A bonus room can be almost any finished space in a home, like an updated attic, basement, sunroom, mudroom or other location that has multi-purpose potential. The “multi” in multi-purpose is important. Although a bonus room may be used a number of different ways, showcasing its sale potential usually involves focusing in on one or two.
This may seem counter intuitive, but if you make the space too generic, it can be difficult for a potential buyer to visualize it as a game room, home theatre, extra bedroom or other desirable room. The flip side to this idea is that customizing the space too much, like adding built in cabinets for a home office, or a wet bar for a game room, will discourage buyers who have something very different, like a nursery application, in mind.
Define Your Niche
The key to showcasing a bonus room effectively is to understand your ideal buyer and stage the room with that specific niche market in mind. Does your neighborhood tend to draw empty nesters, young professionals or families with young children? Once you have an idea of the type of buyer most likely to be interested in your home, deciding how best to stage the room is easier. For instance, a young family may be interested in an extra bedroom, playroom or nursery, while a young professional could utilize the space as a home office. The location and value of your home will help you determine the most likely market for your property, and recent sales of similar homes in your area will provide hints, too.
Pay Attention To Location, Size And Other Factors
From a practical perspective, a bonus room can’t be transformed into just any type of space. There are practical limitations you should keep in mind. A converted shed or sectioned garage would make a poor nursery, for instance. A buyer would probably be less inclined to endorse a media room adjacent to the master bedroom unless it had excellent sound dampening features, or a mudroom not adjacent to an exterior door or garage.
Size matters, too. For example, the optimum viewing distance for a 62″ television is approximately 93 inches, or almost eight feet, which would limit the practical size of any bonus room used as a media room. A pool table would be a common wish list item for a game room, but would require a space investment that includes the dimensions of the table, the length of a cue stick on all sides, and an additional 6 inches or more as maneuvering room. When planning how to showcase your bonus room, take practical considerations into account.
Declutter And Depersonalize
You may think the layout and function of your current bonus room is perfect, but that doesn’t mean you’re ready for an open house this weekend. Potential buyers like open airy rooms, which usually means lots of uncluttered space. If your bonus room is fully furnished, a good rule of thumb is to remove half the furnishings and distribute the remaining pieces evenly throughout the space. Remove many of the personal touches, too. The idea is to make the room look larger and eliminate those personal elements that might make it more difficult for a buyer to visualize himself using the space.
Paint And Repair
Paint helps give any room a mini-makeover. Although neutrals are always the best color choices when a home is destined for resale, the definition of a neutral has changed somewhat in recent years. Gray is now considered a flexible neutral color, for instance. You can also use color to help subtly suggest the potential of a particular bonus room, like pastels for a nursery or darker gray or blue tones for a “man cave.” The right space doesn’t need much embellishment to get the point across. Whatever your strategy, make sure to repair gouges and nail holes, and tape off molding, baseboards and any other features when you’re taking a DIY approach. A good paint job can work wonders in a room, while a poor one can be worse than not painting at all.
Turn A Minus Into A Plus
Since “bonus” style rooms come in all shapes and sizes, some have plenty of potential but a few challenges as well. Areas under stairs, in attics and in crawlspaces may include sloped ceilings, exposed support posts and even exposed plumbing pipes. These rooms can contain valuable space, and even function as living space, but don’t have a conventional look.
If you’re not sure about the best approach to the space, you can always add storage features that can be removed if a buyer has a different vision for the room. Plenty of storage is always appealing to home buyers, and if your bonus room is a work in progress, or a plain Jane waiting for inspiration, adding shelving and other storage features is a fast, easy and relatively inexpensive way to give the room additional appeal.
