If you’re planning to sell your house, it’s natural to want to update it to match the current style trends that seem to be attracting buyers and creating bidding wars on homes. While it might seem like updating your home with these trends would automatically create more interest and even increase your home’s value, be careful – not all trends are worth following, and some can actually hurt your home from quickly selling.
As you scan through Pinterest looking at the hottest trends, here are design trends to avoid when selling your home.
Open Shelving
Open shelving in a kitchen may seem to be on trend, but this can end up being a nightmare. While this has the potential to look very modern, you need to have a very specific homebuyer who also loves this design element.
The problem with open shelving in kitchens is that it can very quickly look cluttered and messy. If you’re a family with kids and have various styles and designs of cups and plates, displaying those on open shelves can end up looking incredibly distracting and making your kitchen look disorganized.
Additionally, they can be a big problem in states like California that encounter earthquakes. CA Flat Fee shares how buyers may look at these shelves and instantly realize how dangerous they can be during an earthquake, because dishes can easily fall and shatter on the floor.
Bold Accent Walls
Having a feature wall in a room is not necessarily a bad idea; however, choosing a bold color for an accent wall can turn buyers away before they set foot inside your house. When buyers are looking at photos online of your home, if they see a room (especially a larger one), painted with an opinionated color like red or teal, it can immediately turn them off.
Even though this is a relatively simple thing for a homebuyer to change once purchasing the house, it immediately gives them a project. Instead of painting with loud colors that might only work for your style, select neutral tones for accent walls. You can also look to design a wall with non-permanent features like large mirrors or canvas prints. This is a great way to create a featured wall that can look attractive when selling your home.
Too Much Landscaping to Maintain
Front yards and backyards that are well manicured can increase your home’s value and look attractive to potential buyers, but be careful to have a yard that requires a lot of frequent landscaping maintenance. While gardening can be good for your mental health and therapeutic, it can also be intimidating if the yard requires too much of it.
Beautiful landscaping is great for your listing photos and can help get buyers in the door, so there is a balance with how much you should actually have. If buyers see the yard as a big project to maintain (whether it means doing it themselves or hiring gardeners), it could turn them off from wanting to make an offer.
Themed Rooms
Consistency throughout your house is key when trying to sell it. Avoid having rooms that follow different themes, even if the themes are minimal. For example, if your living room is clean and modern, but then the master bedroom has a rustic vibe with a DIY wooden accent wall, this can deter potential buyers from making an offer on your house.
Even though both rooms might look great on their own and have no major issues with them, as a whole, the house does not feel consistent. This then becomes another cost that a buyer has to take into consideration, since they would likely make adjustments.
Final Thoughts
As you decorate your house and plan to sell it, keep buyers in mind. When in doubt, go for clean, decluttered styles and designs.
