How do I make this room more welcoming for EA photos

[Gilesmummy]

please help..
we had the photos taken for our house this week and I think the drawing room looks,to put it mildly ‘Boring.’ I love my wallpaper and can’t replace sofas so need some ideas to inject some life..
the room has original oak panelling and shutters..

it’s a very traditional Georgian house so nothing outrageous. Although I’d quite like to see people’s ideas for creativity.

i think I’m going to be shopping this week…

For this photo from this same angle

I would take out the smaller sofa so that you can see through to the window and panelling. Then big fluffy white or cream throws, or sheepskins on the remaining sofa.
Do you have a bigger coffee table or an ottoman you could put there instead? Then some big books or a colorful bowl that take up more space. Then loose the lamp (its not doing much there all on its own
Clearly a big picture or mirror over the fireplace and a big frondy plant in the far corner at least 5ft tall in a nice pot

If it doesnt look exactly the same when people are touring, it doesnt matter, you are just staging for the photo to get peopke in the door

Is this an AI photo? Because you have a reflection of a curtain but no curtain on your right hand window. It’s tripping me out a bit looking at it and scratching my head.

Either way it’s a lovely room.

I used to have that Laura Ashley wallpaper. It doesn’t go with that panelling. You’ll have to try and soften things with a big neutral rug and throws/ cushions. Tones of beige and cream with lots of texture.

OP, you may or may not realise that it is very easy to find the listing for your house using this pic in google image search (I checked when someone else mentioned the whole house in their post).

With a lot of houses, the way you present it in the pictures can make a big difference if you are competing with lots of other similar properties in the same area. But in your case, the house is not exactly a run-of-the-mill proposition competing for notice in a crowded market: it is only going to attract buyers looking for a very large property in that area, and I would guess they are less likely to be put off by superficial staging.

And as the previous poster who referenced the entire house also said, this room is not really the problem. I have to say that to me, the pictures for the whole house do make it look rather bleak and underfurnished, even unloved - is it just too big for your needs? However, it clearly is an amazing property, so someone will want it and will have ideas about how to make it look more welcoming and lived-in.

It’s a lovely room, the windows and panelling are what makes it. I think you just need a few minor touches. Go to IKEA, I know it gets a lot of flack, but for certain things it’s good. I would get two big house plants and put one in the right corner by the rad. Another in the window on the left. IKEA do massive rugs, there is one called STOENSE (something like that) buy the biggest one they do in cream, pull the sofas forward by a foot so the front legs are on the edge of the rug. I have one which is about 3.5 metres by 2.5 and it’s really thick but was £90 4 years ago. It’s probably over a hundred now, but everyone assumes it was mega money. I think they do one bigger than this one too. Buy a big mirror to hang on the fire breast. That’s all relatively cheap if you go to IKEA. Rugs, plants and mirrors can easily be used again if you move.

Pricier options would be buying a lovely patterned lampshade from somewhere like OKA or Pooky, but they’re expensive. The rechargeable little lamps that Pooky do are also great for cosying up bare corners.

I’d buy some trinkets and place them at either end of the mantelpiece. Put them in groups of three. So a photo frame, candle and a small trinket / ornament.

Maybe an orchid or large vase of Lilies for the coffee table.

Wow it is real! I thought was a bot maybe!

Really lovely house.

It has good bones. Someone will come and snap it up.

OP the rug is not to complete the room, it's just for the photos and initial impact. So no need to spend thousands. The blanket on the far sofa is more what the room needs, but it's just a little too muted amongst all the brown. The pp above has linked a couple of rugs from John Lewis. Those are the sort of colour the room needs.There are others on the website that are mainly blue or green but with a similar tonal quality and depth of colour, if you'd prefer that.
Choose one. Pick out a few colours from it and buy cushions that go with it. And a throw out two.
Nearly every post has given you the same advice, which is quite an achievement!

Unfortunately the rest of it is as bland as this room. The furniture is just not on the scale needed. It reminds me of a museum but is a great buy compared to what you would get in cities for that. It will appeal to a certain buyer though.

Wow, what an amazing room. I don't think you need to worry. It's all perfectly neutral and buyers will see it is large, nice wooden floor and shutters and huge windows. What's not to love. Definitely light the stove though....that would be nice.

It's a house that needs to be filled with stuff, lots of stuff and nick nacks.

