Home Improvement Trends that Increase Your Home’s Value
April is National Home Improvement month, and in honour, we’re here to give you some top tips on home improvement and property design to help you retain and increase your home’s value.
Although you might want to make your property look cosy and liveable to appeal to buyers, you may be doing the opposite. The most recent Home Improvement Trends report from trades website Rated People asked homebuyers what features were most likely to attract them to a home and allow them to envision this as their own space.
Keep reading for the top interior home improvement trends that increase the value of your home and could engage potential buyers.
Decorating Alongside Trends
It may seem like trying to stay up to date with the latest trends is what will sell your home to prospective buyers; however this is not the case. It might look flashy having grey walls and a navy-blue kitchen, but the reality is most of the time, buyers want to be able to envision the house as a blank canvas in which to put their own mark on. Here are some things you can do to help make your space appealing to potential buyers:
- Keep your home free of clutter
- Use neutral décor where possible
- Keep walls and carpets clear
- Open curtains to allow the best light in the space
Bear in mind that different people will have different needs, so spending extra money to make your home look family friendly when the demographic looking to buy in your area is older couples, may not provide the return on the investment you’d hoped for. This is why simple changes are always better if you’re looking to drum up interest from all kinds of buyers.
Garage Conversions
Although the idea of a garage conversion seems like a great idea (especially during lockdown – hello home gym!) most people actually view the garage as a space for extra storage for bulkier items, or simply things they don’t want to keep inside.
Minimising this space for other things via a conversion could actually put potential buyers off, as they again are unable to view the space as their own. Forking out on this is definitely only a move to make if you’re going to be using the space yourself for a while before you look to put your home on the market.
Dark Rooms, Fittings and Fixtures
Rooms painted grey or dark blue are favoured on Instagram but tend to get fewer ‘likes’ in reality. Cited as one of the biggest buyer turn offs, over half of people surveyed said this would make them less likely to purchase a property.
Black bathroom fittings were also a no-go, with bold contrasting colours not being quite to everyone’s tastes.
Open Plan Layout
Whilst we encourage keeping a simple space to impress prospective buyers, open plan layout can often be seen as too spacious for people to envisage the space as their own.
Many people, especially when it comes to buying as opposed to renting, want to be able to have separate areas for cooking and entertaining, which, when parting with so much hard-earned cash, is only understandable.
If you’re looking to invite people into what will be your future home, you want to be able to see the practical side of every room, and open plan can make this incredibly difficult to see the value in the combined space, as opposed to separate rooms with separate purposes.
Shower Only Bathrooms
Properties without a bath can be a huge disappointment to some potential homeowners. Whilst it can be argued a bath does not suit every lifestyle, most bathrooms are viewed to be more versatile and valuable for including one.
If you’re not looking to renovate your bathroom before listing your house for sale, property experts recommend the following to help the appeal of a shower only bathroom:
- Create a floor plan showing how a bath could fit into the space
- Get photos or 3D renders created showing how the current bathroom could look with a bath
- Create a price guide detailing how much an installation (or complete bathroom renovation) is like to cost – transparency is key here.
This can help potential buyers weigh up whether the space is right for their vision with their available budget and immediate desires in mind.
To shop home improvement products and get your house in tip top shape to sell, take a look at what we can offer here.
