Iris Interiors Helps Owners and Buyers 'Love Your Home'

When a fire destroyed her family home a few years ago, Iris Houlihan had no idea it would launch her into a new career.

After the fire, Houlihan left her project management position in the pharmaceutical industry to devote more than a year of her life to overseeing the rebuilding of the Starview Drive home.

“I supervised every nuance and detail. I was trying to make something positive out of it,” said the German-born Houlihan, who had grown up helping her mother decorate and redecorate.

She did such a good job that friends and family encouraged her to start a business. Combining her business and project management skills with her decorating talent, she created Iris Interiors.

“I do believe things work out in the long run. I am taking this opportunity to learn and grow as a person,” she said, adding that she has become certified as a home stager and interior decorator, two of the services she offers.

Home staging is one of the favorite aspects of Houlihan’s business. The objective, she explained, is to allow buyers “to appreciate the home so they can see themselves in the home.”

“I want buyers to have that warm feeling and not be sidetracked by belongings or paint colors,” she said. Sellers can’t change the location and can make some adjustments to the price, but they can change what the house looks like, starting with as little as a $200 consultation.

“It’s about making the buyers fall in love with your home. If you love something, you are willing to pay for it,” Houlihan added.

Staging is more than just moving furniture. It includes painting and minor repairs “so they see it as a move-in. People don’t want to have a to-do list,” she explained. “Color is the top decorating tool – it’s the easiest thing you can change.”

Decluttering and organizing also are effective tools. Empty rooms, she noted, look smaller, as do cluttered rooms. Virtual staging enables an empty room to be digitally “decorated” so online visitors can get a better feel for what the room would look like; enlarged photos of the virtual staging are displayed in the rooms themselves when potential buyers visit.

Houlihan often begins her staging and decorating processes by shopping at the “3 C’s” – the client’s belongings (she is a firm believer in reusing and repurposing), Craigslist.org and consignment stores. She has a growing staging inventory (which includes several pieces of realistic-looking cardboard furniture) and knows where to rent or buy to get the best prices.

 When handling decorating or redesign projects, Houlihan focuses on several key steps:

• Find out the clients’ style/personality/vision and what the client really wants.
• Bring color in via furniture and accent pieces.
• Start with an inspiration piece (something the client likes) and layer around it.

To DIY home decorators, she offers the following tips:

• Not everything has to match.
• Moving things around can give an entirely different look.
• Keep collections together.
• Accessorize with bigger and fewer pieces.

Houlihan describes her personal style as “transitional with a little eclectic mix and sometimes more modern,” which is clearly reflected in her home. A dining table made from reclaimed wood, for example, is in the same room as a classic piece of furniture, with neutral walls and a red ceiling that she describes as “an unexpected twist.” Her birdhouse collection fills the top of a chest in the living room–one of her mother’s antique chests that survived the fire—and her grandmother’s needlepoint pieces—also saved from the fire—are displayed on several walls.

Iris Interiors also offers furniture placement, new home move-in, color and fabric selections, organizing and personal shopping.

“I’m having lots of fun,” Houlihan declared.