Of all the rooms and spaces in your home, the bedroom is the only place you really want to relax. Creating a warm and inviting room space means having advanced thinking about how you can improve your sleeping environment.
Whether you are renovating your home or renting a home, you can do a lot to improve this space. When renovating a room, it is worth wondering how it fits into the house. Is it the master, requiring extra space? What potential elements could affect sleep? For example, is there a busy street outside? The room borders the living room? Is there a noisy washing machine nearby?
Details like these may seem insignificant, but the reality is that an uncomfortable room space can make the difference between renewing your lease or moving your tenant. It's easy to focus on the main lines of communication when renovating your property, but it's important to keep some of your budget for bedrooms.
In a property with several rooms, it is rarely recommended to get rid of it – unless the house is a mansion and has five or six rooms to play! By reducing the number of rooms, you reduce the size of your potential tenant pool. It is therefore important to think about the future and renovate the property according to the type of tenant or prospective buyer you want to target. Adding a bedroom, if it makes the property more desirable, is another story.
First step: powering up
In the current technological era, it is crucial to have multiple power outlets in a room. There are many electronic devices that people have next to their beds – alarm clocks, phone chargers, lamps, electric blankets. Many people also use their phone in bed to relax before sleeping.
Therefore, it is wise to place enough power outlets in the spaces near the bed, for example near a bedside table. This allows you to connect multiple devices at the same time in a convenient and hassle-free place. You can even use outlets with built-in USB ports.
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The dual power outlets fit neatly into the spaces near a bed and are ideal for charging phones and tablets. You can opt for outlets with more outlets for devices such as lamps to avoid clutter.
Step Two: Preserve Privacy
While open spaces are ideal for spaces such as living room and kitchen, the bedroom is a place where you absolutely want privacy. It is important to keep your bedroom hidden from the outside world with window coverings.
Window coverings such as anti-darkening curtains, privacy curtains or anti-shadowing blinds are an asset of choice that will not go unnoticed by your tenants.
To avoid limiting your natural light source during the daytime, you can choose to overlay an anti-darkening curtain with a transparent curtain.
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When superimposing curtains, use contrasting colors to give the window a decorative glow. Blue curtains may appear to rub against white curtains, especially when they are complemented by pale cream walls.
Third step: create a storage space
Although its most obvious function is to offer you a good night's sleep, the room also serves as a place where you can store your most important belongings. Therefore, having adequate storage space contributes to an excellent layout of the bedroom.
Wardrobes, in particular, are a key element of this space: they not only store your clothes, but also your accessories and other items that you use regularly or that you want to protect. The ideal fi xed here is something practical and attractive that suits the potential needs of your tenant.
The built-in wardrobes tend to add perceived value to the property, and the addition of a mirrored door could also be an item to take into account.
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Need some room for maneuver in your wardrobe? Wardrobe inserts offer a wealth of storage space, as well as standard sized drawers for extra storage. You can also install shoe racks to maximize space.
Step Four: Keep the Neutral Position
Your room is your personal space, but if you want to rent your property, you must make it a space that your tenant can customize. Therefore, it is wise to adopt an attenuated design scheme.
Just as a neutral color palette is recommended in the living areas of a house for rent, it is no different in the bedroom. Remove all noisy wall coverings such as wallpaper and wall friezes, and offer a neutral base on which tenants can build.
You do not want to lock up your tenant by creating a specific child's room. This would further reduce the size of your potential tenant pool.
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The shades of warm white are ideal for bedrooms, as they are easier to look at. A matte finish minimizes reflections of light and avoids surface imperfections.
Fifth stage: Consider the elements
A beautiful floor adds to the appeal and warmth of a bedroom. However, it's not just the look; you must consider how the elements affect the material.
Think about the climate of the area in which the property is located. For example, tiles work well in Queensland because the climate is humid, but installing tiles in a home in Tasmania may not be such a good idea as it is incredibly cold winter.
Carpets work well in bedrooms, but you must be compatible with your choice of carpets. Use one type on the entire property to avoid the 'fun house' look.
