It’s been widely reported that London house prices have fallen for the first time in eight years.
However, two London homeowner’s, Lucy and Anthony Hamer-Hodges, have taken matters into their own hands with a £1,000 interior makeover which halved the average time to receive an asking price offer on their property.
The makeover service was provided by their estate agent, Housesimple, and led by London interior stylist, Joanna Thornhill.
Joanna says, when Housesimple approached me to work on a property transformation for their pilot home makeover service – designed to help UK homeowners sell their property more quickly and to increase its desirability – I was instantly intrigued to see the pilot home in question and work out how I could use my designated budget of £1,000 to make a big difference.
Dining Room – How it was spent
Lower walls painted in Dulux Hawaiian Blue 2, £19.99 for 2.5L, Succulent in blue pot, £5.49, Rust-Oleum Chalky Finish furniture paint in Fire Brick (on chair backs), £4.99 for 125ml, all Homebase. Patterned table runner, £8.99, H&M. Circular tray, £12.99, HomeSense. Justina chair pads, £4 each, Stockholm fabric (used on lower half of bookcase), £6 per metre, all IKEA. Tezz gloss pendant light in Anthracite, £20, B&Q. Bar stool (by bureau), £47.99, Amazon. All other items, homeowner’s own
Living Room – How it was spent
Mosaic metallic wallpaper, £16 per 10m roll, B&Q. Rust-Oleum Chalky Finish furniture paint in Graphite (on built-in cabinets), £12.99 for 750ml, Homebase. Marble granite-look contact paper (on built-in cabinet tops), £17.99 per roll, Amazon. Nunnerort curtains, £20, Brunsta lampshade, £16, Avsiktlig square patterned cushion, Livslang vase in Mint, £6, Begavning glass dome, £6, all IKEA. Gold and black vase, £8.99, Mudcloth printed cushion cover, £8.99, Tassled cushion cover, £12.99, Metal candlestick in Copper, £8.99, Pyramid candlestick in Black, £6.99, all H&M. Yellow velvet cushion, £14.99, Grey diamond throw, £29.99, HomeSense. All other items, homeowner’s own
Lucy and Anthony Hamer-Hodges, had an offer made on their 3-bedroom maisonette in West Norwood as a result of a pilot interior makeover service provided by Housesimple. An offer made at the asking price, 32 days after the listing on the Housesimple website beating the average time on the high street which stands at 62 days.
Hallway – How it was spent
Patterned cotton runner, £24.99, H&M. Mono lampshade in Black & White, £14.99, Argos. Chalkboard paint (on wall), £29.99 for 2.5L, Rust-Oleum Chalky Finish furniture paint in Coral (on table legs), £4.99 for 125ml, both Homebase. Wire noticeboard, £15, Ceramic votive in black and white, £3, both Sainsbury’s. Gradvis pastel vases, £7 for two, IKEA. Small metal tealight holder (holding chalk), £1.99, H&M. All other items, homeowner’s own.
Sophie Gosling, co-founder and COO, Housesimple said: “Our business is all about making house selling simpler. ‘We wanted to show how with some clever interior changes, a property can become much more desirable to buyers in a matter of hours. “Following the success of the makeover there is the potential to roll out the service wider, using local interior stylists to help speed up the selling time of their home.”