Stop the Scroll. That’s the goal when designing for investment properties. So you can get more eyes on your property and ultimately get more booking and more profits. So keep reading or listen above to discover what design mistakes to avoid when updating the interior of your investment property. And even if you don’t have a rental property this episode is worth a listen to help you get your own home looking its best. Are you ready?
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Design Mistakes to Avoid: Not having a color palette
Having a color palette is one of the easiest ways to make your home feel cohesive, well-designed, and create a sense of flow. We want our guests to have a great experience in our homes, and good design elevates their experience. And, if you’re a homeowner, good design makes you feel better in your home. So it’s equally important.
With a color palette, let’s keep it simple. Pick three, max four colors for your home. and use those colors consistently throughout your space. Not only will it make your home look more thoughtful and well-designed, but it will also make shopping for your home so much easier as you’ll stick with the current color palette and only need to shop for things that work within your color palette.
Mistake #2: Choosing Cheap Materials
As real estate investors the goal is to save money so you might think, “shouldn’t I just put the cheapest stuff in so I can save money and keep more in my pocket?”
And my answer is no because it is best to have a mix of higher quality and more affordable items. So here’s what I want you to do. I want you to invest in some pieces that are pretty important that can take some wear and tear. For example, what are heavily used items in your property? Likely the sofa you’re sitting on, the dining room table you’re using, or the bed or the mattress. Consider performance fabrics for sofas since they’re more durable and stain resistant.
Now, if you don’t want to spend a lot on materials, because I get it, whether you’re a homeowner or real estate investor, the economy is a little tighter right now. So how can you save while still getting good quality and durable pieces for your home or investment property? Well, you can always look at places like Facebook Marketplace and watch for sales. If you ‘re not in a rush and on a timeline, furniture stores and businesses online will always run sales. Here in the States, we’ve got Labor Day, Black Friday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Fourth of July. These are common sale times that always help find good deals. If you can time any purchases around those times, you can score great deals.
Use Smoke and Mirrors to Make Your Property Look More Expensive
With my one-to-one design clients and my design students in Room Design Essentials, I talk about the concept of smoke and mirrors. It’s a little trick to give the illusion that everything in your home is more expensive and higher quality.
I want you to include one, or maybe two, higher-end beautiful pieces in your room that cost a little bit more than the other pieces in your room. Those pieces will actually elevate the look of your entire room and give the illusion that your space is higher end. I know, it sounds so easy that by including one thing that’s a little fancier, a little more expensive, you can make everything else around it look expensive, but it works.
Design Mistake #3: Ignoring your Investment Strategy
The design is different for different investment strategies and for the clientele you want to host and attract. Think about which audience you want to attract. Is it traveling nurses, medical residents, families looking for a getaway, traveling professionals, snowbirds, or retirees. Those are a few audiences, and the design might be a little different based on each one of those audiences.
Be sure to consider your ideal client when designing your investment property.
BONUS Design Mistake: Too Themey
This is an easy mistake to make when going for a theme design like a beach home. You might see fish and anchors everywhere. Fish lamps, fish wall art, fish pillows, fish dishes. It can get to be too much. So here’s what to do instead:
Think about the essence of the theme.
For a beach theme, you don’t need anchors and fish everywhere. You might have one anchor or fish, but then include colors of the coast, and textures of the coast like woven materials. That will help capture the essence of the theme without it jumping out at you.
Final Thoughts...
The design of your investment property matters. And to make it easier for you I created a free guide that you can download. It’s called: Design for Medium-Term Rentals. It’s meant to help you get started updating your property so you can stop the scroll. To get it, you can go to https://nestorations.com/mtr
As always, thanks for reading and keep listening to the Design Your Home podcast for weekly design conversations to help you design and decorate your home with confidence.
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