How's your curb appeal, is it Ho hum or Oh my? Do people really judge a book by it's cover, you bet.
Curb Appeal is the proverbial book cover to your home. We know that real estate is an emotional sell and staging speaks to buyers on an emotional level. Why, because it takes them by the hand and says, look you could be living here, imagine yourself living here. It is important to understand that design creates relationships, relationships in turn produce drama which then begets emotions and after all the laughter and tears, hopefully you find yourself a signed contract for the full asking price.
Sure you should'nt judge a book by it's cover but potential buyers do-it all the time. When merchandising a property it's important to take advantage of every marketing moment even if it's just to catch the attention of a passerby. You really never know who might be passing by your home at any given moment and giving good face is extremely important in establishing a great first impression.
As a design consultant I often find myself being an interpreter of sorts for my clients. I try to translate their intent into something tangiblefor potential buyers to take hold of. Not everyone has the ability to spend hours understanding the many principles that encompass design theory and how design encompasses everything we see. Stagers utilize curb appeal to catch the eye, to make a statement, to say hey, I'm here, why not take a look inside.
My clients needed something to catch potential buyers attention in an otherwise ho hum subdivision, where all the properties look alike. At a listing price of 1 million it's important to establish a rapport of the imagination with potential buyers, to take them somewhere unique; a place they can retreat to. A place to call home. At that price point, buyers want quality fixtures and upgrades, They want something unique and in Hawaii they want the out of doors life style.
When creating a proposal we first address what the general design theme of the property is or will be. In this particular case the mid century ranch style design has an Territorial Style roof line witch combines Mission with Asian design aesthetics.
In our design proposal we suggested creating a gated ped-a-terre off the front bedroom. We wanted to reclaim the front lawn into usable square footage and enlarge the feeling and function of the rather small front bedroom. It also creates a private entrance for potential house guests and creates a rather dynamic interplay between in-door and out-door spaces. We suggested adding mahogany stained french doors with matching Kitchen window to the right. Lava rock or flagstone foot path and brown river rock.
Adding a Japanese style gate matching the roof line of the house, creates an intimate space while providing a focal point for the front of the house.
The garden itself would provide an additional 400 hundred plus square feet of useable outdoor living space and dramatically improve the size and feel of the front bedroom, as well as, the overall curb appeal of the property.
We suggested using this copper and stone light fixture to give the front entry that Territorial ambience.
This bronze Southeast Asian rain drum(water drops from the eves on to the drum) has a Foo dog motif and intimates the shape of the ceramic vessel water feature. It also adds an interesting conversation piece and sound element when it's raining.
Fung Shui is very popular in Hawaiian design as ancient Hawaiians practiced a very similar spiritual approach to design and the arrangement of interior and exterior spaces.
We offered custom designed vintage address numbers with Art Deco font and faux copper patina to capture the Mission & Territorial styles popular in the first half of the 20th century in hawaii. By focusing on the quality of the fixtures and the design theme we were able to offer a quick and economical solution to transform their ho hum into Oh My!
We estimated this curb appeal make over to be roughly .06% of the listing price of the house.
