‘When I was about 13 I was taken by an aunt to the Biba store in London and that was an exciting moment and something that’s really stuck with me,’ she says. ‘I’ve always had a real passion for interiors and colour. I think it’s really important that where you live reflects your personality and really feels like home.’

Now, as an interior designer and creative director of Home Stagers, she and her team work with property developers, estate agents and private clients to turn their empty properties into desirable show homes across the region.

There is also a Home Stagers store and design studio in a beautiful Georgian building in Stalham High Street.

Collette studied at art college in Great Yarmouth, including interiors, photography and design.

She then went to work at Debenhams as a visual merchandising manager.

Creative director Collette Hanlon outside Home Stagers in Stalham. (Image: Home Stagers)

‘I was there for quite a few years and worked on all the amazing window displays that we had in those days. Working right across fashion and interiors was a really amazing opportunity,’ she says.

After starting a family, she moved into property, buying and refurbishing homes and then selling them.

‘I then decided to go back to college and finish my interior design qualifications, so I was at college for about six years, studying garden design and interior design and decided to go into interiors,’ she says.

Collette’s business partner back then was an estate agent. He had been to America and had seen the concept of ‘home staging’ – preparing a property to be marketed for sale by making it as visually appealing as possible to potential buyers.

‘He had seen how big it was out there, so we bought into a franchise of Home Stagers. That went really well, the work dovetailed in, with me doing the design and him running the property side of it and we ended up buying the company.’

In 2016, Collette and her husband, Graham, bought Home Stagers from him and have been running the business together since.

The Home Stagers store in Stalham (Image: Home Stagers)

‘We’ve really honed the business in the direction we want to take it,’ says Collette.

‘I really wanted to focus on East Anglia, particularly on Norfolk and Suffolk.’

They work in the prestige end of the market, so the properties that they work on tend to be one-offs. There’s a small team, including Collette’s ‘right-hand designer’ Lisa, who she has worked with for 30 years, since her days at Debenhams.

‘Mostly we work with estate agents and developers,’ explains Collette.

‘Sometimes we go in and we do all the spec with the developers, so we will specify anything from the flooring to the wall colours to the doors to the kitchens to the bathrooms to the lighting spec throughout, and then probably dress that property for marketing for sale.

‘They tend to be Grand Designs-type houses and barns,’ she continues.

‘We’ve been really lucky, we’ve worked with some really great estate agents that have supported us over the years, particularly Sowerbys and Savills, and I’ve worked on some amazing houses. They’re just so varied, I’ve worked on chapel conversions, I’ve worked on Georgian houses, I’ve worked on farmhouses, I’ve worked on medieval properties, I worked on two really interesting properties in Belgravia for 18 months.

A room set by Home Stagers. Photo: (Image: Home Stagers)

‘They all come with their own unique issues that you have to overcome. They’re challenging, but every job is a new learning curve.

‘You have to deep dive into the structure behind buildings and really understand everything, even if you’re not doing that aspect of the project yourself,’ she says.

Everything they do, especially if it’s a listed building, has to be sympathetic to the structure of the building and the changes that it’s seen over the years. Where the property is located, whether that’s the coast, town, city or the countryside, is also taken into account when creating an interior design scheme.

‘When I go in and do a site survey, right from the beginning the house speaks to you and the location speaks to you, so we’re always very mindful that how we dress the house reflects the aspirations of a potential buyer and that it reflects what the outside of the house looks like as well,’ says Collette.

‘We try to work with as many UK suppliers as possible, including a number of craftspeople,’ she continues. ‘I also have an amazing network of antique dealers that I work with, which is lovely, because you couldn’t put all new furniture into an older property – you have to find things that sit well. And likewise, sometimes when you’re dressing a newer property if you add in a few antiques it gives it a much more homely feel – makes it look cosier and more comfortable and adds character.’

It sounds like many people’s dream – to be presented with a property which is a blank canvas and turn it into a home.

‘My team and I we always laugh and say we don’t live in show houses, we all like to get home and kick our shoes off ,’ says Collette.

The Home Stagers store in Stalham. (Image: Home Stagers)

‘Sometimes you go into a property and the house is just one of those houses that you fall in love with and you think “I could actually live here”.

‘People’s expectations are much, much higher than they used to be 20-25 years ago because, I think, we live in such a visual world that people expect houses to look like the Omaze properties or like something in a magazine.

‘So we have to make these properties look like that. You can have an amazing property that has been completely renovated or is a brand new property and if it’s empty some people will not have the imagination to be able to see how it could look.

‘Also, nowadays most properties are marketed by video and marketed online and people want to see something a property that’s dressed, they don’t want to see empty rooms.’

They have recently expanded their bricks and mortar Home Stagers premises in Stalham High Street, which now offers seven rooms of interiors inspiration, plus the design studio.

‘Stalham has some great independent shops and businesses,’ says Collette.

‘Retail has really suffered because of the internet, but our town council is really supportive of small businesses and we’ve had five street events this year, antique events, artisan events, fringe events, and there’s so much going on.

‘In the shop we have an extensive range of fabrics and wallpapers and offer a selection of furniture and Annie Sloan paint,’ says Collette. ‘We try and replicate the designs that we do in our show houses. We’re available for consultations and we’re also looking at running design workshops. We’re very mindful of sustainability, so if somebody can renovate something that they’ve already got, we’re there for advice and help in that area as well.’

The Home Stagers store in Stalham. (Image: Home Stagers)

With autumn well and truly here and winter on its way, many of us will be thinking of adding a few cosy touches to our home. But where should we start?

‘Autumn is a very organic season and it’s about really cosying up, it’s about embracing the Scandinavian hygge and it’s about adding lots of warm colours and textures,’ says Collette. ‘So going with what nature has on offer, and then adapting that inside is something that we do in our show houses. We layer up lots of textures, like bobbly rugs and knitted throws and use natural finishes that have got textures in them. And we use rich colour palettes, so you’re looking at lovely neutrals, rich greens, rich rusts and then you can take that colour palette and adapt that to anyone’s taste. If you can bring anything indoors from outdoors, then that’s a winner – things like red and orange leafed wreaths, pinecones and logs, ornamental gourds and candles. Anything like that which will evoke that sense of almost battening down the hatches and cosying up for winter.’

Visit Home Stagers at 94 High Street, Stalham or see homestagers.co.uk