Creating a cohesive design concept to make people buy your house!!

Posted by on Nov 2, 2011 in Blog, Brandon McDonald | 0 comments

Ive spent the last few entries telling everyone about the mistakes that I have made in real estate throughout my career thus far.  In this entry im going to share with you one of the things that I am actually good at!!   Cohesive design throughout the home to create the feeling of “I have to have it!!”  Ill focus on Hardwood floors for this entry.

Every house has a style to it.  My job is to either enhance the homes natural style or change that style without making it a jarring departure from its intended use.

One of the finer examples of this was a home I purchased a couple of years ago in south Nashville.   The neighborhood was all 1950’s ranch style homes.  Ive really grown to appreciate this style of home.  When I first moved to Nashville I thought they were dull and boring.  Ive since realized the potential they have to be spectacularly laid out.  Much like Frank Lloyd Wrights prairie houses they can be converted and upgraded to beautiful horizontal masterpieces that blend into the landscape!

This home was 2300 square feet all on one level, which is large for a 50’s ranch.  The previous owners had done a funky addition on the back of the house that brought the list price from $160,000 all the way down to $80,000 over a year.  People have a very hard time envisioning floor plan changes, so they tend to shy away from them.  These can be great buys if you have vision!!

We took out walls all over the house fixing the floor plan and creating a great open plan that allowed you to be in the kitchen and see the living room, den, dining room and sitting room.

I do Hardwood floors whenever possible in homes.  I love the durability and the warmth they bring to a space.  We used Ebony (almost black) 3 inch wide plank in this home.  The baseboards, door moldings and window trim in 50’s ranches are generally very understated so we painted them black to make them jump out.  Black floors and baseboards?? Seems dark right? Nope!! They seemed to drip up the walls anchoring the very light colors from the walls and the white Kitchen cabinets.

Hardwood coloring is very important!! I love very dark wood but It doesn’t always make sense in certain spaces.  You must not force the home to be something so different that its distracting to potential buyers.   Remember when choosing color that the floors will be a focal point for the space.   They can tame down crazy wall and trim choices, or they can spice up plain and boring.  Provincial is a nice redish brown for taming.  Ebony and Jacobean are very dark and have a lot of variation with the way the wood takes them.  They are more risky and I generally put them in homes with a very contemporary design.  Ive only used light flooring a few times.  Most of it looks cheap to me, but in a very airy space, natural or birch can add to the weightless feeling.

I know I sound a bit like a hippie, but let the overall home design dictate the colors you choose.  Let the home talk to you and tell you what to do!!