Agents and property experts alike agree - kitchens sell houses!
The kitchen is the heart of the home, the space where food is lovingly prepared and family and friends gather to spend time together.
Often in Australian homes, there is a purposeful flow from the kitchen through to the dining, living and outdoor areas so we naturally spend a great deal of time in our kitchen area. So it goes without saying, that this room needs to present perfectly to your ideal buyer and allow them to picture themselves preparing a meal in the functional and well-designed space.
According to Houzz, the average cost of a kitchen remodel in Australia varies between $10,000 and $20,000 depending on the size of your space. So naturally, this is a massive and risky investment that may not provide a sizable return on investment by increasing your sale price by this amount.
A safer investment would be the price of a professional property styling package, which helps to highlight the key focal points of a kitchen space and minimise any unsightly or problematic areas. By showing your home with professional styling, you can help your buyer visualise how the space could be best used, as well as minimise any less than desirable features without an expensive renovation.
Read on for some tips on what a professional styling package will add to your kitchen styling.
All of our property stylists are experienced in presenting your home to your ideal buyer. We take into consideration the demographics of your suburb and surrounds when crafting the styling, to ensure we tap into their ideal lifestyle features of the home.
Property styling is an ideal add-on to your sales campaign, as it works to elevate the existing features of the home and make the other components shine. For example, professional styling improves your online listing (where most people find homes to inspect nowadays) as well as allows your photographer to capture a home full of life and opportunity - not just a blank slate that is difficult to see scale and size.
Often a kitchen has one focal point that we work with to optimise the space, for example, a mirrored kitchen splashback would be best paired back with organic pieces such as wooden boards, living plants and rustic linen tea towels. Built-in fixtures and fittings (such as a large ornate original light) in an empty space often appear larger and more overpowering, making a lasting impression in the buyer's mind if they don’t like the particular aesthetic. A pared-back styling approach works by adding other elements to draw the buyer in and balance out fixtures that might not be to the buyer's exact taste.
The paint colours of the walls and other permanent design elements such as flooring and other fixtures such as doorknobs and cupboard pulls dictate the overall feel of a space. This is why here at Spatial we opt for a neutral colour scheme, based on whites, nudes and blacks with pops of colour where they suit.
By drawing together a cohesive colour scheme with the existing palette, the space will feel more comfortable and pulled together. This also allows the potential buyer to envisage their own furniture in this space, without being distracted by any loud design choices of the previous occupant.
By using a professional stylist we can also help recommend some cheap and effective fixes that will add value to the property such as what paint colour would complement the existing space - it’s amazing the difference a fresh lick of paint can have on a room!
Another important element of styling a kitchen is to build an organic lived-in feeling in the space, immediately making the buyer feel at home.
Our stylists spend a great deal of time considering how the space is best used, and then place vignettes to emphasise these uses. By mixing textures, shapes and sizes to create functional counter-top vignettes we allow the different uses of the room to be shown visually.
For example, we often use food as a styling prop like a big bowl of fresh lemons which show the functionality of a large breakfast bar that can often look awkward and empty - and they also add an invigoratingly fresh citrusy scent to the space.
Adding a few aesthetic cookbooks to built-in shelving helps visualise the space so potential buyers can see just how much storage is available, as well as a pop of greenery with a plant or fresh flowers.
Adding a few textured tea towels helps avoid the kitchen feeling overstyled and looking like a cookie-cutter display home, while also adding a softness to the room which is often a lot of hard stone, metals and cabinetry. Rustic cutting boards of different sizes and shapes add depth and layers to the kitchen area and give the home a lived-in feeling that draws the eye in.
Lastly, an aesthetic and beautifully scented hand soap by the sink will break up the hard surfaces and add a nice fragrance while also being a useful piece in the time of covid.
Another key benefit of professional styling is it helps present an aspirational image. The buyer is not only purchasing the home, they are buying into the lifestyle that this home will be able to give them. Not many people use professional interior designers to fit out their actual homes, so if the buyer has seen the way a professional stylist has added pieces to the home it gives them ideas of what they could aim to in the future.
One example of this is artwork. We don’t often see art in kitchen spaces, so where possible we aim to have a beautiful, yet practical, piece to showcase the aspirational future the buyer could have should they purchase the home.
Given the importance of showcasing your kitchen in it's best possible light, a professional property styling package makes sense. It helps you appeal to your ideal buyer, highlights the best focal points of the room, illustrates the flow and use of the difference spaces within the room and makes the buyer feel at home - without the pile of dirty dishes in the sink!
Get in touch today for a personalised proposal for your property, or fill in your details for a free instant quote for your home sale.