Focus on flooring
When renovating for resale, it’s often the big choices that make the most impact. Carpet Court design ambassador Jane Carolan tells us how to add value from the ground up through flooring
LIVING DINING
Consider wood or wood-look flooring for all your high-traffic areas and living spaces. Kitchens, hallways, open-plan living areas and dining zones all naturally lend them themselves to wood – engineered, laminate or solid.
GARAGE
Garages are often forgotten during the interior design process but it pays not to overlook this space. To prospective home-buyers, a wellmaintained garage which is lined and carpeted can easily be viewed as another living space for children and teenagers. Garage carpet is inexpensive and can transform the space from shabby and uninviting to clean and welcoming.
BEDROOMS
Bedrooms are one area in the home that really benefit from the warmth and cosiness of carpet. First, identify the consistent colour palette that has been used throughout your house. If you have lots of warm-toned wood, for instance, choose a carpet with that same tone or take it a few shades lighter. A key thing to remember with any carpet choice is that you need to make sure a potential buyer can visualise their own things in your home. By keeping the canvas fairly neutral, your interior is more likely to suit the next buyer’s furniture and accessories.
FINAL TOUCHES
If you have the luxury of buying some new or different furniture to finish off your renovation, there are some simple things you can do to make the process go smoothly. Before shopping, make a plan of what will work best in the room. The size of the room will dictate your furniture choice and quite possibly its placement. In the lounge, do you have space for a large sofa and some armchairs, or would a corner suite better suit its flow and functionality?
Consider the height of new furniture; too many tall items will make a room feel enclosed and stifling, while lower furniture will open up a space and make it seem more inviting. Invest in key pieces such as sofas. A quality sofa with a solid frame will last for years and you can save money down the line by re-covering it for only a fraction of the price of a new one.
Add personality with smaller accent pieces or accessories. Metallic finishes catch the light and add dimension to a room. Don’t be afraid to mix gold, brass and silver – think of an antique brass tray of trinkets on a silver-legged coffee table, teamed with a golden floor lamp alongside an armchair.
To complete a room and bring it to life, stylists will often introduce living greenery or an element from nature. If you’re not a flower person, consider some low-maintenance plants such as cacti or succulents in beautiful Japanese ceramic vessels, or perhaps a staghorn fern, monstera or string of hearts in a simple glass pot. The trick is creating enough layers of colour, texture, pattern and material for a space to feel inviting and comfortable without it becoming cluttered. One way to combat this is to create curated pockets of interest rather than spreading things out everywhere.
KITCHEN
Timber flooring is a popular choice for the kitchen. However, it can be costly. Vinyl and laminates are more cost-effective options for creating a timber look and they’re incredibly durable. The splashback provides a good opportunity to add an interesting feature to the kitchen, and tiles can be a good way to do this – just remember to keep the look timeless and in keeping with the theme of the kitchen.
BATHROOM
Tiles or a really good vinyl work best in bathrooms. There are fabulous patterns and shades of vinyl available now and it’s definitely more cost-effective than tiling. If you put a dark hue against a light one, colours against a neutral, or pattern against pattern, it will draw the eye, so make sure your colour or pattern choice works. Bathrooms and kitchens sell houses, so benchtops and cabinets are worth investing in, too. Keep the palette neutral; it does not need to be pale but it does need to be able to blend with different homeware. Dress a bathroom with towels in the same palette but in a slightly stronger shade with accented hand towels.