Holiday rental interiors: simple but effective
With the paperwork done and approved, the next job is getting the property itself ready.
Furnishing it can be remarkably straightforward, and remarkably effective, if you keep a few things in mind. Simple, attractive interiors photograph well, and photographs that stand out bring in enquiries.
1. Know who you are letting to
Start with the kind of property you have. Is it a luxury villa? Does it have a pool? Is it part of a gated development? Each of those pushes the interiors in a particular direction. A house with more facilities will draw guests at the more expensive end of the market.
Location matters just as much. By the sea, you will get guests on holiday who want to be on the beach. Inland, you are more likely to attract people after countryside and quiet. Your likely guests also determine how many bedrooms and how many people you should be set up for: a large house with several bedrooms suits groups and larger families, whereas something smaller and more private is ideal for couples.
2. Give the place some character
A holiday rental should feel fresh, a little like a good hotel room, but with touches that make it its own. In a larger property you can afford bigger, bolder pieces. In a small flat you have to be more strategic about it.
You might work to a theme — a beach house with things that speak of the sea, holidays and sunshine. It makes the property feel welcoming, and guests genuinely do feel more at home.
Natural light deserves real attention. Every dark corner needs a lamp or a spotlight, so that the place is bright enough for a guest to work, read or eat comfortably.
3. Keep it minimal
Whoever your guests are, the interiors should stay simple and uncluttered. Nobody relaxes in a property stuffed with the owner's belongings or too many ornaments. Plants, books and a few small pieces that speak of the region are plenty.
Guests also need somewhere to put their luggage and their things, so resist the urge to fill every surface.
4. Use colour, but pick a palette
Colour is welcome; a jumble of colours is not. Settle on one palette and stay within it. If you have gone for yellow, build around things that sit well with it — white, grey, blue, black, or lighter and darker yellows.
Pictures and photographs bring a room to life. Use images of the area the property is in, or anything that suits the mood of the place.
For linen we always go with white. It looks clean, and being white it can be bleached to shift any stain that turns up.
5. Take particular care over the bedrooms
The bedroom is the room that most repays the effort, because a guest's comfort matters more than anything else.
Beds should be comfortable and generous, with a decent mattress, pillows and duvet. Choose a white duvet with plenty of loft: it brightens the room, and it makes the bed look inviting in the listing photographs before anyone has set foot in the place. Add colour with a throw over the duvet and a few cushions.
Put bedside tables in that suit the rest of the room, so guests have somewhere for a phone, a book or anything else.
Blackout blinds or curtains are essential — neutral colours, decent quality. For almost every guest, a properly dark room is the difference between sleeping well and not.
