How to stop your living room looking cheap, according to the designers
Follow these top tips to ensure that your home decór looks on point without forking out for a designer. Who knows, they might even boost your property value, too!
Interior design is a super personal thing, led by our own tastes and popular trends at the time. You might notice that many properties, particularly newer ones, are very similar internally. As you scroll through the property websites, you might be unable to differentiate between one living room and the next. It can be a sea of white walls and grey flooring, with simple furniture to match. You might be able to identify furniture from Ikea or recognise furniture similar to what you have in your own home.
We often shy away from individualistic interior design, especially when selling a property. This is because we are trying to appeal to the masses, and following the most popular design trends, hence why they are trends in the first place, are the best way to appeal to most buyers.
With that in mind, it can be somewhat surprising to come across a homeowner who has really gone for it with their interior and expressed their personality and individualism with the choice of colour scheme and furnishings. Whilst this is great for the homeowner, allowing them to enjoy their personal spaces and express their flair and personality, how does it impact the value of their property?
If a property is individual and expressive of the occupants, surely it can not then be appealing to the masses. Not unless that happens to line up with the trends of the moment, which, considering trends and fashions change frequently, would be pretty unlikely.
As Dolly Parton famously said, "It takes a lot of time and money to look this cheap", and you could spend a huge amount of your hard-earned cash on the style of the interior of your home, only to find out that it actually hinders the sale of your property and in turn will negatively impact the overall value when you come to sell. It is not likely that you would want to make your home look cheap, so it is fair to say that when you refurbish your property, you would want it to look expensive, perhaps even chic.
If your property is very individual in design, it will appeal to fewer buyers. This reduced demand for your property will inevitably affect the value as fewer buyers might be interested in your property, not to mention that they might want to factor in the cost of redecorating the property when they make an offer and subsequently offer a lower price. But, if your property looks expensive, it is fair to say that, even if your property is not designed in the same way as every other property on the market, if it looks expensive the chances are that you will make a positive impact on the value of your home, actually increasing the desirability and therefore the potential value of the property.
It is not always about having an unlimited budget and spending loads on your property; fantastic results can come from the least costly ideas. Read on for a few fabulous and cheap tips to make your home look expensive.
- Furniture that fits the space that you have available. Oversized furniture can crowd a room and cheapen the aesthetic. In much the same way that wearing clothes that don't quite fit you properly can be somewhat unflattering, so too can furniture that doesn't really fit in your room.
- Undersized rugs - particularly on a hard wooden or tiled floor, rugs can add a softness to a room. But only if the correct size. If it is too big, it will seem like a carpet that has not been fitted correctly. Too small and it will look cheap. A good rule of thumb is that the rug should be sized so that all the critical pieces of furniture (coffee table, armchairs and sofas) should sit on top of it.
- Faked architectural features - ceiling cornice in a 70's bungalow, panelled walls in a newly built house or a ceiling rose and chandelier in a modern apartment block. Trying to chase a period feel in a contemporary home can feel jarring, and it is glaringly apparent that those features are not original. Don't add a substantial statement marble surround if there was never a fireplace. Unless you have the budget to invest and do this properly, the result can often be somewhat underwhelming and obviously fake.
- Invest in key pieces of furniture and statement items that will not date or go out of fashion, and perhaps cut costs elsewhere, like the paint or wallpaper that will likely be changed every 5 years or so.
- Window dressings - curtains are often overlooked when styling a room, but the overall feel and style will suffer if a window is not correctly dressed. Make sure that your curtains fit and are made of high-quality fabric. Use the correct fixings so that they open and close smoothly and, perhaps most importantly, ensure that they are long enough. Often, a living room window area is free of other furniture, and the windowsills are usually a little lower than in bedrooms and kitchens, so floor length is usually the best option.
Follow these tips when decorating or refurbishing your property to make sure that, whatever your individual style, you will still appeal to buyers, giving you the perfect blend of personality and increased value in your home.
If you are considering selling your home this year, now would be a great time to have a valuation to know where you are in terms of value in the current market. Simply get in touch with our property experts, and they will be only too happy to provide you with their knowledge, expertise and advice so you can plan accordingly.
Give us a call today.