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If you’re planning to market your home anytime soon, you’ll appreciate the value in staging your property. Maximising your property’s best features will ensure it presents beautifully for online and in-person viewings. In a competitive property market, that all-important first impression counts more than ever to prospective buyers.
Regardless of age or style, most homes have something special that deserves accentuating, from unique designs and decorative features to standout fireplaces or centrepiece lights. This article explores how to showcase your property’s best features and enhance its unique appeal.
Before you start decorating or begin investing in multiple pots of paint, it's essential to identify the statement features in your home that you want to focus on. For an older property, these often include period fireplaces, exposed beams, bay windows, built-in alcoves, or other original details.
Typically, period homes tend to be associated more with having distinct character and while that is true, today’s well-designed contemporary homes have a wealth of features that homeowners will want to show off, including dedicated games rooms, high-end wine storage areas, expansive glass walls, and spa-like bathrooms.
The key to maximising any key aspects in all types of homes lies in understanding their proportions and relationship within the context of the entire home. A grand Victorian fireplace, for instance, commands different attention to a sleek contemporary gas feature, and each requires a tailored approach when it comes to boosting its appearance.
A well-presented fireplace naturally serves as a room's focal point and, as such, can command instant attention. A modern one might warrant sleek stones or a minimalist look, while a traditional one is suited to a wrought iron, brass, or copper toolkit. Whether your home has a traditional Victorian surround or an elegant marble piece, there are plenty of eye-catching ideas to decorate the mantel, surround, and internal section, while adding visual interest to the whole area can be achieved with vintage candles, sculptures, or dried flowers.
However, it’s important to remember that while a fireplace is a wonderful feature for embellishments, they have an important function. Even with decorative tiles, a well-chosen fire screen can add protection from sparks, plus wicker log baskets and wood stores combine style and practicality. For stoking a lit fire, essential tools and accessories, available from fireplace specialists like Sussex Fireplace Gallery, are great for tending to it, cleaning up embers, and enhancing the overall appeal of any fireplace.
Many homes have features that benefit from being decorated for visual impact. Exposed ceiling beams, for example, can be highlighted by black gloss or contrasted against pure white ceilings to emphasise their structural beauty. Original sash windows, with their renowned elegance, can be curated with carefully chosen curtains or shutters that complement rather than compete with their architectural significance.
Similarly, bold and dark colours can add depth and drama to accentuate period features or transform modern open-plan rooms. Striking colours look great across picture rails, wooden panels, staircase rails, door handles and plasterwork. Throughout your home, interesting wall paper mixed with paint schemes will also define features and sharpen decorative details.
Strategic lighting and thoughtful positioning are effective techniques to literally illuminate your home’s most outstanding features and can be impactful throughout a property. Pick the architectural features or furniture that you’d like to accentuate and use light to enhance the atmosphere within a room, whether through natural light or fixtures. For extra light, reflective materials and statement mirrors alongside art can do wonders to complement the overall visual impact you’re hoping for.
When it comes to accentuating special aspects in your property, lights can illuminate paintings, furnishings and wall art, while uplighting, inside and out, is incredible for emphasising the raw texture of exposed stone and brickwork. Table lamps positioned on mantelpieces or side tables create pools of warm light that draw the eye to focal points. To control and personalise arcs of light in small spaces or across whole rooms, dimmer switches allow you to adjust the brightness for the different features you want to enhance at various times of day and night.
The arrangement of furniture around statement items requires careful consideration and needs to weigh up space with design. Getting this right comes down to scale, proportion, and overall appearance. Although the appearance and decor of every space matters, oversized furniture can overwhelm delicate period details, while pieces that are too small may appear lost in rooms with enormous features.
Essentially, your aim is to balance fixtures with all the moveable pieces in your home while taking into account those standout and larger features of any room. For instance, when arranging seating in a living room that might be dominated by a low-hanging chandelier or a monumental fireplace, consider how you’ll be using the room and if you can sit comfortably with the layout you choose.
Maximising your home's statement features is about giving it the attention, respect, and care it deserves. To highlight your home’s unique character, opt for thoughtful decorating, stylish furnishings and a dose of functionality. This way, you’ll create interiors that are visually striking and suit the age, appearance, and atmosphere that defines your property.
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