Further to a previous blog post about the Clapham mews house, I’ve completed the work and the house is now on the market. Yesterday, Friday 10th May 2019, the property was featured in The Times as House of the Week ! Sadly I’m not mentioned in the article as the interior designer neither Shelley Hugh-Jones who I used to design the courtyard garden and terrace planting, but it’s great to see the house featured in the newspaper.
I chose a neutral palate for the house given it was going on the market for sale. I was working with the client’s existing furniture which was quite large, chunky, bachelor furniture. The idea was to refresh the property but we ended up renovating it while retaining the existing furniture and accessories. To reduce the effect of dark brown oversized chunky Lombok furniture, I chose soft wall colours and fabrics. Walls in the main body of the house are Farrow and Ball ‘Ammonite’ and in the two bedrooms which are quite dark and neither gets any direct sunlight I used the contemporary neutral Farrow and Ball ‘Skimming Stone’. The carpet is a soft grey loop pile and in the master bedroom is a luxurious deep pile grey faux silk. The stair runner is Roger Oates ‘Flaxman Quartz’ with antique brass stair rods. The carpets and runner were provided and fitted by Bowloom Ltd. The fabrics are all Osborne and Little and most are Nina Campbell for Osborne and Little. Here are images of the schemes.
The house has great curb appeal with a cobbled courtyard, a large potted lemon tree outside the front door (belonging to the neighbour!) and I repainted the door in black gloss paint. I created a wow factor when you open the front door with a Roger Oates runner
I used garden designer extraordinaire Shelley Hugh-Jones to design the planting in the internal courtyard off the master bedroom and also the planting and finishes on the roof terrace where we built a hot tub and fire. The terrace offers stunning views across the back gardens of the street an beyond.. In the internal courtyard off the master bedroom Shelley added tubs of plants and lighting. The client requested festoon lights to be added.
The house has one huge open-plan living, dining and kitchen space on the first floor. The Nina Campbell fabrics Les Reves Belle Ile NCF4291-04 for the Roman blind on the largepicture window and her Les Reves Camille NCF4292-04 for the curtains at both ends of the room add a wow factor. I gave the client the task of colour coordinating the bookshelves which he and his girlfriend seemed to enjoy doing!
The master bedroom has an enormous four poster bed and furniture from Lombok. I softened it with curtains and a Roman blind plus a couple of scatter cushions in the beautiful Nina Campbell Les Indiennes NCF4330-02.
For the guest room Roman blinds I used Osborne & Little Rialto Calli F7200-02 with a border in Nina Campbell Montacute Weaves Pencarrow NCF4043-02 .
Hot tips if you are decorating to sell a property:
Choose neutral wall colours. It is best to use the same colour through the communal areas and another colour(s) in the bedrooms. If the property is quite small, one colour throughout gives a feeling of space.
Window dressing should be simple and stylish and chosen to the market that is being targeted. This mew house is on the market for £1.4m so I choose Nina Campbell fabrics in subtle shades but which add wow factor.
Make sure you have good curb appeal and a wow factor when you open the front door which makes buyers want to step over the threshold to see more.
Dress beds, sofas and armchairs with cushions and throws to add pops of colour.
Add vases of fresh flowers and plants on surfaces and also in the bathroom.
Shelves and surfaces - Colour coordinate the books on your bookshelves. Style the shelves with groups of books, some horizontally stacked some vertically and only beautiful decorative items. Remove family & friends photos. A big no-no is a photo frame with nothing in it and half used candles - remove these!
Buy new towels for the purposes of showing the property to potential buyers. There’s nothing worse than discoloured towels!
A runner on the dining table with a pair of candlesticks with coloured candles and a vase of flowers adds a nice touch
DEPERSONALISE every room. Buyers need to imagine themselves living there and don’t want to see all your personal items.!
Buy a good quality room spray and spray the rooms before a viewing. Ortigia or White Company rooms sprays are lovely.
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It's so important to create an instant visual impact because people form an opinion of your home within the first 20 seconds of entering. Here's another beautiful stair runner I created.