Designed to please.. Designer Eileen Kesson offers useful tips on how to turn a bland new home into a style statement.

Byline: CRAIG McQUEEN

HIGHFIELDS VIEW

DUNBLANE

If there's one big problem with buying a new house, it's working out what to do with it once you've got the keys.

After sinking all your money into a deposit, decorating and furnishing your home the way you want it can be a tricky process.

And that can be especially difficult if you move into a new-build home which gives you a blank canvas in need of some personality.

It's a problem which interior designer Eileen Kesson knows all about.

She kits out the showhouses at new developments which play a key role in attracting potential buyers.

Her latest job has been furnishing the show houses at the exclusive Stewart Milne Homes development at Highfields View in Dunblane.

Situated in the former grounds of Dunblane High School, the site features 76 properties in a mix of two-bedroom apartments, four-bedroom townhouses with private terrace, and five-bedroom detached villas with double garage.

The properties feature classic, elegant architecture and spacious interiors. Custom-designed eat-in kitchens are finished to a high specification and come with the latest appliances.

For Eileen, the job of doing justice to the showhomes features much of the same challenges faced by buyers up and down the country.

She said: "After you've got flooring down, concentrate on your walls.

"They'll have the biggest impact and the greatest effect so that's the best place to start. Once you've got your walls sorted and colours decided, everything else will seem a lot easier and you'll feel like you've already achieved something. You'll begin to see the result of the money you've spent.

"After that, the best thing to do is to take one important room, maybe your living room, and get that the way you want it. Doing it that way is more fun as you'll get to see the finished result and it'll spur you on to doing others as and when budget and time permits."

Eileen insists that's a far better plan than trying to do too much at once, a common mistake which is littered with pitfalls. She said: "Sometimes you can spread yourself too thin if you try and do all the rooms at once. You'll get no impact and you'll feel you haven't really achieved much.

"There's more thrill in seeing a room finished and that provides motivation for moving on to the next.

"That's the way in which we work when we're doing showhomes. We too have budgets to balance so we have to pick areas of the home in which to make a statement while doing a little less in other parts of the house." The Highfields View development features apartments which offer a large, bright living room, a modern dining kitchen, master bedroom with ensuite facilities, builtin wardrobes and off-street parking.

Selected apartments also include a private balcony.

Townhouses boast three storeys of flexible living space, with a large living room leading on to a private balcony overlooking the rear gardens.

An open-plan kitchen and dining room is ideal for entertaining and has a private terrace.

Four-bedroom townhouses offer master ensuite facilities and built-in wardrobe, family bathroom, a toilet on each floor, utility room, storage space and an integrated single garage.

And the collection of five-bedroom detached villas offer a spacious living room, separate dining room and an open-plan breakfasting kitchen with additional family area.

The large rear garden is accessed via double French doors, the master bedroom includes a walk-in wardrobe along with an ensuite, while the guest bedroom also offers ensuite facilities.

It's those sort of details which potential buyers are often looking for but Eileen believes it's a wise idea to pay attention to the way in which showhomes are decorated as well.

She said: "It's a good idea to look at how showhomes are decorated to see what ideas you can take.You might see something that's a little bit bolder than you may have thought of yourself, and that can help give the house you buy that 'wow' factor. Showhomes are very useful from that point of view.

"It helps you see current trends and can give you the confidence to try a more punchy look."

"That will help avoid the danger of your home looking too bland if you stick with the standard magnolia look which is an ever-present feature.

"Magnolia isn't the easiest colour to match things in with, and if people are looking for a modern, contemporary look in their house, it can actually look quite dated.

"For that reason, it's often better to get the house painted white if you can. That way, you have a bit more choice about what to do with it.

"One option you have with that which is fashionable at the moment is to have a strong, striking wallpaper on just one wall.

"That's an old technique which has been revived, and if you have white walls, doing that looks a lot sharper.

"White can look fresher, brighter, cleaner and can help your home look a bit less cluttered.

Four-bedroom townhouses and five-bedroom detached villas are now available at Highfields View, priced from pounds 266,000 and pounds 366,000. For further details you can contact the showhomes and marketing suite on 01786 820 084.

CAPTION(S):

DREAM ON... The bedroom in Eileen's showhome is a haven of peace THE WOW FACTOR... Eileen Kesson makes a bold statement in her showhomes