Summer can be an exciting time of year to sell your home, the garden has never looked better and the rooms are bathed in light. To help make your home look its best this summer, we bring you five easy ways to style your home.
If you’ve chosen summer as the season to move home, we’ve compiled a bucket list of top tips to help get your home ready for the market.
1. Develop a green finger
In theory, your garden has never looked better.
Colours are at their sharpest, borders are filled to the brim with healthy shrubs and flowers and the grass is a lush, green baize. Summer is the month for uninhibited growth.
Mow the lawn twice weekly to ensure it remains in peak condition, or on a weekly basis in particularly dry spells.
Consider the garden as an extension of your home, more so than ever in summer. A collection of fragrant herb pots outside the kitchen door can work wonders, herbs such as Thyme, rosemary and mint are all hardy growers and can be picked up easily at garden centres and supermarkets.
If you don’t tend to spend much time in your garden, it might be worth taking a tour and identifying peaceful pockets for reading or suntraps you can recommend to viewers. Also, be sure to keep hedges and bushes trimmed back around paths and seating areas so your viewers don’t come across any obstacles during their tour.
2. Lift the mood with sunny accents
It’s not necessary to do a full-scale redecoration of your home prior to selling in the summer, but the addition of some sunny accents can lift the mood considerably. After all, nobody wants to step out from the bright sunshine and into a gloomy cave.
Swap heavier textures, such as velvet throws and woollen rugs, for lighter linens and cottons. Maintain that ‘Hygge’ cosiness with Scandi-style weaves. You don’t need to pick bold colours; billowing Gatsby whites and creams will do just as nicely.
House Beautiful lists 70s Scandi as the number one trend for summer 2019, quoting the Head of Design at Dunelm, Debbie Drake, as highlighting macramé planters, earthy palettes, geometric prints and accent colours as key picks for this season.
If all else fails, a splash of bold colour can invigorate any room. A turquoise vase, a yellow cushion or a fuchsia throw are all low-cost elements that can invite a touch of summer into your home.
3. The windows are the eyes to the sale…
Windows capture the view from your home, possibly quite a spectacular view, and as such they need to be properly maintained at all times.
Summer can be particularly tough on windows; dry spells cause loose dirt to be blown about, heavy pollen counts combined with occasional showers can leave your glazing looking less than dapper.
Crystal-clear windows not only enhance the natural beauty of your home, they let in more light.
It’s best to plan ahead with this one, cleaning windows on a hot sunny day is not recommended as they will most likely dry streaky. Instead, pick an overcast day.
Be kind to the environment and leave the expensive brand window cleaners on the shelves. For really dirty windows, add a splash of vinegar to a bowl of warm water.
If your windows are palatially sized, don’t be afraid to call in reinforcements from the professional realms. The importance of sparkling clean windows cannot be understated.
An often-overlooked element in summer house styling is curtains. Heavy drapery can appear imposing during the summer time, so consider taking down particularly wintery fabrics prior to viewings.
Consider also the neatness of drawstring blinds. A well-placed piece of tape can help to conceal unsightly, dangling cords.
4. Make your home a refuge from the heat
When the sun is cracking the flags outside, make your home a place of refuge for your wilting viewers.
Invest in an attractive glass jug, perhaps a vintage tray and some colourful tumblers, and be ready with the freshly squeezed lemonade on those swoon-inducing hot afternoons.
Invite some cooling greenery into your home. Peace lilies can survive even the most negligent of owners! For the kitchen, consider a trailing plant such as ivy. In addition to adding an aesthetic element (ivy comes in a variety of yellow, white, green and black hues), ivy helps purify the air of mould and bacteria.
Freshly cut flowers from the garden are a simple and effective way of brightening up the room. Try to match the colour to your room’s scheme. A few sprigs of soothing lilac in a guest bedroom creates both aroma and colour for your visitors.
5. Splash the colour upstairs
Create the ultimate room of refreshment for viewers by ensuring your bathroom is ready for the season.
An easy way to add a splash of colour is to purchase vibrant coloured towels for the bathroom and match them with a similarly-coloured bath mat.
When it comes to styling your bedroom for summer, begin with a de-clutter and spring clean. An overloaded bedroom can be oppressive and off-putting.
With a blank canvas to work with, it’s time to create a masterpiece.
Why not invest in a white cotton bedding set? Put practicality to one side and embrace the cool tones and purity of alabaster.
Burning a Jo Malone Orange Blossom scented candle by the bed in place of a heavy shaded lamp can bring the lightness of the solstice to your bedside table.
Trade your blackout curtains for wooden shutters, a simple switch that allows you to adjust light levels in the day time and provide you with total darkness at night.
Tuck your heavy feather duvet away in the bedding box for the summer season, and invest in some Egyptian cotton sheets.
All that’s left to do now is to apply the sun-cream and sit back and marvel at your handiwork. All in a summer day’s work.
