The importance of art when selling a home

In the quest of a safe sale, many homeowners make the mistake of stripping away decor and design to leave what was once a lived-in home feeling like four cold, empty façades.

A prospective property buyer needs to be able to visualise themselves in a home and find their own sense of value and potential in the property. Getting the balance right between revealing a house’s promise and leaving its interior much to be desired separates the average agent with those who have an attention to detail – this, as a result, could be the making or breaking of a sale.

Consequently, the importance of using art to sell a home is paramount, and yet the importance of using art when selling a home goes often overlooked. The run-up to those influential and invaluable inspections is in turn the best time to think twice about bare walls, and ensure a property is dressed to sell.

Art brings out personality – not the personal
It’s easy to confuse the idea of a house having character with the previous homeowner’s sentimental memoirs, but the difference is crucial. Real estate agents and home stagers alike are the first to advise taking down the family photos to depersonalise a space, in turn allowing a prospective homebuyer to see themselves at home. But before taking out the hooks that held those odds and ends, consider changing the scene with art that can nurture the house’s personality.

“If the house is an old build with original features, choosing an artwork with a style that accentuates this instantly gives a property an edge, and boosts its value accordingly,” advises online art gallery Bluethumb’s sales expert Sheeraz. “A homebuyer should see and feel something distinctive in the property’s character that makes it a cut above the others.” What can do that better than an original artwork from a unique artist?

Art gives purpose to a room
Displaying art that relates to a specific room allows a buyer to openly see the possibilities with that space. “If you’re working with a room that could be used for entertaining or eating, hanging still life paintings of fruit or wine glasses can motivate a buyer to see themselves, friends or family dining in that very room, allowing a viewer to get familiar with the setting,” explains Bluethumb curator Sarah. Using themes of relaxation or love in bedrooms are a popular choice with many sellers, which may vary from crowd-pleasing photography of floral subjects or scenic beaches, to ​abstract pieces​ of intense or cooling colours.

Art creates focal points
Does the perfect home exist? Perhaps, but then it probably wouldn’t be up for sale! “Using art in a home that has a few unexciting elements can help bring out the best in a space, and draw attention away from its grey areas by turning them into vignettes,” Bluethumb’s interior specialist Alex suggests. Using several pieces in a cluster to create a gallery wall is another option bringing the buyer to focus on a particular feature while diverting them away from others. ​Online curations​ centring on themes or styles can boost inspiration when installing art at home in preparation for a sale. Whether one piece is displayed or several, the important thing is that the art selected flatters the room while downplaying the undesirables.

Art puts a home on the map
Loving where you live is a central factor for most homebuyers, and the first thing that draws buyers in to a property is often its location. Use this to your advantage: choosing landscape paintings and photographs of the area, be it the city, the countryside, the outback or the ocean, can encourage a buyer to imagine their life in this environment. Further to this, bringing in well-known and celebrated cultural aspects of a region through art, such as indigenous artworks, can tie a home to the land’s heritage and history, enriching the value and importance of the place both
financially and socially.