The decor scheme in a bedroom often gets personal, and that personality may be turning off some home buyers when it's time to sell. When listing a home, personal taste is best minimized, especially in bedrooms. Real estate and design experts offer their tips of design trends to avoid in bedroom decor:
1. Bright paint colors: “Can we please get over the bright colors—pink, lime green—especially in kids’ bedrooms?” says Reba Haas, a real estate pro with RE/MAX Metro Eastside in Seattle, to realtor.com®. Such shades scream to buyers: “Long weekend of painting!” she adds. On the flip side, don’t go too extreme with the neutrals. Too much white in the bedroom can be “too sterile and harsh on the eyes—which is not the relaxing vibe you want,” adds Jamie Novak, an organization expert and author of “Keep This Toss That.”
2. Cluttered shelves: Entire walls of bookshelves are not very inviting, designers say. “Open shelving can give the room an airy, spacious look, but it often turns into an eyesore due to clutter,” says Novak. Novak suggests leaving one or two shelves open and arranged neatly with books or other objects. Fill the rest of the shelves with baskets and bins of belongings, careful not to over-clutter.
3. Towering pillow piles: Excess pillows don’t scream luxury. “Decorative pillows that span and cover the whole mattress are just too much,” says Anna Shiwlall, an interior designer at 27 Diamonds in Los Angeles. For most beds, limit the pillows to the ones you sleep on and then a bolster or square European pillow.
4. Overstuffed rooms: Pay attention to furnishings size and scale. “If there’s too much in a room or the bed is too big, the room will feel claustrophobic,” Amber Dias, an interior design consultant with Showhomes near Sacramento, Calif., tells realtor.com®. Too little furniture, on the other hand, can make your room look too bare and more like a college apartment. Strike a careful balance.
5. Thick drapes: Designers recommend removing thick curtains. “Overly drapey drapes on windows and canopy beds require a lot of vacuuming to keep dust at bay,” says Carol Marcotte, the designing expert at Form & Function in Raleigh, N.C. Instead, try Roman shades or woven blinds with black-out-panels, Marcotte suggests.
Source: “Tough Sell: 6 Bedroom Design Trends That Buyers Hate,” realtor.com® (March 27, 2017)
