)
- Liquidators and Auctions: The stylist can often source and attend commercial auctions and clearances allowing them to pick up various as new or unboxed ex display items* (we also purchase in this manner)
- E-Bay, Buy Sell Swap pages and Gumtree: This generally involves buying used goods and whilst its not a practice we engage in it can happen across the industry. Sometimes you can get a fantastic outcome and I am all for reusing and recycling but there is also a greater array of risk and the stock is effectively ‘used’ or often tired
- Op Shops and Flea Markets: This is quite similar to Ebay and Gumtree in the risk level. Again not something we do but, its not an unheard of practice. Although I do proudly, and with a lot of personal enjoyment, love browsing the shelves of ops shops for buy second hand books for our property styling
Property Styling Stock Quality Varies
Even when purchasing wholesale, which is how Property Styling Melbourne’s property styling stock is acquired (except for secondhand books which I love sourcing from Op Shops!), the quality of the stock can vary greatly. This variation can even occur within the stock ranges held by a supplier.
We’ve experienced first hand that we can buy amazing occasional chairs from one supplier but that the entertainment units they supplied were of a noticeably poorer quality and in the end they didn’t stand up to the rigors of our industry and have been phased out. It’s critical to be able to strike a balance when selecting property styling stock to ensure that the furniture you purchase is:
- On trend by not trendy
- Damage resistant and durable – some materials like glass, colours or types of fabric are more prone to damage and deterioration
- At a sustainable or commercially viable price point
It’s important to have an understanding of what quality of stock will be supplied in the course of your property styling. To determine this you need to be able to consider where and how your stylist is sourcing stock and from who. We are open about the stockists and suppliers we have used in our business. We are proud of our suppliers and use suppliers whose product we are in turn proud to use.
You can check out our suppliers here.
Age and Condition of Property Styling Stock
The turnover of stock can also impact the overall effect of the staging. A property stylist may have the highest quality lounge but if it has been moved 52 times over three years, it will inevitably begin to show signs of wear and tear.
As a guide the Property Styling Melbourne Property Styling stock is on average 18 months old (as at June 2017) and we have a plan for property styling stock rotation that involves turning over stock either when its damaged and cannot be repaired without visual impact or its stained or marked and can’t be professionally cleaned. Otherwise our ideal stock rotation involves:
- Major Furniture Items – 3 years
- Lighting – 2 years
- Art – 2 years
- Linen – 2 years
- Rugs – 2 years
- Accessories – 12 months
- Cushions and Soft Furnishings – 12 months
At the end of its useful life (to us) we make our Property Styling Melbourne’s Property Styling Stock (much of which is still in amazing condition) available online for purchase and will sometimes make slightly damaged stock available through here too.