Un-blanding Britain

Home staging amateurs and estate agents are blanding Britain, with their ‘paint it all magnolia and clear the clutter’ culture. “It’s a case of ‘the bland leading the bland’”, says Tina Jesson, Property Marketeer and founder of Home Stagers, the UK’s leading home staging company.

“We are on a mission to bring back the colour and pattern to add interest back in to bland houses.” Says Tina

Tina reveals how the trend for ‘painting it all magnolia and clearing the clutter’ is on its way out. ‘Thank goodness’ she says.

Tina says, “Interior design trends come in and out like high street fashion. For homes and interiors this cycle runs for 5-7 years. Now that we are in 2007, we are on the cusp of a trends change. Colour and pattern are definitely coming back. Thanks to the TV programmes, many home owners think that all they have to do is “clear the clutter and paint it all magnolia” to help them get a sale – but that is NOT what professional home staging is about. I see far too many properties with the wooden floors, leather sofas and neutral walls and all property for sale now looks the same.”

“Home Staging is all about deriving the maximum ‘perceived’ value from your property to help it sell. Estate Agents value property based on actual value; the number of bedrooms, the square footage and the location all help derive at actual value. But it is ‘perceived value’ which actually sells property. People need to see that the property not only meets their needs but creates a lifestyle better than the one they are leaving behind. If your property doesn’t deliver this aspirational lifestyle, you’ll just not sell.”

Today you need to add colour and pattern to make your property as up to date as new build show homes, which is what many second owner properties are competing with. The problem is when sellers ‘neutralise’ they can go too far, rip the sole out of the property and don’t have any features of interest to make their property memorable.

There are 2 types of property out there.

The overly minimal look, which looks bear and uninviting or the over loaded ‘lived in look’ which may still have the bold colour from the 1990’s or wall paper and boarders of the 1980’s which now looks very dated. Colour and pattern is coming back in a very different way to the way we last saw it. Bold colour on all the walls as we last saw in the 1990’s with the terracotta dining rooms and rich reds on all the walls. As colour comes back it will tend to be on a feature wall, the main wall in the room. In a lounge it may be the chimney breast wall or in a bedroom it may be the wall behind the bed. Pattern is coming back in the form of large print wall papers again just used on a feature wall and in fabrics on curtains, blinds and soft furnishings.

If all this use of pattern and colour terrifies you, then you do need the skills of a professional to help you put all of this together. Home Stagers will be presenting their take on these new design trends In June at the Homes and Garden Show at Chester racecourse on 1st – 3rd June and at the BBC Good Home Show at the NEC Birmingham 13th – 17th June.

You can contact your local Home Stagers consultant by visiting homestagers.co.uk.