How to improve the image of your apartments
“I manage a portfolio of beautiful apartments, but how can I show them at their best?”
Does this question sound familiar? Here is a brief guide of tips on how to improve the presentation of the apartments you manage for short stays. This advice is based on our experience and personal judgment of results obtained from presentations that are in line with these tips. Of course the basic premise is that the apartment is truly nice and well kept, no miracles can turn an old and untidy apartment into acceptable and suitable accommodation for our audience.
Decoration
Obviously the decoration is the essence of the apartment’s style, so try to maintain a certain theme that you think appropriate for that particular accommodation. The co-ordination of warm colours shades helps creating a cosy ambience, whereas the contrast between black and white, for instance, gives harmony to the whole apartment.
Take a look at these apartments that display two different styles:
The Liceu B Apartment in Barcelona has applied warm coloured elements in contrast with black furniture so as to create a cosy ambience.
The Studio Blanc in Amsterdam plays with the black and white contrast to create a stylish look.
You may find good ideas browsing through the wide variety of home-decoration websites or magazines available on the market. The public’s preferences for a kind of ambience vary in time, like clothes fashion trends, therefore the latest style in design can help attract visitors to your apartment’s presentation.
For instance, the Herman Brood Apartment in Amsterdam features trendy design and decoration:
Photos
Here at ShortStayApartment.com we find that often the photos we receive do not do justice to what is essentially a nice apartment. Here are some simple tips from our designer to help getting the most of your photo shoots without hiring a professional.
General Tip
The most important of all is to make sure there is no-one in the picture, including yourself.
Preparing the Scene
One of the simplest and easiest methods of improving your photos is to prepare the area beforehand, this sounds obvious but items are often overlooked. For example:
In the bedroom: Tidy the bed, leave some overlapping, colour-coordinated cushions on there. Make sure the sheets and duvet are not crumpled or messy. Switch on the bedside lamps.
In the Bathroom: Remove all cleaning products, toothbrushes and toothpaste and all extraneous objects. If your apartment comes equipped with some miniature shower-gels like a hotel’s, you can leave those in, but place them nicely.
In the Kitchen: Again, remove all extraneous items. Tidy it up and make sure it is spotlessly clean (as it should be). The only exception to this is if you are deliberately setting up a “scene” such as an evening meal with wine bottle/glasses and so on. Alternatively you can place a bowl of fresh fruit or some other decorative item or flowers in the scene.
Lighting
This first one is simple, but most important and sometimes overlooked. Allow as much light as possible into the room. Open the curtains, the windows and switch on all the lights. If you are shooting at night pay attention to the following tip:
Flash
If you are shooting in the dark try not to use the flash and setup ambient lighting instead. Use a tripod and let the camera absorb slowly the lighting from the fixtures (switch on all lamps etc, even during the day). This will reduce hard shadows and unbalanced shade depths.
Framing
When framing the scene, remove obstructing objects that block the corners and sides of the photo (edges of tables, doors etc). An extra useful and common trick from the professionals: place a flower, plant or attractive ornament just on the inside of the photo as a foreground object.
If you have any advice or would like to contribute to the guide, please feel free to add your comments.
The ShortStayApartment.com Team
