The key to making your property inviting and appealing to viewers isn’t to make the interior as flouncy as fancy as possible – that was the 1980’s – it’s to make it as impersonal and as functional as possible. You should aim to strip the place down and with the help of a few tweaks, make it speak for itself.
Make a great entrance
If you’ve got someone coming to see your place on Wednesday at 5.30pm, you should expect them to drive or walk by on Monday or Tuesday. In anticipation of this recce, you should make sure your front door looks its best, that there’s no dead leaves strewing the path and that hoses, toys, footballs and muddy wellies are out of sight.
Nix the clutter
It’s time to put your collection of Cornish thimbles into storage, as well as to remove any piles of papers, sports gear, unseasonal clothes, shoes and outerwear and all your fridge magnets. The rule for deciding if something should stay or go is “If you can’t read, use, wear or sit on it today, it goes.”
This may include furniture
If you have any items of furniture that aren’t used every day then send them into storage alongside the thimbles. This will open up your spaces and show off your rooms better. It’s important to create traffic flow and also to display the perimeters of the rooms. Try out different groupings of furniture to see which arrangements work best. Whatever you do, don’t fall into the trap of lining up your furniture along the walls to make a big space in the middle – this just looks cold and claustrophobic all at once.
Get rid of bad smells
One of the first things you notice when you walk into a house is the smell, so make sure it’s a good one! Track down and eliminate the sources of any unpleasant pongs – blocked sinks and old trainers, we’re looking at you – and introduce some nicer ones. Brew some coffee, put a dab of vanilla essence on a radiator and definitely open the windows for half an hour before the viewing.
Get around to those overdue repairs
The funny thing about small repairs is that they cost much less to actually carry out than the reduction a potential buyer will ask for if you don’t do them. It’s one of the many mysteries of the property market and one that you should ponder while you’re filling in those cracks in the plaster and re-hanging the front gate.
Add some final touches
You can bring in a few subtle final touches, but they have to be part of the scenery, rather than standalone pieces. Try arranging some attractive cookbooks on a shelf in the kitchen, or invest in some new and pricier-than-your-usual body lotions for the bathroom, as well as new and plusher towels. It’s about making your place a slightly better version of itself.
