Originally-from Nottingham, Laura has had a varied career, most notability in sustainability, helping large corporates comply with environmental regulations.
The wife and mum says she had always enjoyed her varied career but outside work, she was into DIY, always laying floors, tiling, woodwork, once fitting an entire kitchen all by herself.
One reason she did this, was to get a house in a good state to sell, realising such efforts always pay off by increasing its value.
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This led friends to ask for her help, which in one case saw the estate agent increase the sale price from £185,000 and then to £200,000, with the friend’s house eventually selling for £207,000 after a bidding war.
This followed Laura ‘home staging’ the property, packing away many items, streamlining the colour scheme and adding neutral accessories from her own home.
The estate agent was so impressed, she asked Laura to consult with her clients, home stage a few more, successfully helping sell some ‘stuck’ properties.
(Image: Pic supplied)
Laura told the Press: “That’s when I realised my “hobby” had real value as a business.”
Earlier this month, the businesswoman was keen to share her story by attending a ‘Meet the Media’ event in York organised by PR and communications experts Linda Harrison and Jo Leatham, which was attended by 30 small businesses.
Laura and her family moved to York 18 months ago, and with the children at separate schools, she decided to take a career break.
When the year ended, she realised she did not want to return to her old job. It led her to launch Serenity Home Staging six months ago.
Laura continued: “It’s been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done but the best decision of my life. I’ve loved every minute of it so far.”
“I had no customers for the first 3 months and that was scary, but it’s going well now, the feeling when you get that first customer is indescribable, so much fear and excitement rolled into one!”
Such a business needs no qualifications but Laura trained in design to improve her grasp of colour theory scale and proportion, something she already gained from reading interior design books, magazines and media, a passion of her’s.
Laura offers three key services. The first is Occupied Home staging where the homeowner who lives in the home receives advice on maintenance tasks and repairs, how to depersonalise space and what items to remove. The client receives a step-by-step plan on what to do and is contacted often about how they are doing.
A similar service is offered for vacant properties.
Laura explained: “It’s very hands off for the client at that point, I take the keys and do everything, measure up, provide appropriate furniture, wall art, rugs, light shades, all the soft furnishings, mirrors, plants, accessories, even diffusers so the property smells amazing.
“My movers bring everything in, then I get to work taking an empty and uninspiring shell and turning it into a stunning show home, which stands out online and attracts more potential buyers to fall in love with the property.
“Then a few weeks later (after the property is sold) I turn up and take everything away leaving a clean tidy space.”
Similarly, with serviced accommodation, similar applies, with professional photography used to create a stunning portfolio of images for operators to use in their own marketing.
Laura continued: “Selling your home is stressful enough during happy times, my job is to reduce that stress and to ensure properties sell quickly and for the best possible price so that my clients can move on to their next chapter, whatever that may be.”
Typically, she says home staging halves the time to sell and increases the sale price by 10 per cent.
At present Laura just serves the York area but she plans to cover the whole of the UK eventually.
Her final message is: “Home staging adds value and makes selling your home so much easier, everyone should be doing it before they sell.”
