What makes a renovation Instagram page stand out?

[Keke94LND]

Hi everyone, so I am in the process of buying my first home, it's a 2 bed garden flat in London, that needs some work so we are going to be renovating it. I am thinking of starting an Instagram page for the renovation and I really want to try and make something of it, mainly because I hate my day job.

I know that there are ALOT of these kind of instagrams out there, so it's nothing original at all lol, but I notice there are some pages that have like 100 followers and some have 20k followers but I can't pinpoint what sets them apart.. the only thing I have noticed is that I prefer to follow pages that show their faces occasionally. I guess I'm just wondering, what is it about the pages you follow that makes you follow them and what sets them apart from other pages?

Thanks :)

I have a renovation account for my house. It’s purely a record for myself really although I do have a few hundred followers. I prefer small time accounts as they post the good bad and ugly. I loved the big accounts with sponsors initially but quickly realised they’re all finished houses who post CONSTANTLY and it’s all the same, beautiful, dressed pictures. It is essentially a nice house account not a reno. It puts me off as I am min renovation, my house is covered in tools and dust (and will be for at least another year as we’re doing it bit by bit) and is not wonderfully dressed with Graham And Green accessories.

The successful ones do post non stop though. And must spend a LOT of time fluffing cushions.

I just started a new insta account yesterday for my renovation but it’s mainly as a photo diary for me, however I’m gobsmacked at the number of followers I’ve gained in 24 hours! If I can work out why, I’ll let you know! We haven’t even started any of the big work yet, I’ve just written about the journey to get where we are

I don’t follow many home accounts on social media but I follow lots of gardening accounts and they fall into one of two categories (or in some cases both).

1.They are doing beautiful innovative projects that I can only dream of and so are a lovely bit of escapism or inspo for for me to try on a very small and affordable scale.

1. They are incredibly knowledgeable and experienced and can use the specific issue they have to talk about a subject more widely and offer tips and advice that applies in a range of circumstances to help their followers.

I think with people starting out it can sometimes not to be very engaging because it’s stuff that I can do myself (better in some cases) and there’s nothing really to learn from because whether it goes right or wrong they don’t know why.

@AGreatUsername

I have a renovation account for my house. It’s purely a record for myself really although I do have a few hundred followers. I prefer small time accounts as they post the good bad and ugly. I loved the big accounts with sponsors initially but quickly realised they’re all finished houses who post CONSTANTLY and it’s all the same, beautiful, dressed pictures. It is essentially a nice house account not a reno. It puts me off as I am min renovation, my house is covered in tools and dust (and will be for at least another year as we’re doing it bit by bit) and is not wonderfully dressed with Graham And Green accessories.

The successful ones do post non stop though. And must spend a LOT of time fluffing cushions.

Thanks for your reply, I agree about liking the more raw accounts, some home accounts seem to just post the same photos on rotation, the raw accounts that show the good the bad and the ugly have a little bit more personality to them!

I follow quite a few reno accounts. My favourites do a lot of stories talking through their project or just general things which I like. They do a lot of reels too which help with the Instagram algorithm and you have a better chance of it being shared etc

@Havaword

I follow quite a few reno accounts. My favourites do a lot of stories talking through their project or just general things which I like. They do a lot of reels too which help with the Instagram algorithm and you have a better chance of it being shared etc

Ah interesting, I need to look into reels then as I don't really get what they are haha

Popular accounts are all quite similar really:-

1. Post/stories/reels regularly. Almost daily. Instagram algorithms like this.

1. Money. This helps the above as you'll have content to post. If you do the Reno slowly you'll have no content and then when you do post followers will miss the posts.

1. Style. Something interesting about your interiors.

1. Engaging with other accounts. You need to comment on other accounts.

1. Hashtags. Search the relevant hashtags and use them. Engage with follow Friday etc and any other 'challenge'

1. Buy followers follow/unfollow. Frowned upon but they all do it.

1. Admit you're after freebies as ultimately that's the goal eh?

OP I had an interiors account for about 3months, it exploded at about month 2 and I reached around 4K followers, then life got v busy, I ran out of time to keep it updated so am taking a break! It actually can be a ton of work but really enjoyable if you love interiors.

To grow your account, I’d echo posters above - make sure your content is beautiful, that you’re offering something unique and post regularly, every day if possible. Use stories and reels to your advantage and engage with followers, respond to DM’s and interact with their accounts. Use Snapseed or similar for editing your shots and try to take interior pics crouched down low and straight on to start with.

Also hashtags and tagging are really important. If you keep your content relevant to your niche and make sure you post high quality images your account will grow. If you start getting mentions by bigger accounts that’s a huge plus so make sure to comment on images you love. My explosion came after a couple of interior designers shared my account - make yourself as visible as possible within your design niche.

Hope that helps and good luck!

Ultimately I don’t want to look at pretty before and after photos, or constant ad prs for a corner sofa or lick paint. I want to be inspired and educated. I want to know how much blood, sweat and tears your renovation demanded, how much it cost, how you did it, what kept you awake at night, what you learnt, what your tips are. I want to feel like I can relate to you, and if something you did could be achievable for me too.

@LCDP

Ultimately I don’t want to look at pretty before and after photos, or constant ad prs for a corner sofa or lick paint. I want to be inspired and educated. I want to know how much blood, sweat and tears your renovation demanded, how much it cost, how you did it, what kept you awake at night, what you learnt, what your tips are. I want to feel like I can relate to you, and if something you did could be achievable for me too.

