Too much clutter in your hallway?
For most homes the very first area that we welcome guests to is the hallway. The place that we enter the front door to, where we are likely to meet, greet, wipe shoes, take off jackets, place away umbrellas and importantly make our first impressions…
“The reason why first impressions are so important is that they last well beyond that moment. This is thanks to something called the primacy effect, which means that when someone experiences something before other things in a sequence, they remember that first thing more.” 5 Reasons Why First Impressions Are The Most Important by StartBlox.com
For home owners we are very likely to use the hallway to store all those things we are to need when we are about to leave the home. Mostly we will see jackets, shoes, umbrellas, hat stands, shoe racks, bags and more. We spend very little time in the hallway that in most occasions it is forgotten for most of the time we are at home and what the eye doesn’t see then we kinda get away with. If the hallway is fairly busy with stuff then it is a job for another day.
For sure, most homes will not have the space for storing those outside clothing items and in most occasions we usually want these items to hand as we are about to open the front door and leave the property. Though the question I have is that can your hallway effect the value and the desirability of your property by effecting first impressions?
When potential buyers are to visit your home they will of course had many first impressions impacting them such as the area itself to the quality of neighbours and of course the impression they get from the property outside to include garden / entrance. Some people will have been encouraged at this point or possibly even already striked the property off from their list. Concentrating though on those still with interest we must make sure that their first impression within the property is a good one.
I suggest to stand in your hallway and evaluate what really is necessary and what extra space you can make in order that when you do meet and greet potential buyers coming through your door, their impression is spacious rather than compacted.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Do I really need that many jackets, maybe you can filter them down to seasonal?
- Shoes! Some of us love shoes, but do we really wear the ones in the hallway that frequently? Think about making space in your bedroom (under the bed).
- Hat stands / umbrella buckets. Nice features for big hallways, quite space munchers for smaller ones.
- Mirror. These will always help to both brighten and widen areas. Think about adding a mirror to give your hallway extra depth.
- Colour. You may have your very own colour scheme going, but go for brighter colours / wall paper if possible.
- Lighting. Think about brighter lighting and not bulbs faded by heavy light fittings. Choose brighter bulbs.
- Fragrance. If you can, add an inviting fragrance to the hallway by way of air fresheners.
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