Sold for $2.1M at auction. Here’s how we styled it.

The owner asked for sage green at the consultation.

Normally that’s a conversation. We don’t force colours into a home that doesn’t want them – we style a home for the home, not the other way around. But this one made sense. So we committed. Which meant going out and buying sage green cushions, because once you commit to a colour you have to carry it through properly or it looks accidental.

That decision set the tone for everything else.

216 Long Street East, Graceville. A 70s brick home reimagined by Marie G Design & Build into a Palm Springs-inspired four-bedroom residence. Sold under the hammer on 3 May for $2.1M with Karen Simons.

This was a strong starting point. Natural stone cladding outside, exposed aged timber beams inside, soft curved walls, marble benchtops, polished brass tapware. A 20.2-metre frontage, magnesium pool, butler’s pantry. The kind of build where every finish has been thought about.

When a home arrives in this kind of shape, the styling brief flips. It’s not about adding or fixing. It’s about not getting in the way.

The Palm Springs framing also gave the styling a clear direction. Desert tones, natural stone, timber, restraint. Which is exactly where sage green earns its place — it sits inside that palette without fighting it.

Linen slip-cover sofas. Woven dining chairs. Travertine and stone coffee tables. New pieces from Elm Living through the accessories.

These pieces don’t try to be the feature. They sit alongside the natural stone and the aged timber and let buyers take in what’s already there.

It’s the same logic as the colour decision. The home is doing the work. The styling supports it.

There’s a temptation to fill every corner of a renovation like this – to match the styling to the level of investment that went into the build. It usually works against you.

Fewer pieces. Each with a clear role. Shelving styled just enough to show how it works. Living areas open enough to walk through without thinking about it.

That restraint is what helps buyers picture themselves in the home instead of thinking about the staging.

Long Street East didn’t flood. For Brisbane buyers, that matters more than a lot of agents realise. It widens the buyer pool, it builds confidence at the first open, and it lets the home compete at a price point a few streets over couldn’t reach.

Pair that with an award-winning Palm Springs reimagining and styling that knows when to step back, and the campaign builds momentum early.

Karen Simons reached out to say thanks before auction day. Phoebe’s call at the consultation was that this one wouldn’t make it to auction. It did – and it sold for $2.1M.

Renovated homes don’t always need more. They need styling that reads the room.

If you’ve got a renovation coming to market, start by looking at what the home is already giving you. The materials, the finishes, the direction the architect or designer has set. That usually tells you where to go. The styling job from there is to support it, not perform around it.