Flowers - Great in a Garden, But What about that Sofa?

Flowers - Great in a Garden, but What about that Sofa?

Flowers! What a delight it is to see gardens in Spring and Summer, bursting with color and scent. It's a real joy when you're taking a look at a house for sale and the garden welcomes you in this manner. But when you step inside, and it becomes clear the owner loves flowers everywhere, it can make for a dated, overly feminine look that fails to reach the most important staging goal: to appeal to the largest possible pool of potential buyers.

Since the sofa is usually the largest piece of furniture in the room, it will make the biggest impact. No need to go out and buy a new sofa just to stage your home. Slipcovers are readily available in easily accessible stores such as Target and JC Penney, and too many sites via Google to mention here. Brand names like "Sure Fit" let you know that they are made of stretchy material to aid placement on your couch, and the size variety seems to grow every day.

So it's an easy fix to change the dated look to a more up-to-date, neutral one by covering your sofa and getting some new, inexpensive pillows to layer on some interest and color. Once that's done, you may find that something like the floral rug in the photo here becomes interesting rather than overwhelming the room in yet more flowers.

As long as you switch out anything else overly feminine in the room, such as the pink over-curtains, floral-themed artwork, and pink candles in the sconces, you've effectively updated and neutralized the look. Suddenly, your potential buyer pool has grown to include those that just don't like floral prints - which can bring in more men and younger buyers.

Don't lose your audience! Leave the flowers in the garden, not on your sofa.

Flowers - Great in a Garden, but What about that Sofa?