Before You List
Decorating to Sell Tunbridge Wells
Selling your Tunbridge Wells home and not sure which rooms are worth repainting first?
You probably cannot redo every room before the photos, so this page helps you choose. Work through it and you will have a short, ranked plan that can be quoted without turning the property into a full renovation.
What this page answers:
- Is It Worth Decorating Before Selling a House?
- What Will Buyers Notice First?
- How Long Before the Photos Should the Painting Finish?
Tunbridge Wells Decorators connects people in Tunbridge Wells with a trusted local decorator. Call 01892 574490 about decorating before you list your Tunbridge Wells home for sale.
Why Choose Us
Why Choose Us
Rooms Ranked First
The scope starts with the rooms every viewing goes through, not a whole-house repaint.
Visible Defects Listed
The walk-through records the marks and half-done repairs a buyer would see first.
Local Area Checks
Exterior work in historic areas is checked with the council against your own address.
Timed To Your Listing
The finish date is built around when your photographer and viewings are booked.
Worth It
Is It Worth Decorating Before Selling a House?
Yes, if the paint is in a state buyers will notice.
- A marked hallway.
- A dated strong colour in the main living room.
- Chipped gloss on the woodwork.
All three pull the eye in viewings. Buyers often read tired paint as a sign the rest of the house has not been looked after.
No decorator can promise a higher sale price. That is for your estate agent to judge.
What fresh, matching paint does is give buyers fewer reasons to knock the price down, and it makes your photos look better. Treat it as smartening up the house, and spend on a short list of the most important jobs rather than the whole house at once.
First Defects
What Will Buyers Notice First?
Buyers form their opinion on the way in, so start with the route they take. The front door and porch set the tone before anyone steps inside. The hall and stairs come next, because every viewing goes through them. Then come strong colours, scuffed skirting boards and any repair that looks half done.
Walk through the house as a buyer would, from the front door to the kitchen, and write down what catches your eye for the wrong reason. That list is your job list. Everything else can wait.
Rooms Worth Painting
Which Rooms Are Worth Painting Before Viewings?
Rank the rooms by how much buyers see them and what state they are in, rather than repainting all of them. The front door and hall come first, because every viewing goes through them. The main living room and kitchen usually come next, since they fill most of the listing photos. Bedrooms are worth doing if the paint is in poor condition. If the property is a let one, landlord and HMO decorating in Tunbridge Wells covers the work between tenants.
Homeowners selling in Tunbridge Wells often ask Tunbridge Wells Decorators to focus on the rooms buyers notice, not repaint the whole house. Ask Tunbridge Wells Decorators to pick out the rooms buyers will see first in your Tunbridge Wells listing. Call 01892 574490.
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Sale Photographs
What Colours Work Best for Sale Photographs?
There is no single colour that works for every house. What works is light, matching and calm.
Pale, warm colours lift a room on camera. Using the same few colours through the hall, stairs and landing makes the house feel bigger and better kept. Strong personal colours can look like a job for the buyer to redo.
Judge it by the listing photo, not by standing in the room. If a colour takes over the picture or dates the room, change it. If it is simply your taste and does not make the room darker, leave it and spend the money where the paint is in worse shape.
Repair Or Repaint
Should You Repair, Touch Up or Repaint?
There are three levels, and choosing the right one is where you save money.
A patch on a faded wall can look worse than the mark did. Look at each wall on its own, and repaint where a repair would show from the doorway.
Three Levels
The Three Levels of Pre-Sale Work
1
Small Repair
One filled crack or patch, where the paint around it is in good order.
2
Touch-Up
One wall or bit of woodwork cleaned and refreshed without repainting the whole wall.
3
Repaint The Wall
The right choice where a patch would show, or the damage covers most of the wall.
Conservation Areas
Does Where Your Home Is in Tunbridge Wells Affect the Painting?
For the outside, it can. The council publishes guidance on historic areas of Tunbridge Wells, such as Calverley Park, The Pantiles, Broadwater Down and Southborough. If your home is in one of them, check with the council before repainting the front. Check your own address rather than assuming.
For the inside, keep the job in proportion. The aim is a well-kept home, not a full redecoration. A painting and decorating company in Tunbridge Wells can tell a real problem from a mark that will not show in a photo anyway.
Before Photography
How Long Before the Photos Should the Painting Finish?
Leave time between the last coat and the camera for the paint to harden, the rooms to be cleaned and the furniture to go back. Fresh emulsion feels dry within hours but marks easily for days, and gloss or eggshell takes even longer to harden. Photograph too early and you can end up with a shiny patch, a scuff or a furniture mark in the listing for good.
Finish painting well before the shoot, then clean, tidy the rooms and let fresh air through. How long depends on the paint and the rooms, so build it into the plan when you book. Speak to the decorator covering Tunbridge Wells about timing the last coat before your photographer arrives. Call 01892 574490.
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Time the final coat before the photographer
Pre-Sale Decorating FAQs
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