Anita is the new house doctor (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Anita is the new house doctor

3:42pm Tuesday 18th November 2008

• Print
• Email
• Share

Some people take inspiration from TV makeover shows, but Anita Cilenti turned it into a new career.

For years she’d been involved with the family’s catering business. When the Italia Cafe closed after a 35-year presence in Bradford, she and husband Vito, who ran the cafe with his sister, decided to put their spare time into property developing.

In five years the couple have transformed derelict buildings into vibrant and stylish homes.

The conversion of a redundant warehouse at Laisterdyke into six apartments was probably their grandest transformation to date. Anita was involved throughout the development but her skill is in staging – preparing and styling property for the marketplace.

“I have always watched House Doctor. She goes in and tells people exactly what is wrong and what they should and should not do,” says Anita, referring to the programme presented by US interior designer Ann Maurice.

Anita noted down Ann’s details from the show, tapped into her website and discovered a UK property course. She enrolled on a two-day training seminar in London and received a certificate on completion from the style guru.

Before she went on the course Anita was already interior styling for herself.

“She went into colours a little bit more, and other things. It was well worth doing.”

Anita has a natural flair for style. She previously ran a fashion shop.

“It’s all connected really, fashion and home style,” she says.

Earlier this year Anita launched Stage It Design, preparing properties for living, rental or selling.

“Rooms used to be functional but now they’ve got flair and style as well,” she adds.

Anita says you don’t have to spend a lot to obtain good results. Those needing to sell a home which has been on the marketplace for a while may benefit from her expertise, as would developers who don’t have the time to spend on putting the finishing touches into a completed development.

Anita says staging shouldn’t be interpreted as interior design. “That is where you are starting from scratch and putting your taste into the house, putting things you really like and your personality into it. Staging is the complete opposite. We are working with what you have got as much as we possibly can and trying to spend the least money.”

They work from a focal point in a room, for example a picture on a wall. “Staging is for people who want to sell, or maybe in this current climate they may not want to move but want to change things without spending a lot of money. We can stage to sell, rent or to live,” says Anita.

“The biggest single change is to de-clutter and re-organise. The common mistake sellers make is that buyers will fall in love with the home the way they live in it. You need to change and re-organise things.”

Anita says putting away things you don’t need on display, such as ornaments, enables prospective buyers to visualise their own personal possessions in place.

They may vary how rooms are used too, such as putting a table into a room to create a dining area. “If they get a quick sale near to the asking price, it isn’t a waste of money. It is money that has helped them achieve the sale,” says Anita.

“As much as possible we use what people have. It is amazing how you can make an old table so much nicer by putting on a tablecloth and a vase of flowers.

“It definitely does work. If you have two houses on the market and one is staged and the other isn’t, the staged house would sell 50 per cent quicker and for ten per cent more.”

For more information on Stage It Design go to stageitdesign.co.uk or call (01943) 875774. To find out more about courses in interior design contact Bradford College on (01274) 433333.

• Print
• Email
• Share