Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
It's The Real Estate Podcast, brought to you by Ray White, the largest real estate and property group in Australasia. And welcome to another episode of The Real Estate Podcast. We're talking to Liz Haywood from Haywood & Co. Interior Designers. Liz, welcome to The Real Estate Podcast. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me, Craig.
How busy have you been of recent times with all of the, dare I say it, the lockdown, the COVID? Do you know what? I have been extremely busy. I am, I guess, in a very fortunate position in that my industry or our industry has kept going. You know, people, if not increasing, people are at home and
using their homes in a different way and really just spending hours upon hours looking at those things that have annoyed them for years upon years and have decided now is the time that they want to make those changes. So we have been extremely busy of late. You know, I hadn't actually thought of that. Of course, people are locked up inside. Suddenly things start to jump out.
Oh my God, I've got to change that. And particularly, I guess, if somebody is looking at selling their property, it becomes a sort of festering sore perhaps when they say, let's get in an interior designer and do a bit of a spring change. Exactly, exactly. For those that are looking to sell, you know, they definitely want to make their house look the best it can be.
And also for those that have moved into a new property, they want to, you know, make sure that their house can be as beautiful as it can be, bring out its best potential. So I'm seeing clients on both ends, those that are looking to sell and those that have just bought as well.
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Chapter 2: How has COVID-19 impacted the interior design industry?
And something I was really curious about is e-decorating. I have never heard of e-decorating, but the actual two words, or the e and the decorating... instantly makes my mind think, of course, I know what it is. So tell us a little bit more about that. Yeah, so that's one of the services I offer.
And again, it's been something that has hugely increased during lockdown because it is something that can be done remotely. So I work with clients across Australia and international as well. So it's a purely online service. We first meet over Zoom and And it's very similar in terms of how the project runs. But so we first meet over Zoom, have a chat.
Often I can be shown around a house with clients just showing me around on their phones or laptops, whatever it may be. I guess it's a little bit more sort of in terms of the client taking the photos, drawing the floor plan for me. And then I can put together a design concept and full shopping list for the client.
And once they're happy with everything, they can then go and purchase those pieces and and style and decorate them into their home when budget and time suits them. And of course, I give all the instructions of how to style it up and make it look as if I was there in the room doing it myself. So it's a hands-off service.
It's a socially distanced decorating service that I can do anywhere across Australia, which is fantastic. You know, you kind of remind me a little bit of somebody that is buying off the plans because not everybody, and I've spoke about this recently, not everybody is able to pre-visualize buying off the plans. They've actually got to be in the space.
And I guess with interior design and decorating, this is kind of similar, isn't it? Unless you've got that pre-visualization. it's very difficult to design the interior. Yeah. So, you know, as long as, you know, and being a professional as well, I can immediately see what the space could be and what, you know, the potential is within it.
So, as long as I can have all the photos and dimensions of the room, then I can bring that space together, whether I'm in the room itself or remotely, or as you say, I work with clients that have bought off the plan and haven't been able to to see their new place yet.
So often I am working with clients that haven't even had a built home yet and we start planning out the furniture from there, which is exciting as well. Are you a good person to, you know, invite over for a dinner with your friends? Because they'd be a bit worried, wouldn't they? They'd be thinking, oh, no, she's going to pick up on this and she's going to say something.
A lot of my friends, when I walk into a family, walk into a home, they say, excuse this, excuse this. We want to change this, et cetera, et cetera. So, honestly, it's, you know, when I'm there for a social occasion, I leave my designer hat at the door. Yeah, but you'd be thinking when they say, oh, excuse us, you know, we're going to get onto that.
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Chapter 3: How can interior design help in selling a property?
Yes, we've seen a lot over the past few years. We've seen a lot of strong trends that have come through. You know, the Hamptons coastal look, we've done a lot of the Scandi look and minimalist look over the past few years. But what I'm seeing more and more is that real individual personal aesthetic that clients are wanting to take on.
So, and that's where the word bespoke comes in, in that each and every of my projects is different. I don't have a style that, you know, my style that I lay onto clients. I work with clients in really a collaborative approach to make sure that their house and their home looks like them. It doesn't look like Liz Hayward or from Hayward & Co because it's not my home, it's their home.
So I always make sure that I make the home feel like it's for them and their family and not just out of a magazine because it's got to feel that, have that nice personal touch to it and make people feel really welcomed when they come into the space.
Before I let you go, I've got to ask, what is one of the worst situations you've ever walked into and you were surprised that somebody even invited you in to give you a quote on something and you looked at it and you thought, oh man, this is a disaster. But also maybe through your lens, you thought, what an opportunity. Yes, look, sometimes that initial consult can be difficult.
Before sometimes you even get to the designing phase, you have to speak with the client to really work out what they're trying to get out of the space. You might walk in, I have walked into a two bedroom semi before and they said, I want to turn this into a four bedroom house. Okay, I'm not a magician. Okay.
So once we sort of sat down and talked about what they actually wanted to get out of it, then we can, you know, make multifunctional spaces, things like that. So it's sometimes taking a few steps back before you take a few steps forward. I think you've got to be a bit of a diplomat, don't you, to be in your game? A diplomat, a marriage counsellor, a babysitter sometimes.
There's a few different hats we wear. Hey, Liz, great to chat and only scratch the surface really with the interior design. And we must do this again some other time. And thank you for coming on to The Real Estate Podcast. Oh, thank you so much for having me, Craig. It was a pleasure chatting with you. We connect you to the best real estate information across Australia. The Real Estate Podcast.
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