Top Tips for Your Gallery Appointment

Home design inspiration comes in many shapes and forms, and even from places that you least expect it.

Start to gather all of your favourite looks from Pinterest boards, Instagram and even the world around you. Natural, earthy colours, timber finishes and the subtle textures of stone can breathe life into any space, while giving you that connection to nature that we all crave.

When designing your new home, it can be hard to name or put a finger on your favourite style. Before you know it, you’ve fallen down the rabbit hole of trending interiors and you’re trying to figure out the difference between Hamptons, farmhouse and cottage design.

But, you can often recognise your style when you see it. So collect photos and swatches that inspire you, as these provide our Gallery Consultants with a great place to start. Even having an idea of whether you like warm or cool tones, or high versus subtle contrasts will help our team bring your vision to life.

And of course, don’t forget to explore one of our display homes or do a virtual tour for extra inspiration on how you can start to personalise your home.

The old saying still rings true, there’s no such thing as a silly question.

In the lead up to your Gallery appointment, keep a list pinned to your fridge or in your Notes app, with all of the questions, big and small, that you want to ask your Consultant.

When you’re caught up in the excitement of your appointment, you can easily become flustered and overwhelmed, so having a list of questions on hand throughout the day will keep you on track and make sure that no stone is left unturned.

From architraves to sink mixers and door handles, there’s a lot of decisions to make, so don’t be afraid to ask our Gallery Consultants any questions. At the end of the day, we want you to be confident in all of your choices.

It’s important to be honest about your budget and how much you have to spend during your Gallery appointment.

This will save a lot of going back and forth in the lead up to your contract signing, and you’ll avoid the emotional rollercoaster of falling in love with features that are just out of reach or missing out on selections that you could’ve included in your new home.

When you have a clear idea of your budget, your Gallery Consultant is able to make the most of every cent of it. Whether that’s splurging on a few of your must-have features alongside a range of affordable finishes, or dialing up the wow factor in every corner of the home.

They can also help you weigh up the benefits of certain upgrades and if they’ll suit your budget and lifestyle. You might find yourself tossing up between chrome and matte black tapware, or a Laminex or Caesarstone benchtop. Laminex delivers a hardy surface with a realistic look at an affordable price point, while a Caesarstone surface will be the stunning hero of your kitchen for the years to come. You can’t go wrong with either choice, it’ll just come down to finding the right fit for you.

The Gallery stage is an exciting step, as you can really start to picture your house becoming a home.

Those building a single-storey will typically have a full day to make all of their selections, while those building a double-storey tend to have 2 full days.

If you know that you’ll have a lot of bespoke requests, or that you often struggle with indecision (don’t worry, it happens to the best of us), you can talk to your CRC about extending your Gallery time with an extra appointment. That way, you won’t feel rushed and you can take the time to get things right the first time.

When thinking about your internal and external selections, it can be hard to know where to start.

It helps to think about your home’s focal point, or any features that you want to have shine as the hero of your space.

This could mean starting with your flooring and working your way upwards, or taking inspiration from timeless trends such as Hamptons or Mid-Century Modern and figuring out a game plan from there.

Also think about any pieces of beloved furniture that you’ll be bringing from your rental or previous home and how they’ll blend with selections that you’re making at Gallery. For our top tips on styling your new Simonds home after handover, explore our interior design blogs here.

Last, but definitely not least, whoever has the final say on your Gallery selections needs to be at the appointment.

Whether that’s both of you coming together as a team to make the big decisions, or the person with an eye for design is entrusted with the task, it’s important to have the decision makers in the room and calling the shots for the whole appointment.

This is because, at the end of the day you’ll be signing off on all of your selections and variations, with no significant changes after the appointment. So it pays to get things right from the get-go.

By doing this, you’ll have a smoother journey through to your contract milestone and beyond as you enter the fit-out stage, where you’ll see all of your colour selections, tiles and benchtops come to life.