Decorating Your Property to Sell

If you want to sell your property then you need to consider decorating in a specific way in order to gain the best price. Here we look at the do’s and don’ts of property décor for the house seller.

The key factor to consider when you want to sell your property is how to make your property as attractive as possible to as many potential buyers as possible. You must see your property from their point of view. This is not as easy as it sounds as it requires you to depersonalise your own much-loved space. However, you need to try to recreate your property as a blank canvas so that the potential buyer can more easily imagine themselves living in your property.

For the wall colour plain, neutral colours are recommended. However, avoid brilliant whites as they generally appear to be too clinical and technical and lack the softness which a homes wants. Light colours will create an illusion of space and calmness and they will reflect the natural light whereas dark colours will absorb the light and make the room feel smaller. Also they won’t clash with any furniture that the buyer will be wanting with them – if they like your property they will imagine where their furniture will sit and how it would look. Some house stagers recommend that the whole house is decorated in the same colour to create a feeling of more space. However, if the shades are all light and neutral then it may be beneficial to demark the different rooms subtlety by a slight variation in colour.

Preparation is the key. Remove all curtains, blinds and cover all furnishings. Fill in any cracks or holes with appropriate polyfiller. You can use a knife to do this but sometimes just a finger is the easiest way so that you can fill in the smallest holes. Try not to add too much filler as sanding down to create a flat surface afterwards can be tricky. Dust the walls lightly to remove dust, grime and cobwebs. If you are painting straight onto plaster you will need a primer coat first.

Buy good quality paint. Cheap paint will mean that you have to do more than two coats of paint. It could drip and spoil other spotless parts of the room. Use masking tape to make an easy straight line and remember to peel it off before the paint has properly dried but not too soon after fresh paint. If you peel it straight away it would scratch and mark the new paint. If you wait too long it could bring the paint off as you peel the masking tape away. For the ceiling line use a small brush to get a neat finish. Remember to paint along the edges with a brush first to make a border so that the roller will go over the border and the finish will be more uniform. This avoids a thick border of brush strokes.

Talking of brushes, again use good quality brushes. The cheap brushes will lose their bristles and you need to stop painting to remove the unsightly bristles from the wet paint. The whole job will take much longer and will be frustrating. One useful tip is if you’re having a break from painting and you have paint on the brush seal the brush in a plastic bag to prevent it from drying. This even works overnight so in effect you can just stop working at night and start again in the morning without having to clean the brushes.

Likewise for rollers – buy good quality. They will have a thicker pile and so will be able to hold more paint. As a result they are less likely to drip paint down your walls.

You need to paint at the right temperature. If you paint and it’s too cold the paint will take longer to dry and will collect dust. If it’s too hot it will dry too quickly and may crack. There should be guidelines on each tin.

After the paint has dried be ruthless in your inspection and touch up as necessary with a small art painting brush. This extra attention to detail will create a professional look and will create a very clean finish.

And remember to wear clothes that can get paint on. In the ads the happy young couple always wear spotless, trendy clothes but be realistic - you will get some spots of paint on you and you don’t want to have to stop painting to quickly clear it up. Wear old clothes or overalls and wear your normal clothes whilst you have a glass of wine to celebrate a job well done.

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Susy Copus writes about all aspects of the property market. Her work has featured the UK Property Search Engine, Wheres My Property, Renovate Alerts who find property to renovate and Property Money Maker.

Related keywords: selling property,property to renovate,property to buy,renovate property,property for sale

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