Virtual staging · case study
Virtual Staging: Build-to-Rent Apartment
Three photographs of a part-furnished rental apartment, digitally dressed so it reads as a home.
- Renders like these, from
- A$95 per photo
- Turnaround
- 24–48 hours
- Revisions
- Up to 4 rounds included
- You send
- Photographs of the rooms and a style reference
A selection from the delivered set.
The brief
A build-to-rent operator wanted to test virtual staging on one apartment before a wider rollout. The existing base furniture had to stay because it is what a tenant receives, so the work was adding rugs, a set dining table, throws, windowsill dressing and lighting.
Our approach
Each photograph was staged on top of the real furniture, with nothing hung on the walls to respect the operator's tenancy terms, and the dining table fully set in the final living view.
The result
Three staged photographs delivered, restyled once after the first draft to bring the furniture closer to the operator's reference images.
What this render has to do
This operator lets its apartments with a base furniture package, which can make them look sparse in photographs. This set tests virtual staging on a single apartment before a wider rollout, and it follows a clear rule: the furniture a tenant receives must stay. The staging is therefore additive. Rugs, a set dining table, throws, windowsill dressing and lamps sit on top of what is really there, turning a room that feels empty into one a renter can imagine living in. Nothing is hung on the walls, because the operator's tenancy terms keep walls bare. The result is staging that never promises more than the apartment actually includes.
Materials, light and camera
The living and dining room has tall multi-pane windows, painted radiators and timber floorboards, all left exactly as photographed. The staging adds a blue-grey chaise sofa, a green rug, nested timber coffee tables, a round dining table fully set with plates and three chairs, a drum pendant, a lamp and small objects on the windowsills. In the bedroom, cream and houndstooth bedding, glass side tables with lamps, a rug and neatly folded linen on open shelving bring warmth to a plain room. The bathroom keeps its dark green tiles and hexagonal floor while gaining plants, a diffuser and towels. Light on every added item follows the photograph's own light.
How a set like this is built
Virtual staging starts with a good photograph: level verticals, even light and the whole room in frame. We match the camera's perspective and lens, then place furniture so its scale agrees with the existing pieces and its shadows fall the way the photographed light falls. Each photograph was staged on top of the real furniture, not over it. Rugs sit beneath the sofa legs, lamps stand on real surfaces and the dining table is dressed in a single pass. After the first draft the styling was revised once to bring the furniture closer to the operator's reference images. Turnaround is 24–48 hours.
Where the images go
Staged photographs are written for rental listings, portal galleries and the operator's own website, where the first image decides whether a prospective tenant clicks. For pre-leasing, when units are marketed before they are occupied, staging lets an operator show how an apartment can feel with a personal touch while the real base furniture remains. Pair the photographs with furnished 3D floor plans to show layout and furniture arrangement at a glance, and where a unit is not finished, full interior renders do the same job. Virtual staging is from A$95 per photo; our 3D rendering cost guide and turnaround guide explain how rollouts across several apartments are priced and scheduled.
Questions
Virtual staging: questions clients ask
Yes. We place new items on and around the existing furniture, so what a tenant actually receives stays visible. Rugs, throws, table settings and lamps are added while the real sofa or bed is left as photographed. Nothing needs moving or clearing before the photograph is taken.
Virtual staging starts from A$95 per photo with a 24–48 hour turnaround. Restyling after the first draft sits within the up to four revision rounds, which helps when an operator has reference images. We give a fixed quote for a batch within one business day.
Shoot at chest height with vertical lines straight, all lights on and curtains open, and keep the whole room in frame. A wide lens without distortion works best. Clutter-free rooms are easier to match, though we can work with real furniture left in place.
Get a fixed AUD quote within one business day
Send us your plans, elevations or even a sketch. Exterior renders from A$445, interiors from A$345, delivered in 5–7 business days.