A home viewing is more than just presenting the basic layout of the house. Chances are, they’ve already made up their mind on how their dream house will look, your job is to sell them the dream and bring it to life.

It won’t come as a surprise to you, the reader of an interior design blog - that furniture makes or breaks a home. The midway stage between selling your current home and buying your next is always an incredibly daunting one. Trying to get your home sold as quickly as possible so you can move on with your life will likely take up your evenings. Good luck finding any time when you’re working. Some people even find themselves in a new property with no furniture at all – all you want to do is relax after how stressful listing a property is.
I’d definitely explore your options before you decide to move all of your furniture across the country, or before you drop a huge amount on brand new furniture! I’d really recommend furniture hire in London or your equivalent city for the urban working professionals – career moves happen so spontaneously that you might even find yourself moving address months later, the last thing you want is to find yourself in the same position again - trying to shift your leather sofa across the continent!

Moving swiftly onwards, let’s find out what style tips you can make the most of when preparing your house for home viewing!


Location
Area is one of the key factors in buying a house. Where do you live and what are the key landmarks? Put yourself in the shoes of the buyer and think hard about why they’re looking to purchase a property in your area. Match your styling to the main selling points of the area – if it’s an inner city property, try to modernise your furnishings as you’re likely advertising to a business orientated professional. If it’s a seaside property, then try to present your property in calming pastel colours and make the most of the natural light.
If you’re refurbishing your property before a purchase, then you could even consider making the most of local design influences in your furniture choices. For instance, a rural or woodland facing property could really bring out stylistic elements of mahogany, oak or maple. There’s even the opportunity to contrast your design features against the backdrop and almost create another world within a landscape. A natural paradise making full use of organic furniture like painted woods and hand carvings would look unbelievably impressive against an industrial scene.
Check out our post on Home Trends that Will Flourish in 2016 if you’d like a better idea of what’s in this year.

Space
Let the space do the talking. Over furnishing an apartment prior to viewing can affect your ability to sell. I’ll say it again because I feel really strongly about it – make the most of the natural light. If the natural light is blocked by unnecessarily positioned furniture pieces, then you aren’t advertising the full potential of the property.
Outlining visually clear walking areas and passage through the property is going to hugely influence the homely feel that your viewers will get when they arrive. There’s nothing worse than feeling constricted by overwhelming elements of a room. It also creates flow in between your rooms, allowing your viewers to smoothly transition between the areas of the property when viewing – ideally similar to how they’ll move when they buy.

Purpose
It ties in really nicely with the space element of home viewing. So make sure there’s a purpose to each room when you present your property. Whilst you might be making use of a smaller room as storage room – could you dress it up as a guest room? Maybe you could declutter entirely and display it as an extra room, making your would-be purchaser think that they’re getting even more for the price.

If it’s a bedroom, make sure you advertise it as a bedroom – show the viewer the potential of your residence. Whilst combining living quarters is an excellent use of space once you’ve settled into a property, as it creates space in other areas – It doesn’t tell the whole story of the house. A clearly defined purpose to each room lets the future owner know exactly what they’re getting into and starts to get them thinking about how they could furnish each room if or when they decide to buy.
There are a number of design ideas that can be seen over at the Ardesia Design website. I hope they get across how effective a minimalistic design aesthetic and use of space is!

Author: Nathalie Martin

0 Comments