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…

I think that the problem is partly the photographer. He has stood on the dark side of the room, pointed the camera at three large windows/doors and got his exposure wrong.
You'd be better off scrapping that picture and keeping just pictures 7 and 9 to represent the room.

Also, I think the room has an identity crisis. It has elegant Georgian panelling but suburban sofas, said sofas are brown but the country-house chair is blue, a Jacobean-style darkwood chest but a blondwood modernist TV cabinet, a Next lamp in silver tones but a coal scuttle in brass. There is no cohesion, not in historical terms nor in the different colours of wood and metal.

Your answer is not random colour-coordinated 'stuff' but, rather, a 'story'. What sort of people live here; is their style modernist or traditional or eclectic / evolved; town or country; what are their interests and hobbies? Find a narrative, set a stage.
You did it for the sitting room, you can do it for the drawing room too!

I think it’s a beautiful room and the kind of listing that people will look at in a “maybe one day” way.

It’s surely a good sign that so many people feel inspired to put their imprint on it just from the photo you’ve shared here!

It is a beautiful room not just badly decorated but terribly presented too. You're not utilising the space properly. The windows are underdressed, the sofas completely wrong. The half panelling is awful, it either needs to be full panelling or none at all. None of these statements are helpful because you're selling the house anyway.

Although a different style, it reminds me of my parents' lounge, a room that they never really finished or even started as the space, despite being beautiful, was tricky, so they just made do with what they had. In the end, when my parents sold that house, they took the furniture out completely for the pictures and viewings as the way they had it was not enticing to buyers. It rather intimated the space was difficult and it would be expensive to do. I think this applies to this room too. However, I think you'd be better investing a little money re-dressing the room and/or spending money on staging, if only for the pictures.

The half panelling is awful, it either needs to be full panelling or none at all.

It's the original panelling.

Why are there curtain poles but no curtains? I think windows look bare without curtains (even if there are shutters) and they look odd with bare poles.

@SoupDragon Just because something is original, doesn't mean it's good.

I agree actually, and I am one of the people who said the OP should get a rug.

In the end, people aren't idiots. They are capable of seeing beyond the dated brown leather sofas and the very pedestrian wallpaper. They look at the aspect, the natural light, the dimensions, whethere or not there is an open flue and a working fireplace, whether the floorboards are in decent condition, whether the sashes and shutters are rotten or in good working order. And as always, the location. All the other stuff is just window dressing. It's probably more important in modern featureless new builds, which is why developers spend so much on the smoke and mirrors interior design od their showhomes. But a decent sized period propety with lovely original features in a desirable location will sell itself without the need to be 'dressed' or updating the furniture and accessories that will go with the vendor anyway.

@senua Your answer is not random colour-coordinated 'stuff' but, rather, a 'story'. What sort of people live here; is their style modernist or traditional or eclectic / evolved; town or country; what are their interests and hobbies? Find a narrative, set a stage.

This could not be further from the truth. It’s buying brick and mortar. The owners hobbies are of no interest to anyone with a bit of sense.

I never care about the decoration all k see is a lovely bright room . People can usually look beyond the sofas? At least i can !
I wouldn't spend any money on decoration for a house i am trying to sell

You need to do that for a featureless modern newbuild to sell a ‘lifestyle’ narrative. It’s not necessary for this house. You can see exactly what you’re getting, even with a lack of decorative inspiration.

You still need to sell a narrative. OP herself was told not to light a fire in the room as it implies that the house is cold. Somebody else above said that lack of furnishing could imply that the cost of restoring the house had swallowed all their budget and they were now moving because the coffers are empty (and work still needs doing?)
People can see but they can also speculate, possibly wrongly.

Sorry haven't read all the reply's but what a lovely room.

I would get a lamp a huge potted plant, like an Olive in a wicker basket.

A huge neutral rug under the coffee table and dress the table with a basket with flowers in a vase or jug some books, and expensive home magazines and a nice expensive candle. Maybe a lamp with rechargeable bulb also.

Cushions on the sofas with feather inserts in neutral, browns and beige and get some beige coloured throws to drape over the arms.

Hmm… I just looked at the listing. Those aren’t great photos. A bit dingy and from awkward angles. All those shadows from the lights look awful, especially the photo with the piano, it looks like the carpet is stained. I was mildly confused that the room the blurb says you use as a “library” has no books in the photo 😂 The island thing in the dressing room confused me too. I wasn’t sure what the room was.

