Low Cost Home Makeovers - 11 handy tips. Number 11. Clutter.

I was recently invited to Grand Designs Live in Birmingham, to talk about home makeovers and how to keep costs down, whether you're selling your home or want to enjoy living in it. To follow is a summary of the suggestions I made, with lots of 'Before' and 'After' photos as illustrations.

CLUTTER - how much clutter do you really have to deal with?
• De-clutter thoroughly before a makeover
• Examine everything you have left, and provide adequate storage as part of the new scheme
If the makeover is for selling purposes...
• Remove everything unless it’s part of the scheme and enhances the photos
• Try to de-clutter as you’re packing the excess items away, so it doesn’t all come with you

Before - this was a typical room in the house, taken over by children's toys. By creating a playroom with lots of storage, everything could then be moved into there, leaving the other rooms free for their intended purpose

 

After - once proper storage had been provided

Before - the Master Bedroom in a house that was soon to go on the market

After - even with a low budget, we made a huge difference to the saleability of this room



Before - another room in the above house. There wasn't much we could re-use, but there were other rooms we could borrow items from, to keep the budget down

After - a much calmer space

Before - a bare porch

After - with adequate storage and some soft touches

Before - remove everything unless it enhances the photo - including the wallpaper pattern

After - a much calmer space for sale

 

Before - allow adequate storage in the home, and use it!

After - the wardrobes upstairs weren't being used, so it didn't take long to sort this out

Before - the same house as above - a table was blocking the wardrobe, so a double wardrobe then became useless

After - everything fit easily into the wardrobes

Before - a huge shed belonging to the above property

After - much easier to use this space now

Before - patterns can be clutter too

After - one of my favourite transformations

Next - the most important consideration when you're planning a makeover...