DRESSED to sell

This month, boats from around New Zealand will be dressed in their best for the Auckland On Water Boat Show – so here’s how to prepare your boat for display at a boat show or for sale on the open market.

If your aim is to sell the boat, you want people to step onboard and feel an immediate connection with the boat: “This is nice. I can see myself owning this space.”

Interior designer/stylist Dianne Carian says she always uses fresh fruit and flowers when staging a boat for sale or to be photographed for a marketing campaign.

“I like to present the boat as though it’s actually in use,” she says. “The food may even include a cake or a salad, which is replaced every day of the show.”

Other homely elements may include salt and pepper shakers, ornaments, infused oils – anything that brings colour and visual interest to the galley, including wine and glasses. Fresh is best.

Dianne staged Elusive, the Elan 450 which was reviewed for Boating NZ, August 2013.

“It takes a lot of time; for example Elusive took me about an hour and a half and that was absolutely pushing it and I only did two cabins. Plus there is prep time; if I don’t need to make anything, it can still be five to seven hours by the time I’ve sourced the elements to be displayed.”

The cost of having your boat staged by a professional can range from $2000 to $5000, depending on the look and feel you want to create. Often, Dianne says, the owners like the concept so much they keep the accessories, such as cushions and bed linen.

“It’s generally more cost effective to have the cushions custom made because you get much better quality and you can find the

right fabric more easily than finding the right cushion,” Dianne says. “If you’re going to use interior designers, you want an upmarket feel rather than buying cushions and accessories at budget-type stores. Potential boat owners will see quality furnishings and know it hasn’t been done on a shoe string.”

There are two boats featured on these pages – Elusive and the Sunbird 67a, featured in Boating NZ, February 2015.

To achieve a high-class look, Dianne staged Elusive with a full range of accessories rather than simply a bowl of fruit and a bottle of wine on the table. The cockpit already featured black cushions, so she selected black cushions for the interior as well, to create an outdoor-indoor connection.

But black is a bit sombre all by itself so she sourced some cushions in teal and peacock blues, citrine and exaggerated hound’s tooth and an exaggerated hound’s tooth design. The choice was influenced by the modern fitout of the boat’s light

natural woods and white upholstery.

“These blues are a modern take on the traditional marine navy and give a pop of colour in more restful hues,” she says.

Dianne continued the blue in placemats and Villory & Boch china plates which had done service on Queen Elizabeth II. Dianne borrowed them from a friend who had served on the ocean liner and obtained them as part of the ship’s decommissioning.

Finally, she placed a huge vase of flowers on the table – the photo shoot was done on the marina, not on the high seas.

Elusive’s styling was a stylish, formal presentation. The second boat featured here is an example of going a little crazy. Why not? The Sunbird was staged for a photo shoot and boat show exhibit for a Chinese owner by Boating’s photographer Bryce Taylor.

The Sunbird’s staging is all about visual impact: red is dominant, especially in the rug. As a high-energy colour, it means the space is less restful than it would have been with soft greens, for example, so it’s tempered by cool blue arm chairs.

“Having those two single chairs in that huge space is a great idea because it creates what I call a circular conversation pit,” Dianne says. “The space is very long, and without the chairs, people would be sitting lined up on the settee. The chairs bring it back to a family space or lounge and you’re always trying to create that.” The blue and red continue in objets d’art, as designers say, on the shelves.

If using strong colours such as reds, oranges and yellows, consider using them in clusters so the eye sees all items in that colour in one visual take and forms a connection with the space, rather than being distracted over a wide area.

In this setting, the rug is a strong focal point that immediately anchors the viewer to the conversation pit, or social area.

“You want to play to the strengths of the boat,” says Dianne, “so if you want the eye drawn to something in particular, you use colours to do that.” As always, the more cushions in a space, the more luxurious it feels. B

LEFT: The owner’s cabin on the Sunbird 67a, an important space to stage well because the potential owner will see it as their sanctuary. The bed is the focal point so the dramatic stripes attract the viewer’s attention. Red is an unusual colour to use in a sleeping area because it’s high-energy, but this staging is all about taking risks for high visual impact. RIGHT: The second cabin reflects colours from the owner’s cabin and adds children’s toys.

Donna Maree of Kit Carlier Design did the interior design and staging of the Salthouse Icon 54, an interior featured in Boating NZ, August 2015 and pictured below.

Donna Maree’s aim, she says, was to give the boat a particular personality – in this case a modern, beachy feel – to set it apart.

The boat’s decor presented a fairly neutral base of light natural timber, white upholstery, dark mullions and a textured carpet flecked with browns and ebony, so these tones were continued in the cushions.

The tableware featured natural fibre placemats for a beachy feel and bone-inlaid boxes as accessories. The staging made good use of layering and textural interest: the placemats were on white cloths, several cushion designs featured, and Donna Maree used two styles of napkins, in two pairs, for added texture, layers and a natural element.

“Layering with different cushions creates depth and interest for the eye,” Donna Maree says. “Camera lenses like it, too, because there is more drama in the photo.”

The ivory and black accents in the cushions brought together the colours in the existing decor and on the table. The repetition of texture and pattern creates a cohesive effect that pulls the design story together.

Finally, have it photographed by a professional photographer.