Before You Sell
Decorate Before Selling Your Home
Deciding what to decorate before you sell in Richmond can feel like guesswork.
Here is a simple guide to whether it is worth it, what buyers notice first, and when to finish before the photos.
- Is it worth decorating before selling a house?
- Which decorating defects will buyers notice first?
- How far before photography should work finish?
Richmond Decorators connects people in Richmond with a trusted local decorator. Call 020 4572 8995 for a free quote.
Why Choose Us
Why Choose Us
Free Site Quote
Richmond Decorators can arrange a free site quote with a trusted local decorator.
Rooms In Order
The quote should put the rooms in order rather than include every room.
Scope Stated First
The written quote sets out the rooms, the preparation and the order of work.
Estate Agent Advice Stays Out
Valuation advice belongs with your estate agent, not the decorator.
Worth It Or Not
Is It Worth Decorating Before Selling a House?
Yes, decorating before a sale is worth it in three situations:
- Buyers would notice the marks and damage.
- The rooms photograph badly.
- The paintwork looks uncared for.
A clean, matching interior lets buyers look at the rooms instead of the faults. That is the whole case, and it does not depend on any promise about your sale price.
The opposite is just as easy to see. Scuffed skirting boards, a stained patch on the ceiling, or woodwork in three different whites catch the eye at the wrong moment.
Buyers take visible wear as a sign of how the house has been looked after, and viewings are short. Nobody can promise a higher price.
Your estate agent gives valuation advice, and no decorator controls what a buyer offers. Decorating controls how the house looks, in photographs and in person.
Both are judged in seconds. Selling an empty property after a bereavement?
First-Pass Defects
Which Decorating Defects Will Buyers Notice First?
Buyers form their first impression on the way in, before they have seen a single bedroom. The faults that create it are easy to predict, so they make a useful to-do list:
- The entrance and front door. Flaking paint on the front door is noticed before anything inside. A clean entrance sets buyers’ expectations for everything after it.
- Hallways, stairs and landings. Every viewing walks through them, and daily life scuffs them first. They often need work even when the rooms behind them do not.
- Strong colours and marks. A bold feature wall can work in a lived-in home and still distract in photographs. Scuffs, stains and unfilled holes look like neglect.
- Repairs left half done. Half-filled holes, corners touched up in the wrong white, or a repair that stops in the middle of a wall. Buyers notice where the repair stops more than the repair itself.
Start here before spending anything on the rooms at the back of the house.
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Ask about the entrance marks buyers will see first.
Ranking The Rooms
Which Rooms Are Worth Painting Before Viewings?
Not every room needs painting. Rank the rooms by how much buyers will see them and how much they need doing, and the job gets smaller.
Kitchens, hallways and main living rooms come first. They appear in the most photographs and buyers spend the longest in them.
Bathrooms come next if they look tired. A clean, bright bathroom looks well kept.
Bedrooms come last unless a room is properly damaged. Buyers spend the least time there.
Comparing quotes for the work? The page on questions to ask before hiring a decorator helps you check that two quotes cover the same job.
For decorating before selling in Richmond, Richmond Decorators can arrange a free site quote with a trusted local decorator. Call 020 4572 8995 to book the visit.
Colours For Photos
What Colours Work Best for Sale Photographs?
Light, matching colours photograph best, but no single neutral suits every property.
Keep wall colours in one family across the ground floor, so the rooms flow together in photographs. Use light shades in rooms with little natural light. A north-facing room in a cool white can look grey on camera.
Choose matt or eggshell paint for walls, because gloss reflects camera flash. Paint all the woodwork the same colour. Deal with marked skirting boards before anything else.
This is not the time for strong feature walls or fashionable dark colours. You are decorating for a stranger’s first visit, not for your own taste. The aim is a home that looks well cared for in every photograph.
Repair Or Repaint
Should You Repair, Touch Up or Repaint?
Three kinds of work cover almost every wall before a sale. Choose by the condition of the whole wall, not the size of the mark.
- Repair. For isolated damage on a wall in good condition: fill it, sand it, prime the spot and repaint the repair. This is the cheapest option, and the right one where the paint around it is sound and recent.
- Touch up. Where the wall is sound but marked, a touch-up can work. Test it somewhere hidden first. On older paint, even the same colour can show as a patch, because the original has faded.
- Repaint. When part of the paint has aged and the rest has not, repaint the whole wall. A partly repainted wall is the one that shows.
Older walls with many layers of paint need even more care. The approach to period surfaces differs from a modern room, and the quote should say so.
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Send the rooms in your sale scope for a quote.
Local Checks
Does Where You Live in Richmond Change the Work?
Two local facts can affect how much you do outside and how you present the house. Both are worth checking before you decide anything about the outside of your property.
Kew Green: Older Homes and Outside Paintwork
The council publishes the Kew Green Conservation Area Appraisal. It records Georgian houses, Victorian development and many listed and townscape buildings. Homes near areas with documented historic character can have extra rules. Outside paintwork is one of the things those rules can cover.
Before you agree any work on the outside, check your address with the council. The Kew area page gives local background. Only the council can confirm what applies to your property. Nothing on this page suggests an answer either way.
Ham Close: A Regeneration Scheme
Richmond Council’s Ham Close regeneration is upgrading existing homes. Public and community spaces are improving, and a new residential block is being built. Change on that scale can make it feel urgent to smarten up your own home.
It should not change what you do. Nothing in a regeneration scheme tells you what your own photographs need.
Keep the job in proportion. Cover the entrance, the hallways and the main rooms. Leave out anything the property does not need.
For a painting and decorating company covering Richmond, Richmond Decorators arranges a free site quote.
Timing The Work
How Far Before Photography Should Work Finish?
Work backwards from the photography date, and leave more time than seems necessary.
Paint has to do more than dry before the photographer arrives. Most water-based paints feel dry within hours. Walls need longer before you wash them. Furniture should stay off fresh paint for a few days.
Rooms need airing and floors need cleaning. The photographs look better when you dress the house as well as paint it.
If the gap is too short, do less rather than rush the paint. A hallway that has only just been painted photographs worse than an older one that is clean.
For decorating quotes in Richmond, call Richmond Decorators on 020 4572 8995 and speak to the decorator covering Richmond.
Planning Backwards
Planning Backwards From the Photography Date
Plan the dates backwards from the photography date.
1
Last Coat
The final coat goes on the walls and woodwork in scope first.
2
Drying
The paint is left to dry fully before anything else happens in the room.
3
Cleaning
Walls are washed and floors and surfaces are cleaned once the paint is ready.
4
Airing
Rooms are aired, and furniture stays off the fresh paint while it settles.
5
Dressing The Rooms
The house is dressed, so the rooms are presented as well as painted.
6
Photographs
The photographer arrives with the rooms painted, clean and dressed.
Pre-Sale Decorating FAQs
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