You’ve worked hard over the past few months. Finally you’re inspection ready. Tomorrow is your first open-house or private inspection. But as you stand in your living room, you have that unshakable feeling that something isn’t quite right. The room just isn’t cutting it. It looks a little tired and you can’t help but think it lets the rest of your house down. But with only one day until your agent opens the front door to buyers, you’re not sure what you can do.
This isn’t an unusual position for new sellers to find themselves in. The desire to maximise your property’s sales presentation value leads us all to second-guess some of our choices. But when you know it’s not right, it probably isn’t. So, with little time and often little available cash, what can you do to lift your presentation stocks? Happily, a lot can be accomplished with little available time – and cash. I’ll show you how.
Firstly, rearranging your furniture might be all the room needs. Play with your lounge placement. Same for coffee and side tables if you have them. Repositioning to provide better flow and pedestrian access and to better catch the light will transform your room in an instant. Next, look at your lounge’s decorative cushions. New cushions are an inexpensive way to transform a room. Play with colour, texture and size to make your room pop. If the budget doesn’t stretch to new cushions, purchase covers and fit them over your current cushions, or borrow from friends or family.
How are your floors looking? If you have bare floorboards, a well-placed rug will draw the eye without being overwhelming. Rugs also add a lovely touch of warmth and are wonderful for hiding stains or imperfections in flooring and carpet. But if your floors are carpeted, make sure you choose a rug of complimentary colour and design. You may have a spare rug stored away or perhaps a friend has one you can borrow for the duration of your sale.
If it’s your walls that are the cause of your angst and you have the time, for the cost of a tin of paint, a roller and a brush, painting a feature wall will give your room a totally new look. You don’t have to repaint the entire room. One wall will do the trick and often, it’s the smallest wall that carries the greatest visual weight.
Wall colour fine, but your walls are still troubling you? Well placed wall art will draw the eye, personalise your room and change the look of the space. Hang individual pieces or create a gallery. You may be able to borrow from another room or rooms to create the look you’re after, or if all else fails….yes, phone a friend….that’s what friends are for. I’ve done it myself and it worked brilliantly.
If you have book/display shelves, simply by removing or rearranging display items you’ll create a whole new look. Remember that space on your shelves translates to a greater sense of space in the room. So, if you have too much on your shelves, the ‘cleanse’ alone will be to your advantage. Mixing books with artefacts is more attractive to the eye than uniformity, so be bold!
And if all else fails, enlist the help of your green friends. Pot plants are brilliant room ‘fixers.’ You can hang them, stand planters on the floor or sit them on tables and windowsills. With their varied leaf shapes and colours, not only do they add a terrific natural element to your room, strategically placed plants cleverly fill awkward empty spaces and have been known to hide a multitude of sins!
And now you have the makings of a great new look. You’ll be amazed at how much you can achieve in a day and as you stand back and survey the results of your creativity, you’ll realise that unshakable feeling you had only a few hours ago has evaporated. Now you’re really inspection-ready!
