Selling or letting your home can be a stressful process, especially with the added pressure of preparing your home for photos to be taken. Sometimes you don’t even know where to start making your home show ready. Everyone wants to generate the maximum interest in their property, that’s why we’ve created a checklist of top tips for making your home look it’s best before our team arrives with the camera!
Declutter
Declutter as much as possible so all you’re left with is essential furniture, particularly in the kitchen. Work tops should preferably be completely clear, even from the appliances you usually leave out, like the kettle or toaster. You want to show off as much space and potential as possible. A deep clean would also be worthwhile, as you want your home to look as inviting as possible, and it’s easy to be put off even the nicest home by dirt and mess.
Redecorate
If you have the time and recourses, redecorating with a natural colour scheme in rooms that have a lot of colour or a bold wallpaper can be very effective. Having a neutral colour scheme can make a room look and feel fresh, bright, and overall bigger. It also provides a clean slate for potential buyers to envision their own style and preferences in the space.
Exterior
De-weed and tidy your gardens where possible, particularly the front garden, as first impressions count for a lot with house photography. Showing you take care of your garden shows that you are also mindful of the care of your house as a whole. Ensure bins and recycling bins are out of sight for the photos and lawns are trimmed and neat.
Bedrooms
Ensure ALL beds are neatly made and even go the extra mile of decorating with some blankets and scatter cushions. Make sure all clothes, knick-knacks, and personal items are put away. Bedrooms are always something people are keen to see when scrolling through property listings, so ensure they are as appealing and inviting as possible.
Bathrooms
You want your bathrooms to look almost uninhabited. Clear the shower stall of any bottles and cleaning products, put away any extra toilet rolls, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and any moisturisers or products around the basin. Ideally, it would be best to put towels away too, but neatly folded would also be fine.
Flowers
Adding a vase of flowers, both for viewings and photography, really adds a splash of colour to a room and brings some life to it. Not only do they look lovely, they smelly lovely too! Lilies are a great choice, but any flowers have the same effect. If you don’t want to keep updating fresh flowers for viewings, why not try fake flowers instead?
Lighting
Turning on lamps in each room is a simple but effective way of gaining a bit of extra light and creating a cosy and welcoming atmosphere. Keep the curtains open in every room to let some natural light in too, as overhead lights are often too harsh for good photography.
Preparing your home for photography is an essential stage in the selling or renting process, as it’s the first and potentially only chance you have to convince a buyer it’s the home for them. Taking particular care at this stage is worth the effort, and just implementing a few of our suggestions might make all the difference.
