Preparing for your Design Lab appointment

Selecting the colours, appliances and finishes you’ll be using to personalise your new home is one of the most exciting parts of the new home journey for many of our customers, but we also find that the huge volume of decisions to be made when it comes to selecting your fixtures and finishes can be overwhelming for some.

We’ve put together a little cheat sheet to help prepare you for the Design Lab stage of the process with Arden Homes – so you can walk into your colour selection appointment feeling prepared and confident in the selections you’re about to make.

Tip 1 – don’t skimp on the research!

Before you attend your Design Lab appointment, it’s a great idea to start doing some research and working out your own personal style. We recommend that our clients spend some time browsing for inspiration on Instagram and Pinterest, and building collections of saved images to help you build a visual representation of your personal style. It’s a good idea to save multiple images for each space so we can match as closely as possible and help you take best advantage of our high-value standard inclusions to help you create a beautiful space that suits your budget.

Tip 2 – Do your homework!

Prior to your Design Lab appointment, we’ll send you a questionnaire and some trend inspiration boards so our design team can get a clear idea of your style before we meet you in person!  Having as much information as possible before we meet you really helps our team to make recommendations from fittings and fixtures in the ranges we carry that will suit the look and feel you’re hoping to achieve. We ask that you submit your completed questionnaire and any accompanying images at least 7 days prior to your colour selection appointment to allow our team enough time to prepare.

Tip 3 – Visit a display home! [in fact, visit as many display homes as you can!]

Our beautiful display homes are a great source of inspiration, and an accurate showcase of what’s possible when you build with Arden.  In addition, we spend a lot of time creating fixtures and finishes brochures for each and every Arden display, so you’ll easily be able to recreate any space that you fall in love with in your own home. We’re also deliberately transparent about the fixtures in our displays that are included as standard, and which are upgrades – so it’s much easier to keep your costs in check when you’re building on a budget.

You can take photos of any display home features you fall in love with on your visit and add them to your pinterest boards, and our team will help you replicate that look and feel as closely as possible on the day of your appointment.

Tip 4: Know your Estate Guidelines!

It’s important to keep Estate Guidelines in place when you’re choosing your exterior colours – taking a moment to familiarise yourself with these prior to your appointment can be a good idea to ensure your exterior selections don’t get rejected by your developer. 

Tip 5 – Check out our Selections guide!

Our Selections guide is a comprehensive guide designed to walk you through all the choices you’ll need to make during the colour selection process. It gives a comprehensive breakdown of the options available for both our Lumina and Aspire ranges, complete with images to help you know exactly which options you’ll have to choose from. Check out our Selections Guide here.

There are a lot of decisions to be made on Design Lab day – but follow the tips above and you’ll arrive feeling inspired, informed, and ready to personalise your home with help every step of the way from our experienced, passionate team.