Are you chasing the after photo? Styling and staging may be seducing you to make the wrong choices for your home design.

As you browse the internet, look at glossy magazines and spend hours on Pinterest, it’s easy to fall in love (and aspire to achieve) the images you see of renovation and building projects.

But it’s not all about the ‘after’ photo.

The way we view renovations and new homes when we look online, or on reality TV, is very carefully crafted.

Heavily curated homes, with the ‘right’ amount of furniture, artwork, cushions, rugs, and throws, make for beautiful photographs we begin to lust after and collect as inspiration for our own home.

It can be easy to think … “I just need to achieve that ‘look’ and my home will be perfect.

However, in my experience, styling and staging are not what make a home work. It’s not how a great home design is actually achieved. And it can seduce you into chasing the ‘after’ photo, and ending up with a home that’s disappointing and lacks soul.

The refreshing thing? Your home actually doesn’t ever need to be ‘done’. Life does and will change … and building in the flexibility and freedom for this can be a far more intentional and sustainable way to live long-term.

Save for the things you love, and surround yourself with items that are intentionally chosen to reflect you, your family, and what you hold dear. This is how your home will have heart.

Far too often I see homeowners start down the path of creating a home that is truly, uniquely theirs … and get lost in the on-trend, stylish and lust-worthy photos. They lose confidence in their own style, their own desires. And they create a cookie-cutter version of whatever is trending on Pinterest right now.

And the worst of it? Because the ‘look’ is usually high-end, they find knock-offs and low-cost substitutes to create it. Knowing they’re not durable. Knowing they’ll break down in a few years. With any luck, they’ll be out of fashion by then, and it won’t matter too much.

STOP.

You … and your home … deserve better than this.

Design is not staging and styling.

And ‘saving’ money on the cheap thing now actually means signing up to ‘spending’ to replace it later.

Creating a home that is ‘magazine-worthy’ will mean you’ll chase the ‘after’ photo. Often at all costs.

How about making a creating a home that is ‘you-worthy’ instead? One that celebrates the ordinary moments … what you do have … how you spend your days … and how you make memories with the family you’re doing this whole project for.

Because you never see that in ‘after’ photos do you?

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So, if you’re chasing the after photo, stop. Because it will only lead to disappointment if you haven’t got the foundations in place.

A home that works is actually possible to achieve on any budget. You don’t have to worry about having champagne tastes on a beer budget! Because a home that works isn’t about the sofa, or the coffee table, or the right artwork on the walls.

As Gabrielle Stanley Blair said in Design Mom:

“Design isn’t some frou frou gloss or shiny veneer on life, it’s insisting on a solution (preferably an elegant one) and working carefully to make sure that solution works within whatever constraints you have – architectural, financial, or the fact that children live in your home.”

Don’t go chasing that ‘after’ photo at the cost of living sustainably, flexibly and authentically.

Seek your way to keep it real, and create a home that works for you, and your family.
A home that is “YOU-WORTHY”.

This episode is brought to you by my course “Manage Your Build”, which lives inside my flagship online program, HOME Method.

Are you planning to build your new home or renovation? Do you fear it will be a stress-filled ride of budget blowouts, compromises and dramas?

MANAGE YOUR BUILD provides you with industry-insider knowledge, checklists and strategies to save you time, money and your own sanity when building your new home or renovation.

A collaboration between Amelia Lee, Undercover Architect, and Duayne Pearce, of D Pearce Constructions, Manage Your Build shares know-how, expertise and experience from over 45 years in residential design, building and renovation.

This online course will prepare you for your construction phase so you can know you’re actually getting what you’re paying for, and avoid the heartache and drama of a horror build.

It gives you the clarity, confidence and information you need to start your project on the right foot – and navigate throughout each stage of construction.

Head to HOME Method to learn more and join us.