The features that property stylists think are essential to selling your home

Impressive facades, lifestyle shots, and panoramic views of the city – there are certain things that pop up time and time again in the photos that agents choose to sell houses with.

It makes sense to play to a property’s strength and include photos that show the best features outside the home – like a local park, the nearby train station or shopping complex – but when it comes to the interiors, the necessity of close-up shots of certain objects – like pot plants or statues – is questionable yet ever present.

So next time you’re admiring photos of your dream home, see how many of these you can spot. 

1. Bowls of identical fruit

There’s probably some practical reasons for this – fruit does get sold in multiples, and having everything the same colour might help the picture pop a bit more. And it’s probably less of a hassle to just buy a bag of lemons and stick it in a bowl than create a carefully selected fruit salad that nobody’s going to notice.

Plus there’s the aspiration aspect. If you own this house, you’re rich, and if you’re rich you’ll be buying multiple pomegranates to just, you know, leave around.

2. Circular mirrors

I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that it might be because these are available at Kmart and IKEA for very reasonable prices. Plus, they’re pretty on-trend. 

3. Books on display

The little mortar and pestle, canister and cookbook display set up unobtrusively on one corner of the kitchen bench is a bit of a staple, and, to be honest, it does look quite nice.

Also, just in case you were wondering what you’d be doing in this lavish, spacious, non-rental kitchen – you’d be cooking. Probably pulled pork or pork belly or artisan hand-shaped pork sausages, or some pork-flavoured Heston-Blumenthal-esque foam thing.

Alternatively, if a seller has enough bright, colourful art books, they can make quite a fetching display. So why not show them off?

4. People in motion

Nothing’s going to beat the classic “couple having a barney at the kitchen table” photo for creating some atmosphere, but there’s something to be said for having a bit of life in the place.

Rather than sterile and over-styled, it makes a house feel, y’know, lived in. That could be you staring wistfully out the window, looking at the tree blocking the view! Think of that.

5. Expensive mineral water

Imported soft drinks and wine are also accepted. How else are you going to wash down your pulled pork and pomegranates?

6. Pictures of birds (and horses)

We’d like to think these two animals symbolise freedom from the onerous, unrewarding cycle of paying rent. Picture yourself galloping, like those horses, towards capital gains. Flying on the wings of your independent wealth. Having rooms big enough to hang these pictures in.

7. Fiddle leaf figs