Reviewing the stylist’s work

Was it worthwhile? A very definite: yes. She provided a perspective in the preparation of property for sale that would have been a pity to have missed. Oh, grant us the gift to see our property as others see it. Okay, Burns didn’t write it like this but the meaning is the same. And the power of this is in employing the talents of a stylist.

The stylist’s job is to present the property in its most attractive light. Removing the curtains and fly screen doors may not be a practical thing to do to a house. It made no sense to me at the time. But it ensures the punters see the view from the window, and that’s up for sale too when it comes down to it. Show it to them. The lack of curtains also makes the room very light. Show the punters you are not hiding anything. It also serves to let them imagine their own curtains hanging there rather than looking at your choice.

My initial thought was to leave the wall hanging. It was attractive. However, it may not have been attractive to others. If the house contains unappealing fittings, ornaments, wall hangings then the house may be interpreted as unappealing. Removing the wall hanging removed our personal stamp or brand, and allowed others to look at the space on the wall, encouraging them to think of it as a place to hang their own decorations, paintings and the like. Its absence also demonstrated there to be no nasty cracks in the wall.

It’s so common to go to open inspections and see mounted photographs on dressing tables, desks, and on the walls. Children’s photographs of all kinds, the uncles and aunts, and all the relations and friends in either formal poses or the result of a happy snap from a party. The problem is that these personal photographs reflect your life and your family. These things are of your life, not for anyone else. Removing all aspects of your personal life from the house more easily allows the potential buyer to see themselves in the house. People can inspect a property without paying too much attention to them. But the trouble is that we do look at them when passing through the rooms. It may be for only a second, but there is a curiosity about who lives there. If you remove the personal items the punters will spend more time looking at the property and more time considering who will get which room, should they consider buying it. That should be your aim in preparing a house.

Do you have a large house for sale? Are all the rooms large? You can make a room appear larger by removing the clutter. Things can also be helped by swapping furniture around. Though, if you cheat too much this trick will be seen as a con job. Does your King size bed fill the main bedroom? Take it out and put up with a double bed. The room will look a lot better for it. The smallest bedroom should have the smallest bed. Remove any unnecessary furniture. Get rid of the bean bags, extra chairs, boxes. Aim for neat simplicity. Go for small rather than large.

No one wants to see any creams or lotions in the bathroom that may have been prescribed for you. The bathroom bench tops should be clear or with very minimal items that are tastefully arranged. We swapped all our mixed coloured towels with white towels, and neatly hanging, with spares neatly rolled on a towel rack, and matching hand towels on the bench the effect was very nice if not a touch clinical. The place looked clean and welcoming. Leave nothing hanging on the shower screen. The bathroom should look like the bathroom you’d expect to see when you walk into a quality hotel.

The laundry should be neat and smell free. Leave the exterior door open if you need to. Put everything away, and don’t leave washing on the line. And while on the subject of smell. A few hours before the inspection is scheduled bake a cake, time things so that it’s cooling in the oven before the inspection time. The wonderful aroma that emanates from the kitchen and pervades the house will make the punters drool. We didn’t need the stylist to tell us this. It just works. If the punters leave the place thinking they’d like to stay longer you already have them in the right frame of mind.

Our stylist suggested a lot of things, many of which seemed weird, but we didn’t know what she was on about at first. And then her ideas hit home. It was well worth the effort.