The living and dining space of any home is incredibly important to potential buyers as it’s the area where they will imagine themselves preparing for the day ahead or spending most of their family time. So creating a welcoming, cohesive and practical room is key to achieving a successful house sale. The secret is to give the room a strong identity with bold features such as a striking dining table or statement lighting and then achieve overall harmony throughout the space with a linking colour or texture, like natural tones. Take some inspiration from these styling tips and you are sure to have buyer’s flocking to view it.
Creating the perfect living space that works for you and your family and also appeals to potential buyers involves many factors and is more than simply arranging the furniture. It’s about creating a space that’s inviting and complements the rest of your house, so that you have a cohesive and comfortable feel throughout. For example, if you’ve used natural, calm tones in the other rooms, stick to similar colours and patterns to create a reassuring connection.
In open plan rooms where there are several functions such as eating, relaxing and cooking, it’s important that each zone is clearly defined without the space feeling too busy and cluttered. The key is to give each zone its own identity, such as a rug under the dining table, or a statement wall colour by the TV area, and then connect each zone with a visual device, such as particular colour, texture or even a theme. For example, if you have a leather sofa, you could unite the seating area with the eating zone by adding leather dining chairs.
Choose statement features that give your room instant personality and draw focus to certain areas. For example, a stunning dining table will make the eating area the focal point of the room, while bold pendant lighting can also draw attention to a kitchen island and invite guests to take a seat.
Use rugs to define different areas within one room. They are a brilliant, easy and relatively cheap way of bringing instant colour and pattern to neutral rooms, and can be placed intentionally to define zones, such as under a dining table or between sofas. Long runners can also help to encourage the route through a room.
Plan the furniture layout carefully by grouping the furniture in terms of its functions, without creating obstacles and barriers so the room flows easily. Test out a few layouts and walk from zone to zone to see how you move through the room.
Your living space should reflect you and your family’s lifestyle and personality, whether that’s through colour, pattern, artwork or interesting collections. However, this central room in your home should also feel inviting to guests. When preparing your home for sale, it’s always worth considering what would appeal to potential buyers to maximise your sale value.