This is something I really want to convey, as I am literally just a normal person earning a relatively normal salary (above average than the UK average as in London, but not a big salary by any means!) buying my first home, we're going to be doing as much of it ourselves as possible and we have saved all the money ourselves whilst renting etc etc so it's not like we are rich with loads of spare cash

It definitely sounds like I would relate to your page then. Let us all know the name of your page when it’s ready 🙂

I think you need to consider the likelihood of making an actual career. The amount of work that must go into the constant planning and staging seems quite tedious.

I'm not sure the odd freebie pot of paint, chair and vase really pays off in real terms.

Even large beautiful houses seem to post the same exact shot repeatedly, but maybe with a slightly different light.

The people who've made a success of this seem to have grown spin off businesses, so one started making furniture and another set up her own clothing company and another significantly grew her florist by post business. However, the vast majority don't seem to achieve anywhere near this success.

Good luck with your renovation OP! Hope the account is a success

@PoshWatchShitShoes

I think you need to consider the likelihood of making an actual career. The amount of work that must go into the constant planning and staging seems quite tedious.

I'm not sure the odd freebie pot of paint, chair and vase really pays off in real terms.

Even large beautiful houses seem to post the same exact shot repeatedly, but maybe with a slightly different light.

The people who've made a success of this seem to have grown spin off businesses, so one started making furniture and another set up her own clothing company and another significantly grew her florist by post business. However, the vast majority don't seem to achieve anywhere near this success.

Good luck with your renovation OP! Hope the account is a success

Thank you, I'm not necessarily wanting to make a career out of it or even get freebies, it's more something to channel some creativity.. I always wanted to start a blog but never knew what I wanted it to be about, and being just about me seemed quite.. self obsessed.. Anyway yeah, it's more just you never know where something might lead kind of thing

Following a few such accounts at moment. What I find incredibly infuriating is those who repeatedly ignore followers queries about products they’ve used such as paint colours, carpets etc, where did you get such and such from, yet they immediately respond to all the inane , ‘your house is just soooo stunning’ compliments from fellow housey accounts ! So in short take the time to detail your purchases etc and engage meaningfully with those followers who are genuinely interested in what you are doing and not just there for the reciprocal follow , (no matter how tedious those questions might be !) . Definitely agree with the showing the rough with the smooth too and sharing your learning curves along the way. Best of luck.

I ADORE interiors. My own Instagram is primarily for me to document our renovation (lots less than I wanted because of lockdown), history of the house and my musings. I’m not terribly bothered about numbers of followers and don’t do lots of the things listed here (and as Ive had the account shared by some v big accounts more than once now think I must be doing something wrong as only have a few hundred followers! )

But honestly if you are after more of a blogging experience rather than having something to sell or looking to get freebies (lots are) then I’d just start posting and commenting. I’ve got Instagram chums with whom to coo over paint colours, discuss where to source Douglas fir flooring or bookmarked marble, commiserate on loosing eBay bids for reclaimed tiles. It’s good fun and feels like a little community. Some more professional accounts can get a bit samey.

I prefer accounts where people talk through pro's and cons and not just show finished before and afters. I like product reccomendations (from normal accessible shops) and actual tips. The ones I still follow are the ones who continue to evolve their home e.g. doing porch, garden, roof AFTER the main renovation.

I follow some of these.
My tips:
I enjoy video content of things being done, can be speeded up, but I like to see the action progress, as well as a still before and after shot.
I like to see tags or info about where products or furnishings are from. Failing that, an answer if I ask a question about them.
Realistic content - if I'm following the renovation of a London 2-bed I don't want to suddenly see that you've added a pool because it makes me disbelieve in you.
I personally really dislike repeated content, eg, I haven't been able to do my renovations this week so here's some pictures again that I've already published but with music added. It just irritates me. Some people probably like that though.
I actually dislike daily posts unless there is something new happening every day. Similar to previous point I suppose - I dislike pointless posts. I'd rather see quality posts than quantity.
Good luck with it, it sounds like a fun project!

@Vikingmama79

Following a few such accounts at moment. What I find incredibly infuriating is those who repeatedly ignore followers queries about products they’ve used such as paint colours, carpets etc, where did you get such and such from, yet they immediately respond to all the inane , ‘your house is just soooo stunning’ compliments from fellow housey accounts ! So in short take the time to detail your purchases etc and engage meaningfully with those followers who are genuinely interested in what you are doing and not just there for the reciprocal follow , (no matter how tedious those questions might be !) . Definitely agree with the showing the rough with the smooth too and sharing your learning curves along the way. Best of luck.

I agree, I don't see the point in doing it if you aren't gonna answer peoples questions and expect people not to get Inspo off you/'copy' the colours you choose

@Sum2021

I prefer accounts where people talk through pro's and cons and not just show finished before and afters. I like product reccomendations (from normal accessible shops) and actual tips. The ones I still follow are the ones who continue to evolve their home e.g. doing porch, garden, roof AFTER the main renovation.

Oh great 😊 we are planning on doing the inside of the flat first, and then we have some great ideas for the garden, including potentially a garden office at the end of it, and then the last thing we do will be the front and adding some curb appeal!