Will Home Staging Put Holes in My Walls?

Yes – but probably fewer than you’d think, and you’re unlikely to have to do anything about them.

This is one of the most common questions sellers ask before staging, and it’s a fair one. You’ve often just spent thousands repainting and preparing the home for sale. The idea of someone putting fresh holes in those walls feels like a step backwards.

Here’s what actually happens.

Our stylists hang artwork in rooms where it changes how the property photographs and presents at open homes. We use small, inconspicuous fasteners – picture nails, gyprock plugs, or masonry nails depending on the wall – and we don’t go overboard.

The bit most sellers don’t realise is this: once your home sells, it sells as-is. Hooks and screws included. The new owner inherits them. You don’t come back to patch the walls, and you don’t pay anyone to do it. As Phoebe Shorter, Foxy’s Chief Stylist, puts it:

“We assure clients that we never go overboard with the art, and that the hooks and screws we use are small and inconspicuous. What a lot of homeowners don’t realise is that their house gets sold as-is after being staged, hooks and screws included, which means they don’t have the responsibility to come back and patch up the walls.”

Once that lands, most sellers stop worrying about it.

Artwork does specific work in a campaign. It sets the colour palette and tone of a room. It adds proportion and depth. It gives the eye somewhere to land. And in the rooms that do the heavy lifting in listing photos, it’s the difference between a space that reads as finished and a space that reads as half-done.

High-quality framed art also signals value. Buyers don’t consciously price the artwork on the wall, but they read the overall feel of the home – and the feel of a home with real art on real walls is different to the feel of a home where everything is propped or leaning.

That’s why we hang it. Not for decoration. To do real work in the campaign.

Our stylists make these calls based on the floor plan, ceiling heights, wall proportions, and the angles the photographer will shoot from. The placement isn’t guesswork.

What this means in practice:

The entryway is often a priority – buyers form an impression within seconds of walking in, and a piece of art above a console or in an entry nook anchors that first impression. Staircases and prominent landings get artwork for the same reason: it draws the eye through the space.

Living rooms, larger hallways, and rooms with high ceilings tend to get larger pieces – anywhere from one metre up to 1.5 metres or more – because the proportions need it. Bedrooms, study nooks, and smaller spaces get smaller pieces, typically under 80 centimetres.

There are also places we deliberately don’t hang things. We avoid placing artwork right next to the TV (it crowds the space visually). We avoid hanging above or below windows. We avoid narrow hallways where art blocks the sense of flow. Too much artwork in the wrong spots overwhelms the eye and works against the result we’re trying to create.

The short version: we hang where it earns its place. Not everywhere we can.

For most homes, our stylists use one of three options depending on the wall:

• Small nail hooks – for lighter prints under 3kg, on gyprock or timber walls. These leave the smallest possible hole.
• Gyprock plug and screw – for heavier prints, framed mirrors, clocks, or D-ring artwork on plasterboard walls. The plug spreads the load so the hook holds long-term.
• Masonry nails – for brick or concrete walls, where standard hooks won’t grip.

What we don’t use is 3M adhesive hooks. They sound less invasive on paper, but in our experience they cause more damage, not less. The glue fails in Brisbane humidity, which means the hook lets go, the artwork falls, and the wall ends up with both a torn paint patch and a broken piece of art. Small picture hooks are genuinely the cleanest option.

For light-to-medium pieces, we attach a string or wire to the back of the frame before hanging. This means we don’t have to measure exact hook placement, and the art is easier to straighten on the wall. Clients sometimes find this unusual to watch – it’s faster and more accurate than the traditional approach.

Most of the time, nothing. The home has sold, the hooks stay where they are, and the new owner inherits them along with everything else covered in the contract. This is true for the vast majority of jobs.

In the small number of cases where a wall does need attention – for instance, a dent or scuff that’s appeared during the campaign – our stylists carry wall putty in their install toolbox and can fix it on the spot. The putty handles nine times out of ten of these situations without needing to call a handyman.

A few situations where it’s worth raising it with the stylist at the consultation stage:

• Recently repainted walls in an unusual colour. If you’ve just finished painting and your paint code isn’t standard, mention it. We’ll either work around it or you can keep a small amount of leftover paint for any touch-up later.
• Feature walls or wallpaper. Wallpaper, exposed brick, VJ panelling, and similar surfaces have different rules. The stylist will plan around them rather than into them.
• Tenanted or post-tenant properties with strict bond conditions. Where there’s an end-of-lease obligation to return the property to original condition, coordinate with your property manager about what’s acceptable before install day.

In each of these cases, the conversation happens at the quote or consultation, not on install day. If you’ve raised it early, it’s planned for.

Almost everyone asks this question hesitantly, as if they’re being awkward by raising it. They’re not. It’s one of the most reasonable questions a seller can ask, and it comes up so often that we’ve thought carefully about how we answer it.

The honest version: yes, staging puts a small number of small holes in your walls. We use the smallest fasteners that will do the job. We hang art only where it earns its place. And in nearly all cases, you don’t patch anything – the home sells with the hooks included, and the worry beforehand turns out to be bigger than the reality afterwards.

If you’ve got a specific wall, paint colour, or property feature you’re concerned about, raise it at the quote or consultation stage and we’ll work through it before install day.