There's no right or wrong way to decorate your home – fancy some botanical-print blinds in the kitchen? Do it. Not a fan of bold colours? Stick with neutrals, we're not judging.
But there's one interior design 'faux pas' Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen can't stand: decorating your home with a view to selling, without actually selling it.
The estate agent-led trend LLB can't stand
We asked the Changing Rooms host and author of More More More: Making Maximalism Work in Your Home and Life, at Amazon, if there was anything that offends him when it comes to interiors. 'It is that moment when you walk into a room and you just say, "This is not you, is it?"
'It is that moment when you go into a room and they say, "Well, we've done it like this because we want to sell it." But when are you going to sell it, tomorrow?' he asks.
'So you're going to be spending two years in a room that looks this awful just because you feel it's going to make it worth more?'
No one planning to sell is going to go to town expressing their personality and individual taste through their decor. Because that won't appeal to everyone, and you'd resent putting too much money into a space you're going to be living in temporarily.
And this approach chimes with common home staging techniques. Some experts argue that a simple, minimalist decorating style can increase the value of your home, and that avoiding bold colours and patterns will help sell your property quickly.
But LLB says this is where we're going wrong. He's firmly against this idea of decorating your home in a way that will sell your house, unless your home is on the market.
He goes on to talk about the sentimental value of our homes, explaining that while our homes are the most valuable things we own financially, they're worth the most to us emotionally. Making the effort and time to repaint a room in a colour you love or to put up some wallpaper and add some soft furnishings that create a homely, nourishing space will bring huge value to our wellbeing.
As far as Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is concerned, making do with inoffensive decor that you think will add value to your home is not the way to go. Unless you're actually putting your home on the market tomorrow.
More More More by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is published by DK, 15th September 2022 £20.00.
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