What makes a house look good?

[linmanuel]

The other thread about what makes a house look dated?
How can you make your house look fresh and better?

Artwork, not necessarily expensive but something interesting, and in the right proportion to the size of the room.

Contemporary lighting, decluttering, and a lick of paint.

Outside - nice clean door and windows, some sort of plants/pots/hanging baskets etc.
Inside - freshly painted walls, lights that suit the rooms, walls with some art and/or mirror, freshly made beds, curtains the right length.Generally tidy and clean, not too cluttered with ornaments/toys etc.

Good lighting is so important. Can’t just be overhead. You want ambient lighting, so a couple of table lamps and a standing lamp in the living room. Fresh paint as needed. Clean windows.

Lack of clutter
Artwork on the walls that’s properly framed and the right size for the space
Plug sockets that aren’t white and plastic
Nice clean skirting boards
Freshly painted
Some decorative accessories like plants, blankets, candles

For us it’s a consistent colour throughout - so the same paint colour on all walls, the same carpet everywhere, same doors etc. All done at once.

Not to everyone’s taste but I like it. Viewing houses atm and it’s galling when one room is obviously freshly done while another is desperate for a new carpet etc.

I read somewhere that you shouldn’t buy more than three (? Might’ve been 4 or other small number!) things from one range, to avoid the “catalogue photo shoot” effect. It’s a bit random and slavish to follow rigorously, but I get the point! I also like a bit of personal clutter and hate the “everything bought last week” style.

Storage.

I think that, in terms of home decor, ultimately what “looks good”, is whatever has been thought about and actively chosen by the person that lives there - whatever suits them and their lifestyle and they enjoy
looking at and using as their living environment, has been carefully considered, carefully executed and cared for/maintained.

Homes are not photos on instagram or in an interiors magazine, they are a “living environment” as in both a location where people spend their time being humans and also an ever changing place that reflects what is going on in it at any one time (ie emphasis both on “living” and “environment”!).

Everything else is just either personal style, or following trends (which is not an inherently bad or good thing, but just is what it is). I loved what Sarah Beeny said about taste on her show recently, so I screenshot it .

Basics are clean enough to be hygienic and not look uncared for, and “tidy” whatever that means for us as an individual - we all have different levels of stuff that we can manage and keep under control, so however much stuff is in the house it needs to be within the occupants clutter threshold and kept on top of in some form. And maintained - items cared for and kept in working order, any damage repaired etc.

Art
Books
textiles
carpets

Cleanliness.

Clean. In good repair. Relatively uncluttered. Well lit.

Been going round houses to buy recently and it's amazing how many of them have too much furniture, or furniture that's too big for the space. The ones that work well are the ones where there's a little space to breathe, you know?

Bright colours!

My taste is very eclectic and bright and So I love seeing similar in ither peoples houses.

For me personally: a coordinated interior, cleanness and well painted walls.
My old flat was always tidy and with a coordinated interior but somehow looked messy because the paint was old and badly done. I saved and got it professionally repainted and when I sold it the buyer, who is a property investor said that he thought the new paint was one of the things that made the flat look tidy and attractive to buy.
It makes a huge difference.

Lighting is number one. A blend of ceiling, floor lamps, hanging fixtures, and other light sources (candlelight, chandeliers, etc.) makes all the difference. Make sure you decide if you like warm or cool tones and stick to it.
Textiles is a big second. Tones and textures that please your eye and work with your family are so important!

I think whatever makes it feel spacious and light.

I think this is quite a subjective viewpoint to ask for. I like the cosiness/messiness of my home but I often look around it and think I would have to get rid of so much stuff (which I love) if I need to sell up. This makes me sad.

I agree about fresh paint but unless I do it myself (physically impossible now) the cost of employing somebody is way beyond my means. I agree also about lighting. Each of my rooms has low level lamps as well as spots (which DP hates anyway!)

Interesting comment from Nosnogging earlier about oversized furniture. Went out with DS the other day who is looking to buy some good quality furniture for his place. It is all so big. It will overwhelm his small house. He's having a rethink.

I agree about lighting. Rooms lit by a single overhead pendant will always look unwelcoming and strange to me. (And good reading lights are key.) As well as art and books and paint colours and plants, I think for me it's all about the flow of space -- can you move easily and comfortably through the house/flat? Are there comfortable places to sit down? Is there enough storage roughly where you need it to be?

I was staying with friends in an apartment in France recently, and while their aesthetic wouldn't be mine lots of heavy French armoires and elaborate inherited clocks and it's not big, their apartment is very well-designed as a set of pleasant, well-flowing, easily-usable spaces that work for the four people who live there. They have factored in ways of closing off parts of the apartment for privacy for the bedrooms, and a guest 'space' which though it isn't a room, exactly, can be closed off to be private and also works as a workspace, and they have been very good at using decor and lighting to separate off, say, the L-shaped room which is a combined kitchen/diningroom/living room so that all the zones work, and it doesn't feel cramped.

Comfy chairs and clean cups

Flooring is important too.
Hard wood is ideal but nice neutral carpet or rug can be very nice.

When house hunting I was a bit put off by any laminate, unless brand new and good quality and lino was a hard no. Very, very pleased when a property had hard wood (though not sanded floor boards).

Freshly painted front door is a great start. A lovely, timber door makes a house seem nice - far preferable to any pvc. I'm always impressed by a modern fresh looking / quirky / cute door mat too. That's a cheap and easy one.

What I think takes a clean, uncluttered, nicely done up house to the next level is having the walls plastered so they are all flat and not bumpy or cracked.
I had my house painted before I moved in, so it looks good (especially as clutter stayed in the garage!) But the next step up would the walls to look better.

@Yayayaya20

For us it’s a consistent colour throughout - so the same paint colour on all walls, the same carpet everywhere, same doors etc. All done at once.

Not to everyone’s taste but I like it. Viewing houses atm and it’s galling when one room is obviously freshly done while another is desperate for a new carpet etc.

That's great if you can afford to blitz an entire house at once!

You'd hate our house then. It's like a bridge. Just as we finish, the room we did first needs doing again!

Not really about taste - more about budget surely!

I'm intrigued by people's insistence that lighting is so important to the look of a room. When there's daylight, I have no lights on. When it's dark I want plenty of light so I can see properly, not subtle lamplight etc. Am I missing something?

Surely its personal taste?
Houses that are grey/white/silver are very popular but I could never live with those colours.
I like a lot of stuff, I have so much I rotate it at different seasons .
I like colour and 'granny chic' stuff.