Which Choices Make a Desert Home Appear Overly Full Quickly
To create a welcoming interior space, a large portion of a Palm Desert home benefits from leaving the desert environment visible. The space created by the layout, lighting, and outlook can be quickly claimed by furnishings, accessories, and design details. To a buyer, a home with competing elements appears cramped and difficult to navigate. When staging for sale, removing clutter in these areas better shows the room’s size, flow, and connection to the outdoors.
Keep reading to learn which home design choices can make a desert home feel overly full too quickly, and how to avoid this mistake when making a big purchase.
Why Do Desert Homes Become Cluttered Quickly?
Open layouts, oversized windows, and access to the outdoors are popular in the desert. These elements allow buyers to see the whole home from a few focal points, such as the living room. This can cause confusion if each part of the house uses competing elements. Open floor plans tend to work best in the desert modern style, with a particular focus for the gaze.
Combining Too Many Materials
Stone, wood, tile, metal, glass, and interesting plaster textures can all be appropriate in some areas of a desert-modern house. However, it can create a muddled look if each room has variations on the same theme, or all elements clash in one space
The work and balance required to create a room with contrasting details show up in the furnishings, decor, and colors. If two different wood tones appear in the same space, the eye will pick up on it and try to reconcile it, just like with fabric colors. Making one color or a dominant element will help to unify a space. Repeat the same texture or grain value in neighboring rooms to see the space as one.
Can Oversized Pieces Add Bulk to an Area?
Sections of oversized furniture can act as obstacles in larger rooms, making them feel smaller. Buyers won’t notice the square footage as much if the room is furnished in a way that makes them stop, turn, and double back. In these areas, make furniture a backdrop and keep the center of the room clear. If the traffic ways are obstructed, the space will feel minimized. This is especially true for pieces near large windows, sliding glass doors, and patios that extend the room. Buyers should consider how a space is used and be clear on what furniture actually serves that purpose.
“The fastest way to make a desert home feel cluttered is to let every finish, furnishing, and accessory compete for attention. Buyers usually respond better when the design feels calm, the walkways are open, and the windows frame the outdoor views.”–Ron Saporito, Chief Executive Officer & Broker / Owner
Blocking Light and Landscaping
Heavy or patterned treatments, valances, and even extra layers of drapes can compete with the architecture, especially in homes where sunlight and views are a primary design focus. Thick treatments can also make ceilings look lower and windows smaller than they are.
On the flip side, it can be hard for residents to feel comfortable with their home if solar shades, shutters, or even light sheer drapes are chosen for the sole reason of keeping out sunlight. While extreme temperatures must be addressed, any shading should still complement the home’s design. Palm Desert homeowners face an added challenge: hot temperatures paired with beautiful desert surroundings.
Why Is Clutter Caused By Too Many Small Items?
A single small item doesn’t pose a problem, but when every space is filled to the brim, it becomes distracting. Every corner is utilized, so the eye has nowhere to rest when looking around a furnished room. Collections of frames, candles, baskets, signs, and other items create an expectation for more in each space. One or two larger pieces on shelves, tables, and around windows typically create a curated look. Always leave some space on surfaces so the items that remain have more impact.
Clashing Too Many Desert Themes?
Too many cactus motifs, sunburst mirrors, Western accents, animal trophies, red clay pottery, and desert-themed home décor can create clutter. Choose a few pieces with unique texture or detail to create a desert-inspired room without using everything in this category. Woven rugs, ceramics, and art objects that have some sort of authenticity can ground a room in the Western look without buying every accessory in the genre.
Does Disorganized Home Feel Like Clutter?
In a word, yes. There isn’t a practical storage approach in the home, and clutter appears wherever things seem to have no designated location. This means appliances pile up on the countertop, multiple pairs of shoes live in entryways, pool equipment sits on the patio, and extra towels take up bedroom space.
More importantly, look at the amount and type of storage in the offered square footage. A larger walk-in closet may seem impressive, but it won’t matter nearly as much as having some deep storage within easy reach of the garage, laundry room, kitchen, and outdoor entertaining area.
How to Create Calm Inside a Desert House
A clutter-free Palm Desert home doesn’t mean bare walls, empty cabinets, and monochrome neutrality. Instead, a home should follow a visual hierarchy. You can create this easily by choosing a similar group of flooring and paint colors, then letting contrasting materials and small accents bring life to the room. Keep furniture out of high-traffic areas, and place items to face the room’s most desirable focal point.
Just before the sale, remove extra furnishings and place what remains strategically so the architecture can speak. Buyers should be able to visualize their own furnishing and storage needs within the home. They shouldn’t have to mentally strip the place bare to see what space they have. Reach out to the professionals at Ronald Christopher & Associates for more information on clutter-free housing styles in your Palm Desert Home today.
What Do Buyers Ask About Cluttered Desert Homes?
Q: Should I Pass On Houses With Interior Clutter?
A: No. Buyers will replace or remove most furniture, art, paint, and accessories when they move in with their own furnishings. The layout of the home, window placement, amount of storage, and permanent details like fireplace mantels and crown molding are where clutter in these things originates. In contrast, a nicely staged but oddly sized home won’t serve the buyer’s needs as well as one that uses its furnishings more efficiently.
Q: What Are The Most Effective Ways To Remove Clutter?
A: In the most cost-effective way, start clearing furniture, furnishings, items off of counter space, and anything else that interferes with the movement of traffic around the house. This will also open up sightlines to the outdoors. Next, work on removing extraneous colors in patterns, materials, and accessories in favor of ones that complement the architecture and flow of the house. Lastly, make any flooring, cabinetry, or other updates that could increase the value with minimal impact on the budget.
Q: Can Colorful Or Patterned Things Be Included In A Clutter-Free Room?
A: Pile it up in one area and make it part of the architecture itself. Patterned rugs, colorful and bold art, tile, or any element with interest at any given surface in a room will draw the eye towards it to be enjoyed. Then let the other areas of the room follow the pattern and color in this item, using it only in certain parts so it doesn’t feel overwhelming or need to be repeated.
Q: How Can One Tell If A House Has Enough Storage Space?
A: Open up the closets in the home and look at what the offered square footage includes. Think about what storage areas make sense for you and your possessions; where your suitcases will stay, where Christmas decorations and pool items will live when removed, where the outdoor pillows can fit, where the cleaning supplies and maintenance products for these areas will be kept, and even where recreational equipment will end up once everyone gets home from work. If even small closet spaces aren’t enough room for your belongings, the house or buyer will need to rethink this.