The house is beautiful though. I think it will probably sell itself. You don’t have a lot of furniture or decorative items yet, the house looks a bit empty, and a lot of the furniture is too small for the grand proportions of the rooms, the modern light fittings are terrible, If you were going to stage the house properly, you would have to spend a small fortune. I think buying a lot of cheap accessories and prints will actually cheapen the house. Small touches like scatter cushions are going to look a bit lost, like the little bunches of flowers do. I don’t think it will make much difference though because it’s clear how lovely the house is. As you said, you just haven’t finished furnishing yet.

I would think about moving the furniture so the photos highlight the best pieces and they work for the composition of the photos (if the current photos are taken from the best angle) eg swap the tiny cupboard in the bay window that looks lost for the sideboard in the drawing room or an armchair and table (it looks a lovely sunny spot to sit), move the piano that looks shoved in a corner (ironic considering how much space you have). The painting in the blue study (?) would be perfect in the drawing room. I would add in some flowers and props that you already own eg lots of huge flower arrangements, a fruit bowl on the island, something on the island thing in the dressing room, lay the table etc so the house doesn’t look quite so empty and unlived in, but I wouldn’t waste money on “CRAP” as PPs have named it 😂

It looks like a very lovely blank canvas with some beautiful original features. Usually on these threads, houses need staging to hide faults or show how a small space is useable so it is worth the time and money. You don’t really have that issue.

Normally, I would agree with you about selling a story, @senua but the bare bones of the house are great and, although there is nothing wrong with OP’s taste, a lot of that furniture seems to have been bought for a much smaller house. It would cost a fortune to create a story that sells a lifestyle appropriate to that house - a huge dining table for entertaining, a library full of books, statement accessories, period light fittings instead of spot lights, amazing art. OP should save her time and money for furnishing her new home perfectly rather than rushing into buying things in one weekend to sell this one. Cheap, quick fixes like IKEA prints and cushions are going to make it look worse.

Cushions on the sofas...in neutral, browns and beige and get some beige coloured throws to drape over the arms

...because there isn't enough beige and brown already?

I agree with @KnickerFolder. If the OP had just bought this house and was asking for advice on how to turn it into a fabulous home, then the 'story' idea is the kind of thing she should be thinking about. But there is really no point in trying to do that when the house is already on the market, unless the OP just happens to have a storage unit stuffed with antique furniture, art and carpets that she can put into action temporarily.

It is a huge house with lovely period details, like the shutters and the panelling, and it sounds like the OP and her DH have done a lot of important improvements. It is now going to be a blank slate for someone else to come along and stamp their own personality on, without having to do a lot of the boring and expensive renovation work that often comes with buying a period home. It is attractively priced for a house that size which is apparently ready to move into with no major work needed.

I think it will be much more effective for the estate agents to push that angle than to try to do a last minute half-hearted interior-design makeover - it would take months/years, a lot of money and probably a professional interior designer to turn it into the kind of fabulous-looking house sold by Inigo Homes.

This house https://inigo.com/sales-list/the-old-rectory-iv or this house https://inigo.com/sales-list/green-street are not a million miles from the OP's property in terms of age, size and so on, and they are good examples of how you could make a house like hers look much more coherent, appealing and lived-in without cramming it full of clutter, but it is not a look that can be achieved with a credit card and a weekend trip to John Lewis or Ikea.

OP, I hope you find a buyer quickly, and your next place is somewhere that you can really settle down in and make your own.

Better than shit fake full panelling which isn't right.

Those houses are beautiful, @SoloSofa24 !

As well as being a beautiful house that should sell itself, it doesn’t really have much competition. Photos are really important when you need to make your property stand out from 30/40 similar houses. There are very few properties in the area in that price bracket and they are very different. People aren’t likely to compromise on whether they want to live in the city or country, whether they want a modern or period property, a cottage or grand house, so they only have about half a dozen similar houses on the market to choose from. Even then, there is huge variation eg number of reception rooms, orangerie (or not) high/low ceilings, Georgian/Victorian/Edwardian, the amount land, waterside etc. With so few, they are probably going to view them all and it will probably be something about the house/land/location rather than the interior design that will be the deciding factor.

OP your house is lovely, you’ve done a great job so far, the house is just a bit empty! Hope you find a buyer quickly and have fun filling your new home with lovely things.