Curating Spaces
There is no greater feeling than placing a keepsake on the shelf or hanging up new artwork. Accomplishment swells up inside of you and bursts with joy as you scan the room that finally feels tailored towards you. This is your space.
A few rooms inside our homes occupy a special place in our hearts and it almost feels invasive when guests stumble into them passed the purposefully closed door. The opposite tends to happen when we put a for sale sign in the front yard. We welcome as many eyes as we can gather in the shortest amount of time. If you are selling in the next 18 months, this is the moment to put your best foot—or in this case, your best room—forward. If this is just a casual read, stay a while, maybe you’ll find some inspo for your next project.
Even if your home is smack dab in the middle of a huge neighborhood where homes look like they were printed on a Dr. Horton assembly line, don’t lose heart — the interior is still your domain. Honestly, the white walls of a new-build can almost feel refreshing after seeing some of the mid-90s homes that still feature maximalism interiors and wallpaper on every surface —not withstanding an occasional ceiling.
You wield the power to immediately stand out from the thousands of other homes on listing websites by the way you intentionally draw the buyer’s gaze into curated spaces.
Now, this is not an invitation to go out and paint each room a different shade of purple. That may leave your home abandoned on the Zillow carousel with a nasty up-swipe. However, it is the start of a conversation regarding how you are intentionally drawing focus into each space of your home with let’s say — furniture, a “pop” of color, plants, or artwork.
Like Rick Ruben’s aptly titled book, this is your ‘Creative Act’. You can treat each room and corner in your home as a slab of clay ready for your impression. This shouldn’t feel like an overwhelming sense of pressure — rather you should experience excitement and peace as shapes and colors come together.
A primary bedroom curated by a homeowner who enjoy’s fun contrast, personalized furniture, and warm tones that enhance the natural light.
Before you start moving furniture and hammering nails in the wall to hang up that artwork you bought from a local artist, sit in the room throughout the day and pay attention to how the light moves. Ask yourself: Where is the focal point of the room? What feeling(s) am I trying to emulate in this space?
Looking at the floor plans of homes can give you the eerie feeling that we’re all just living inside of mazes. Most real estate listings today feature a top down view at the home allowing you to see the dimensions of each room and how they flow throughout the house. It’s a tool that only truly gets used once a house passes the initial “eye test” and ends up in the list of favorites.
It is your goal as a homeowner to end up on that favorite list when you do eventually decide to sell. It maximizes your chances of having the most walkthroughs in the least amount of time, prompting bids at or above asking price and multiple offer situations.
There may be an urge to clean your home and start looking up inspiration on pinterest. That is completely okay — all of us need a good early spring clean anyways. But, just remember, the space first has to be fun and loveable for you and your family before it can be anything else to anybody. That is ultimately what is most important.