Interior Styling Services for European Homes
Placement, not selection
Styling is the finishing layer. The pieces have been chosen and delivered, and this is the part where they get positioned: what sits where, how objects group together, what height the art hangs at, what goes back in the cupboard. It is the difference between a room that is furnished and a room that is finished.
Most homes reach this point in one of three ways.
| You have finished a design project with us | We work from the scheme your designer already created, so the intent behind every piece is already understood and nothing needs explaining twice. |
| You already own pieces you like | No previous project with us is needed. We work with what is already in the room, alongside anything still on order, and arrange it properly. |
| You would rather do the arranging yourself | We write the placement guide and can stay on a video call while you work through it, so the last step is not guesswork. |
We do it, you do it,
or we talk you through it
On-site styling day
A designer comes to the home once everything has been delivered.
- Pieces unboxed and positioned for you
- Adjustments made in the room, against the real light and sightlines
- Availability and travel confirmed before anything is booked
A styling guide for your rooms
A document written for your home, worked through at your own pace.
- Room by room placement, referencing what you already own
- Specific measurements, hanging heights, spacing and grouping
- Yours to keep, so you can restyle seasonally or after a move
Live video guidance
Your designer stays on a call while you place things yourself.
- Available anywhere in Europe, in English
- Questions answered as they come up, not afterwards
- Useful for homes outside our on-site travel range
Artwork is usually hung too high
The centre of a picture wants to sit at roughly 145cm from the floor, which is about average eye level, and most people hang considerably above it. The taller the ceiling the stronger the pull upwards, so it shows up constantly in older European apartments where ceilings run to three metres and beyond. The picture floats away from the furniture beneath it, and the wall reads as two unrelated halves.
Decisions of that kind are what separate a room with good pieces in it from a room that looks resolved, and a single living room holds a great many of them.
The decisions that get made
- Furniture positioning, including circulation, ninety centimetres for a main walkway
- Artwork placement and hanging heights, including gallery wall layouts
- Shelf and surface composition, what groups together and what stays out of sight
- Cushion and throw arrangement, including how many is too many
- Rug positioning and orientation relative to the furniture around it
- Lamp placement, and how the room reads once the lights are on
By the hour, not by the room
Styling is sold in hours rather than fixed packages, because the work does not divide neatly by room size. Two rooms with a handful of pieces is a short job. A whole apartment of newly delivered furniture is not. After a short call we tell you how many hours the work is likely to take, and you approve that before anything starts.
For on-site work, travel time and distance are quoted separately and confirmed upfront, so there is nothing to discover later. If what you actually need is advice rather than placement, our design consultancy is sold the same way and is often the better fit.
What people ask before booking
What is interior styling, and how is it different from interior design?
Styling is the finishing layer: placing and arranging pieces that already exist. Interior design handles the bones of the room, the layout, the lighting plan and the choice of what goes in it in the first place. A designer decides what the room contains, styling decides exactly where it all goes. If you are earlier in the process than that, start with our interior design service.
Do I need to have designed with you first?
No. If you have, we work from the scheme your designer created, which makes the job quicker. If you have not, we work with what you already own and anything still on order. Either route is fine.
Can a designer come to my home?
On-site styling days are arranged case by case. Tell us where the home is and we will confirm whether a designer can travel to it, and what the travel time and distance add, before anything is booked. Where travel is not practical, live video guidance covers the same ground.
I do not speak German. Is that a problem?
No. Our designers work in English with clients across Europe, and the styling guide is written in English.
Will you work with my existing furniture?
Yes. Styling is not about buying new. Pieces you already love get worked into the arrangement. If something genuinely is not working in the room, we will tell you, but the starting assumption is that it stays.
What if I still need to buy things?
Styling can identify the gaps, but sourcing and buying sit with our furniture concierge, which handles supplier accounts, ordering and delivery tracking.
How is this different from post-design support?
Styling is placement only, the final arranging once everything has arrived. Post-design support is broader project help during the build: coordinating with trades, checking deliveries and troubleshooting as things go along. Some clients use both, at different stages.
Which rooms benefit most?
The rooms you and your guests spend the most time looking at: living rooms, open-plan kitchens, principal bedrooms and entrance halls. We also style nurseries, home offices and balconies or terraces.
What this looks like in practice (48-hour makeover)
We were asked by a work-and-living operator to refresh a 45m² studio in Friedrichshain, Berlin, inside a 48-hour changeover window. Our lead designer Carolin worked to a warm two-tone wall, sage-green upholstery and terracotta textiles drawn from the client's own brand palette, with modular storage and zone-smart furniture chosen for long-stay guests. The result photographs well and stands up to heavy turnover, which is what a short-let operator actually needs from styling.
For homeowners and property managers alike, this project demonstrates what you can expect when you hire Akiva.
English-speaking designers who listen to your brief, a transparent mood-board-and-shopping-list process that keeps you in control of budget, and an installation team that delivers showroom-ready results on time. Whether you need a single-room makeover or a scalable design template for an entire portfolio, we bring the same blend of creativity, efficiency and measurable ROI that turned this Friedrichshain studio into a guest-favorite asset.
Let us do the same for your space!