Interior design for the retirement living sector requires a different approach to the private residential market. Homeowners aren’t only looking for a change of home, but a potential change of lifestyle too. Steve Hird, director at award-winning, interior design specialists, Edward Thomas Interiors, highlights how retirement living developers can use interior design to attract and reassure purchasers.
Since the pandemic, the retirement sector has rapidly evolved. It now focuses much more on homeowner experience and a sociable, inclusive and connected lifestyle. This has translated into our design briefs, with the overarching directive to be age-appropriate but not old-fashioned.
Show apartments
For individual show apartments, our approach is heavily resident-centric. We create an imaginary homeowner, are they single or a couple, what are their hobbies and interests, how do they want to live? All this informs our designs. So show apartments might illustrate activities that are based around the home e.g. painting, sewing, reading, or include examples of how other pastimes might be enjoyed e.g. equipment neatly stored for fishing or birdwatching. Of course, there’s a practical element to demonstrate too. At this stage of life, homeowners are often downsizing so it’s important to show how furniture might fit or different configurations of space, including how to overcome any pinch points or tricky layouts such as sloping ceilings.
For retirement living developers, this approach has been invaluable and through refreshing outdated apartments or furnishing stock plots to better reflect the lifestyle of this generation, we’ve significantly increased sales rates. In some cases, housebuilders have found it’s worth investing in multiple, fully-furnished apartments that can be sold as entirely ready to move in. Remembering that the upheaval of moving can be a deterrent so offering a solution can help set a development apart. Similarly, we’re also working with developers to deliver curtain and light packages to make it easier for new homeowners on moving day.
Guest suites
Of course, with the retirement market, it’s not solely the new homeowner that needs to be reassured. Family and friends will often want to view and ask questions too. We design some developments with a guest suite, somewhere for visitors to stay alongside their loved one. These will typically lean towards a hotel-style but can also include themed or gender-neutral guest bedrooms for visiting grandchildren.
Try before you buy
An increasingly popular choice is the ‘try before you buy’ suite. These are apartments designed like showhomes but with a more ‘lived-in’ feel. The idea being that potential purchasers can stay overnight in a furnished apartment, and it functions much like a hotel room or self-catered accommodation. Not only does this allow house hunters to fully experience what it would be like to live in a development, but it also helps them properly visualise layouts and room sizes, how furniture fits, how much daylight there is, etc. All of which ultimately leads to more informed decision-making.
Show suites
On some of our recent instructions, this concept has evolved to include a show suite that encompasses a whole floor. This means homeowners can see a variety of apartment designs; some are fully furnished, some are part-furnished and some allow for optional add-ons such as furniture, artwork and wallpaper, meaning the purchaser can build their own show apartment.
This innovation gives developers opportunities to showcase different layouts and a new sales tool to promote. For example, on one site, there’d been no reservations for three months but after designing and installing six apartments within a show suite, four properties sold within eight weeks, which shows it can be highly effective.
Destination retail
Lastly, housebuilders shouldn’t be afraid to take inspiration from retail. A recent brief we fulfilled was for a high street store. Our client had several retirement developments in close proximity so to attract purchasers from a wider catchment, decided to set up a retail store as a ‘hub’.
The location for this was a quintessential market town so our brief was to make the store as much of a ‘destination’ as the town itself. A country chic design was installed, using furniture, wallcoverings and accessories that were representative of the client’s brand. The idea being it would be familiar but not corporate. House hunters could take time to learn about the different developments and gain a sense of the lifestyle before selecting one to visit and view more closely.
Successful interior design comes from collaboration, there’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach as every development is different. In our experience, housebuilders who engage their interior design team early often secure the strongest sales rates.
