The baffling property trend that made The Block and Selling Sunset

The mansion was for sale for more than $50 million, but there was a problem.

Not with the house itself, a charming and historic home with a heritage facade, built in 1904 in the Queen Anne Federation style.

Not with the location in the rarefied Sydney suburb of Point Piper, home to some of the most elite real estate in Australia.

And not with the view, a peaceful outlook over the harbour and its bobbing boats.

The problem only emerged if a potential buyer touring the home wished to sit and admire the water view.

The chair was facing the wrong way.

It’s not the only home with knockout water views that has been listed for sale and styled with seating that faces the opposite direction.

Apartments have also been styled with the chairs’ backs to the waterfront and landmarks such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

One property listing even featured a chair on the balcony that faced away from the view of the Opera House, while inside, the couch was pointed towards a TV screen displaying an image of the Opera House.

In Melbourne, luxury homes have been styled with chairs facing away from iconic Brighton Beach and Port Phillip Bay.

The trend has come up on real estate reality TV too.

In American series Selling Sunset, super-agent at The Oppenheim Group, Mary Bonnet, inspects a rental property in Orange County, outside LA. The study desk chair faces away from the view of Laguna Beach. “They need to put it on that side!” she exclaims. “You have to look out at the ocean, not have the ocean behind you.”

The Block judge and interior design expert Darren Palmer highlighted layout when several contestants on the reality renovation TV show last year faced their sofa away from views of rolling hills in Victoria’s Daylesford. The Block airs on Nine, owner of this masthead.

Fellow judge Marty Fox said buyers could look outside and watch their family playing. “Watch them from where?” Palmer asked. “From the sofa?”

When contacted, Palmer and several property stylists explained that there’s a reason why some chairs face away from views in property listing photos.

The backs of chairs, as it transpires, are unattractive.

“Do you put some chairs in to face the view? Well, that would be lovely in actuality,” Palmer told this masthead. “But what you’re going to get is a photograph of the back of chairs. So that doesn’t look aesthetically great.

“Functionally it works in reality. But in terms of an image, for the selling of the lifestyle benefit of a view in terms of real estate, then having the back of chairs or the back of a sofa does not make a good photograph.”

Palmer distinguished between styling a property for its owners to live in – where the chairs should face the view – and styling it for real estate photography.

“Sometimes it looks strange to have just a picture of a window or an opening with nothing else to balance it or anchor it, which is why when you’re styling a space with a view you have to style it as a shot,” he said.

Kyara Larcombe, design director at The Property Stylist, agrees.

“As stylists we do it this way on purpose,” she said. “It’s purely for photography and aesthetics.

“So if you can imagine if the chair was facing the opposite way and to the view, which is how it’s meant to be used, it would not be aesthetically as beautiful. So this way we can put cushions and we can do accessories on site and we can actually make it look beautiful.

“And the chair is much [more] aesthetically beautiful from the front than the back.”

She tells real estate agents that once the photos are taken, they can turn the chairs around for open for inspections, so potential buyers can sit and admire the view.

Vault Interiors director Justine Wilson said photos look more open if the furniture faces the buyer.

“It’s not ideal to show the back of furniture in photos as it can look blocked or messy,” she said via email.

“It is also more visually inviting and more likely you can imagine yourself being welcomed into a home where the furniture is open to you.”

She said placing furniture near the edge of a balcony or terrace can promote better walkways to allow more visitors at an open home to stand in the outdoor area at once.

Casa Palma Property Styling director Mary Zahedi said furniture placement can invite the buyer toward the view or block it.

“The view is the hero,” she said. “When the back of the chair faces the camera it actually stops the eye and blocks the view.”

She said colour choice can play a role in elevating views; beige and neutral colours can connect with sandy beaches in homes with water views.

She said views are a selling point for buyers, some of whom have been searching on property listings websites for properties with views. “View” was the third-most searched term on domain.com.au last year.

Coco Republic senior stylist Shelley Warrington turns chairs to face towards the view for open for inspections.

She says in the industry, photographers and agents may turn the chairs at other homes around to take photographs, “because the back of the chair may not be pleasant-looking”. Also, opening the bifold doors to the balcony and facing the chairs inside adds two chairs to the living space, she said.

She connects the view to other elements of her styling, such as artworks, chair cushions and mirrors.

“If it’s an ocean [property], let’s say it’s Coogee, or something facing out to the ocean, then I’ll use a lot of blues and sea greens and lighter tones so people feel that very airy coastal look they’re going for,” she said.

As for the Point Piper house, the chair placement must have proved no obstacle. The mansion sold in 2024 for $51.5 million.