I think you’re devaluing the house and what you’ll get by not furnishing it or having any homely touches. It looks unloved and not a happy place to live. I’d want to feel that it had been a cosy family home and see signs of life and family. Where are the books and pictures or ornaments which most homes have, to show personality.

It looks like a moneypit that you couldn’t afford, a home you bought to flip and try to make money on the cheap (which would make me question the quality of other jobs you may have tackled or it looks like you’ve bought it and hated it, so are desperate to sell on again quickly. None of this adds value.

But not by someone trying to sell it! Much better to leave it sparsely furnished, even if the furniture is completely unsuitable for the rooms, so viewers can get a sense of the dimensions. I do think that wallpaper and those sofas are a crime in that room, but they’re not going to put off someone who falls for that space, the shutters, the panelling.

I’m going to guess you’ve owned the house a short period, spent a fair bit on essentials and now want to recoup your expenses plus take a profit.

you’re not going to do that unless you convince buyers it’s a wonderful house that is worth every penny and there is zero chance of that with the awful furniture. It looks like it’s been furnished with the remnants of a second hand shop. Sorry. You need grandeur and elegance, not cheap brown plastic sofas

I don’t understand the cry out to. Fit a rug as the floor is beautiful. I don’t have carpets except in bedrooms. Nor do you have to,spend a fortune. A few pale yellows, sage green and burnt oranges colours. This can be achieved with a big vase of flowers. A few bigger cushions. And some books on the tables.

No offence but anyone who wouldn’t buy a property because they couldn’t imagine a rug in the living room is a moron.

I couldn't agree more, @Completelyjo . This isn't the same as marketing a semi in Woking. It's a beautiful Georgian house in Norwich, which someone is going to pay about £1.2m for. Someone with money to spare who wants an elegant, historical property, with original features. Rugs, flowers and candles? Immaterial.
It's sparely furnished and decorated, which isn't a problem. The only issue I can see is the unsympathetic upgrade to the kitchen, but the kitchen island could be taken out.
Otherwise it's beautiful, and I hope a Georgian afficinado buys it.

It is our formal sitting room so we don’t want to buy anything that won’t go in our new house which is similar but even more formal..

I think you can be cheeky on this occasion - buy stuff, take photos, return stuff.

You only need to stage the room for photos, to warm up the room, to entice people to view IRL. As you say, the room is nicer in person.

Just make sure the labels don't show 😆

Colourwise, I think an aubergine, teal, dark orange combo would be good.

Rug ordered for under the table .New throw and nicer cushions ordered …all things I can use in the new house. Let’s see if I can keep any plants alive this time.
The furniture was never meant to be the furniture we were keeping, I get what people have said about it not working because I don’t think it does either but it’s what we have.
There is another armchair in that room too.

The fire being lit is interesting. I was advised that if it was lit that would lead people to think the house was cold so it HAD to be on,was not going to be warm enough without it being on, so to keep it off. The house has really good heating.

We are actually moving somewhere similar with more land otherwise I would have put my foot down to stay here and get it furnished properly.
Hubby wants a bigger train set. Yes really !

This house has a really welcoming feel (the house not necessarily the decor). I love it.

really interesting to get people’s thoughts. It’s made me re think a LOT.

This. I looked at the listing. It’s gorgeous, OP, though none of the furniture or paint/wallpaper is at all in keeping with the house, and it doesn’t look as if anyone lives there! But it has gorgeous bones.

I like- it minimal. Order blank canvas

Some very snarky responses on here- bought a house 8 weeks ago and I hated the decor but it all left with the previous owner.

I'd change the lampshade to a bigger one soft but deep (terrible description) colour and change the black blanket to a similar colour palette - online the Navajos one. .

Add some log to the basket and get the fire going Turn on the light to the left.

Edits

It's a blank canvas

I like the Navajo

It’s a great room, but very…brown. I’d be thinking I’d need strip the wall paper and paint in a period appropriate colour.

My first impression would be this house isn’t lived in. No mirror above fireplace, no curtains (I know you have shutters), no rugs or art.

All depends what rest of pictures/house isn’t like. If this is an outlier I’d have my own vision, but if I’m thinking every room needs done, then the price better reflect that.

It's beautiful, let us know when you put the house up for sale! I'd be tempted 😉

It looks fine. No suggestion anyone makes on here regarding trivial improvements to the decor is going to make a significant difference to whether someone buys or not.

I think the lack of curtains/blinds makes it look sparse - are those shutters at the windows? I also think a rug would break up the wood.