As you probably know, Redfern Property Management has a large portfolio of student houses, which often means we spend our summer months working with our landlords to make sure properties are kept to a high standard, or are redecorated completely.
It’s one of the elements of being a letting agent that we really enjoy – chatting and advising about how to improve a room or house as a whole. And, seeing the transformation too!
With that in mind, we wanted to share some of our top tips for decorating your home that we’ve picked up along the way.
The first thing to think about might surprise you, but the front door! How often do we look at our front door and know we need to give it a lick of paint, but as soon as you’re in the house you’ve completely forgotten? The front door acts as that first impression for your home, and it sets the tone for what you can expect inside too. Did you know that a red door was a sign of welcome to weary travellers in early America?
Once you’re indoors, where to being? Let’s concentrate on the walls – we’d always recommend going for light and neutral colours. It gives you a lot of flexibility with accessories down the line, and also if you use the same colours it can make smaller rooms feel much larger, especially if they are next to one another. We’re a big fan of bold colours here at Redfern Property, it does feel a bit odd to suggest light and neutral colours, but for so many of the town houses in Aberystwyth that can feel a bit tight on space, we promise this will help.
Let’s think about furniture, or specifically, the lounge area. We’re guilty of this one, pushing all of the furniture to the walls to make the space look larger. Why? What we should do instead is make the living area more social, basically you want to make sure that your couch talks to your chairs. When you have guests over or all of the family in the room, you’re encouraging conversation. Plus, if you actually push furniture away from the walls, the room will feel larger because of the buffer around it.
Sunshine! We know some of our students love to live in cosy, dark rooms; but nothing works wonders like sunshine! Especially if you’re trying to make a room look a bit larger than it is – having it bright and airy will make a huge difference. If you do have a property that enjoys a level of sun, bear in mind what they sun may shine on though. Curtains or blinds might fade in the light, you could switch them for something more long wearing.
Another trick to add some extra space to a room is to include a mirror. They are great at bouncing more light around the room, adding again to that bright and airy feel we mentioned just now. Top tip? Don’t put a mirror directly opposite your windows though, pop them on the perpendicular walls.
Our final focus is on lighting. Of course you may be limited as to what you can do with time and funds, but if you are having a complete refurb then having a look at the lighting is super important. Every room should have three kinds of lighting – ambient, which are usually the lights you see as ceiling fixtures and light up the whole room. Then you have task lighting, which you may use for specific tasks – we’re thinking lighting under your cupboard in the kitchen to illuminate the counter; and finally accent lighting – much more decorative, highlighting specific points of your room perhaps or just adding that lovely cosy feel.
Hopefully we’ve given you some tips and ideas for any decorating over the summer!