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The carpets look comfortable and feel warm, but they need regular maintenance to keep them clean. Generally, it is generally accepted that carpets should be replaced every 10 years or so, wear causing burglary, wear and fatigue.
Step Six: Forget the Nostalgia
Although the vintage style has its appeal, it addresses a specific market – and you want your property to attract the attention of as many people as possible.
It is common for old houses to have interesting features such as plastered ceilings and strange windows, but it is advisable to remove them. These features date very quickly from a property and will affect your rental return and your overall assessment of the property.
You can create a more temporary and subtle vintage aesthetic by installing lights that evoke an older era without defining the room.
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An important way to create an appeal is to opt for a timeless look. If you want to inject your personal taste into a room, it is best to keep temporary design elements that can be easily removed.
Step Seven: Piping
Keeping the room safe from outside noise is a must, as this space should be a haven of peace and quiet, not a place where you can hear the laundry. Think of the type of noise that could enter the room and disrupt your sleep. For example, if the bedroom is near the TV in the living room, consider placing the built-in cabinets against that wall to help control the sound. In addition, the use of thick curtains will prevent the sound of the street from not replacing the windows.
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Acoustic panels are great for preventing noise, but the best option is to minimize the noise in the house by performing the tasks earlier. In the evening, relaxation can be the order of the day
Step Eight: Fix the Hooks
An excellent way to store objects without taking up space is to hang them on hooks. The hooks are also easy to remove and store.
Your tenants will want to hang objects on the wall. Therefore, rather than risking them themselves and damaging your walls, prevent this by installing your own hooks or suspension system.
In the end, as an owner, the stakes are more important than them. When you provide the basic needs of tenants as much as possible, you give them less time to "experiment" with what they contain.
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Many older homes have built-in picture rails. You can pick up photo hooks from these hardware stores at your local hardware store so that your tenants are ready to go when they install.
CASE STUDY
Kristen's story proves that in the world of bedroom renovations, you can make waves in a short time by making the appropriate changes
Kristen used Jane Slack-Smith's Done-For-You service, which resulted in the purchase of a three-bedroom Art Deco bungalow in Melbourne. She then completed a six-week renovation, which increased the value of her investment property by $ 68,000.
Before
"We used Jane's Suburb Selection's screening service to locate the suburbs and even the streets. It was also important for us to target the typical property of the area that was in the best pockets, where the tenants wanted to live, "she said.
Kristen purchased the property as part of a "buy and hold" strategy, with the intention of renovating and renting it.
"I am a self-employed person, so I wanted to start planning my retirement. I chose real estate investing before investing in stocks, having gained the knowledge to confidently choose the right property for my goals. "
The house had three good sized bedrooms, two in the front and one in the back, which had been added during a previous renovation. In reviewing the property, Kristen determined that in most cases there would be little need to do anything of any importance to the bedrooms. The renovation of these spaces was essentially aesthetic.
"The changes were quite consistent in all the rooms. We tore the original carpet and changed the floor covering. We also painted and traded curtains for blinds. We then changed the orientation of the doors, bought new doors and changed the door knobs, "she said.
One of the major changes brought by Kristen was the removal of an internal door connecting rooms two and three. She decided to close this obstacle and regain a valuable space on the wall.
"We wanted to keep the house theme as coherent as possible. However, this became a little tricky when we arrived at the room at the back because there was no floor like the rest of the house. We had to use a carpet instead, "she explains.
After
Thanks to the changes made, Kristen was able to significantly increase the value of the property in a very short period of time, with rent increasing from $ 370 to $ 470 a week.
Jane Slack-Smith is a best-selling author,
media commentator and creator of the
FREE video course: How to find, renovate and take advantage of degraded properties.
For more information, visit freerenocourse.com.au.
Disclaimer: All mentioned products and prices are correct at the time of printing. The advice contained in this article is provided as general information only and should not be considered as financial advice. Make sure to talk to a qualified professional before making an investment decision.
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