Upgrade Your Home For Comfort & Buyer Appeal

Make your home more comfortable for yourself, or appealing to sellers, with these simple changes.

The start of a new year is always a good time to take stock and think about how you want to live in your home.

This could mean selling your home and purchasing something that’s more suited to your needs or it could mean updates to your existing home to make it work for you.

Either way, making updates to your home is an exciting process but it’s important to keep the end goal in mind.

Before starting any type of work from simple paint jobs to full-blown bathroom or kitchen renovations, thinking of the end goal will ensure money is well spent and to ensure you’re not over capitalising if the goal is to sell and make money.

While bathroom and kitchen renovations make the biggest difference and are most noticed they are also generally the most expensive.

This is where thinking of your end goal is important. Are you updating to stay in the home long term or are you planning on selling in the near future?

If you’re keeping the home the budget isn’t as much of a factor, simply stick to what you can afford.

However, if you’re selling you don’t want to overcapitalise as spending too much in these areas may not automatically result in a higher sale price.

Ask the experts
Speaking to your real estate agent is a great place to start if you’re planning on updating to sell.

An agent is across the local market and can let you know if updating that old bathroom will be worth the time and money or if it won’t make a huge difference to the overall sale price.

The agent will also be able to tell you what buyers are looking for. These might be areas of your home that could be enhanced without a huge price tag.

Trends for 2024
Multifunctional spaces and comfortable outdoor spaces are in demand for new and existing homes.

Why not capitalise on these very practical trends for yourself or update your home for sale with the latest trends?

Multifunctional spaces can be as simple as an office and spare bedroom combined or a golf simulator in the garage or second living space that doubles as a home gym.

While new homes are being built to suit these multi-use spaces, that doesn't mean existing homes can’t also be retrofitted to create these areas.

Think about your garage, what would it take to be able to set up a golf simulator when the cars aren’t parked there? A simple storage update could be all it takes to be able to set this up.

Combining your home office with a spare bed could look like a day bed that doubles as a spare bed for guests, or custom-built cabinetry with a fold-down bed inside.

This creates more storage space while also including a bed which can be folded up out of sight when not in use.

What about including a gym in your spare room? This could be a wall-mounted weight set with a squat rack or simply a treadmill or room for a yoga mat - it all depends on what exercise you prefer. Adding a fold-up bed or built in storage for equipment might be all it takes to have a fully functional spare room and gym combined.

Simple changes with huge impact
Painting is by far the most simple (although not easy) way to change the feel of a home. Couple painting with new window furnishing and you can dramatically change any room in the house.

Look for trending or popular colours if your plan is to sell but if your plan is to update for yourself pick colours you love. 

Consider hiding your TV. While new smart TVs which look like picture frames are popular there are many people turning their existing TVs into art by simply making a light frame which can attach to their TV.

Simply by building a frame to suit and attaching it with elastic people are drastically changing the look and feel of their living spaces

Make sure to think this project through to ensure the frame isn’t too heavy for your TV and so it won’t scratch the screen or fall off unexpectedly.

Start planning
There are plenty of low cost, or high cost, ways to update your home and change the feel of each space to appeal to buyers or simply make it a better place to live.

Think about what you want to achieve and seek professional advice before investing time and money into updates you hope will add value to your home.