Published by: Spencer Cushing
Sowerbys' Spencer Cushing talks essentials when it comes to guests and space.For a great deal of time over the last 18 months or so, what us estate agents often refer to as ‘entertaining space’ has not really had much of an opportunity to live up to its name as there has not been a lot of entertaining we could do.
In many instances the room or rooms that were only used for high days and holidays, special occasions and Christmas took on new roles as home offices or more often than not a pop up school room.
As things have slowly started to revert to normal (we hope) such rooms are returning to their original purpose and with such pent up demand we all have for socialising, they have become an important part of our buyer’s requirements.
However, it is not just inside entertaining space that is essential any more.
As autumn is upon us, thoughts and talk of outside space usually drifts away along with the leaves, but who can forget those images from last winter of friends and families shivering inside plastic pagodas, tucking into their turkey and favouring the comfort of physically being with some of their family over the comfort of being inside.
With the shadow of the pandemic still in the background, proper outside entertaining space, that can be used all year round, is very much in the forefront of our national psyche in a way that it has never been before.
Nowhere more have we seen this evolution of priorities than in our developer and new build properties. Pre-covid it was quite common practice for a developer to lay a patio off the reception room and possibly turf the remainder of the garden with trees and shrubs being considered an extra.
Fast forward a year and we have seen properties where the outside entertaining space has quite simply become the property’s principal selling feature. Open sided cart sheds with drop down plastic sides, elevated central fire pits or fitted electric down heaters, fully functional outdoor kitchens with pizza ovens and all linked by covered walkways.
Their attitude has been, no matter what the next Covid variant or English weather system throws at us, from now on there will always be somewhere you will be able to entertain your friends and families and neither will spoil it!
To that end if you are considering making improvements to your house with a view to selling it or, if you want a (relatively) inexpensive way to increase the value of your home, don’t go for a new bathroom or redecoration but spend the money creating an outdoor space that the weather and the winter cannot spoil.
