Whether you are doing home staging to prepare your property for sale, or you just want to make your house more enjoyable, apart from general tips of decluttering, interior styling and tidying up, here are some top tips specifically for summer.
1.Outside spaces: We always talk about interior styling when home staging, but over summer, we forget that we spend lot of our time outside. Styling the garden or a balcony is just as important as the interior when property staging, as it tends to give the property that little edge over the competitors. This is key throughout the year, but over summer, the outdoors tend to draw a lot more attention.
Start by clearing up your garden - taking away any dead foliage, trimming down hedges, neatening up borders and giving the lawn a good mow! You will be amazed what a difference this will make. After this, add a couple of flowering bushes or potted flowers. You can stop here but prospective buyers love to imagine what their life could be like when living in your property, so put a table and a couple of chairs with some comfy cushions out and the space will instantly become more inviting.
2. Clean windows: Whilst the winter light can conceal a myriad of smudges and rain smears on your windows, the summer sun leaves no speck un-lit. This is why you absolutely must give your windows a good scrub down when you’re preparing a property for sale.
3. Flowers:These brighten up any room and always make your interiors seem presentable and homely. You can find fresh cuttings from any supermarket or real flower market. It’s a great idea to have window boxes to brighten up the exterior of your home, especially for flats or downstairs front windows. Summer is the perfect time for displaying a wide range of flowers so take advantage of the sun and bright colours! You can find affordable geraniums or other small plants at any local garden centre.
4. Bright colours: Summer is the perfect season for bold colour choices. You shouldn’t shy away from them at any time of the year, but something about the sun makes us crave the colours of a holiday somewhere very hot! Bold oranges and reds really liven up both interior and exterior spaces, giving them that wow factor. Yellow brightens any room and brings warmth, not to mention that it’s very trendy right now! An easy way to do this is offsetting your neutral interiors with a bright patterned cushion and littering your window displays with beautifully vibrant flowers. If you’re feeling really on it, you can match your outside window displays to the cushions inside!
5. Cool textiles: Whilst over the winter, we like to be surrounded by plush rugs and cosy throws, in the warm summer months, we tend to be more inclined towards tidy and minimalistic surfaces that appear nice and cooling. So any wintry rugs, candles, or particularly warm and fuzzy cushions should be swapped for more seasonally appropriate cool cotton and linen textiles. If they’re not vital to the appeal of the room, they should be cleared away with your other “clutter”.
If you would like more tips and advice on how to prepare your property for sale call me on 0771 832 8234