theRatandMouse - London's property blog

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Apr

Homestagers warn against blandness

Colour and pattern are back. And we're warned, by Home Stagers, not to fall for the keep it simple, paint it magnolia message we get from the TV, if we really want to get a maximum price from a property.

Tina [Jesson] says, "Interior design trends come in and out like high street fashion. For homes and interiors this cycle runs for 5-7 years. Now that we are in 2007, we are on the cusp of a trends change. Colour and pattern are definitely coming back. Thanks to the TV programmes, many home owners think that all they have to do is "clear the clutter and paint it all magnolia" to help them get a sale - but that is NOT what professional home staging is about. I see far too many properties with the wooden floors, leather sofas and neutral walls and all property for sale now looks the same."

"Home Staging is all about deriving the maximum 'perceived' value from your property to help it sell. Estate Agents value property based on actual value; the number of bedrooms, the square footage and the location all help derive at actual value. But it is 'perceived value' which actually sells property. People need to see that the property not only meets their needs but creates a lifestyle better than the one they are leaving behind. If your property doesn't deliver this aspirational lifestyle, you'll just not sell."

Feature walls with bold colours or large print wallpapers are recommended.

Technorati Tags: design, interiors, property, real estate

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Comments

Having done some househunting not long ago I have to disagree with this.

The amount of properties I saw where the owners had clearly spend enormous amounts of money adding ugly frills to their miserably barn conversions, clearly in the hope that the time and money they poured in would be multiplied many times when they sold the house. All I could think was that not only would I be paying a premium for their terrible taste, but I would also have to pay again to remove skiploads of routed mdf features and start again.

The problem with trying to "create a lifestyle better than the one they are leaving behind" is that if you have been watching too much Changing Rooms you are more likely to create a tacky pastiche out of character with the building that it inhabits. Good designers earn good livings for good reasons.

It may be a radical idea, but what about concentrating on making your house a comfortable place to live, keeping it simple and allowing the buyers to project their own ideas of a better lifestyle onto it?

Posted by morlandovic at April 24, 2007 1:50 PM

Comments

I'm a bit late jumping on this bandwagon but I have to say that there's not much evidence of colour actually coming back when it comes down to it.

My focus is particularly in the bathroom and cloakroom, where all the magazines are happily stating that colour is everywhere. In reality everyone is still sticking in a white ceramic basin and painting a bit of colour on the walls.

At avante bathrooms, we're leading a colour crusade to really bring colour back into the bathroom by offering vivid, exciting basins and vanities.

A striking bougainvillea pink Corian basin is a much easier way of lifting a room than covering the walls with something that you may not want to live with for ever (or even a couple of years). Or, a pillar box red square ceramic basin can be used in striking contrast to more muted tones.

They say that kitchens and bathrooms sell houses so it's about time we started bringing the same amount of design to the bathroom as has become commonplace in the kitchen in the UK over the last few years.