You've decided to sell your home.
And suddenly you're looking around thinking:
We need to redecorate.
The carpets need replacing.
The garden needs landscaping.
The kitchen could do with updating.
Perhaps we should change those light fittings.
Maybe paint the hallway.
New bedding?
New towels?
New cushions?
Stop.
Before you spend hundreds — or potentially thousands — of pounds preparing a property for sale, we'd suggest doing something much cheaper.
Ask your estate agent what actually needs doing.
Because preparing a home for sale isn't about creating a show home.
It's about presenting your home at its best.
And those are two very different things.
You are selling a home, not a hotel room
There seems to be an idea that before a photographer arrives, every trace of human existence needs to disappear.
It doesn't.
Buyers understand that somebody lives in the house.
Family photographs aren't automatically disastrous.
A book beside the bed isn't going to destroy your sale.
A coffee machine is allowed to exist in a kitchen.
The goal isn't to remove every sign of personality.
It's to give the property breathing space.
You want buyers looking at the room rather than everything inside it.
So declutter.
But don't sterilise.
Start with the things that cost nothing
Before buying anything, walk through the house and look at what's already there.
Could some things simply be put away?
Does the hallway contain six pairs of shoes, three coats, two school bags and a dog lead collection?
Is the kitchen worktop gradually disappearing beneath appliances?
Is there post on the side?
Are charging cables trailing across a table?
And is the exercise bike currently functioning as the world's most expensive clothes horse?
😂
None of these things are terrible.
They're normal life.
But photographs capture a room differently from the way our eyes experience it.
Here's a useful trick:
Take a photograph of the room on your phone.
Then look at the photograph.
You'll often notice things you stopped seeing months ago.
A little extra help when you need it
Sometimes preparing to move is about considerably more than clearing a kitchen worktop before the photographer arrives.
If you've lived somewhere for years, you're not just dealing with things.
You're dealing with memories.
Children's belongings.
Furniture.
Paperwork.
Possessions inherited from people you love.
And sometimes the sheer question of:
“Where on earth do I start?”
That's why we're delighted to work with Kirsty from Declutter Dollies, the professional organising team founded by Dilly Carter — the organising expert from BBC One's Sort Your Life Out with Stacey Solomon.
Kirsty can help clients prepare and organise their home before it comes to market — but what we particularly love is that the support can continue through the move and into the new home.
So this isn't about somebody arriving and telling you to throw half your belongings away.
It's about helping make what can feel like an enormous job manageable.
Declutter Dollies' wider service is built around organising homes so that they function properly for the people living in them, including support with home moves and getting spaces organised afterwards.
Decluttering isn't about removing your life from your home. It's about making moving it easier.
And sometimes having somebody beside you who knows exactly where to begin can make all the difference.
More than selling your home. Helping you move.
That's why Ash & Acre is proud to work with Kirsty from Declutter Dollies, part of the professional organising team founded by Dilly Carter, organising expert from BBC One's _Sort Your Life Out_ with Stacey Solomon.
Kirsty can support our clients before their home reaches the market — helping to declutter, organise and prepare — and that support doesn't have to stop when the sold board goes up. It can continue through the move and into the new home, helping clients unpack, organise and begin the next chapter with considerably less chaos.
Because we don't believe exceptional estate agency should stop at finding a buyer. It should help make the whole move easier.
It's part of the service we're building at Ash & Acre: thoughtful, personal support around the parts of moving home that traditional estate agency can sometimes overlook.
Please don't automatically redecorate
This is a big one.
We've walked into properties where owners are preparing to spend thousands of pounds because they believe everything needs to be neutral before they sell.
It doesn't.
If a room is particularly tired, damaged or painted in a colour that may overwhelm the space, some decorating might be worthwhile.
But painting an entire perfectly presentable house magnolia because somebody once said buyers like neutral colours?
Probably not.
A buyer may walk through the door and decide to redecorate regardless.
So before spending money, ask:
Will this genuinely change how a buyer perceives the property?
If the answer is no, keep your money.
Sometimes £100 spent intelligently beats £5,000 spent badly
This is where good pre-sale advice becomes valuable.
A loose handle.
A blown bulb.
A dripping tap.
A badly scuffed entrance.
A door that doesn't close properly.
A very tired seal around the bath.
Small things can create a disproportionate impression.
Individually, buyers may barely notice them.
Collectively, they can create a feeling that the property hasn't been looked after.
That's different from saying:
“Replace the kitchen.”
We'd rather identify the handful of things likely to influence presentation than produce an expensive shopping list for improvements you may never recover through the sale.
Our order is:
Clean → Declutter → Repair → Present → Then consider spending.
Not the other way around.
Clean beats expensive
You do not need the most expensive kitchen.
But you do want the one you've got to look cared for.
Pay attention to:
windows,
mirrors,
worktops,
taps,
shower screens,
floors,
skirting boards,
and reflective surfaces.
It's amazing how much brighter a room can feel when the windows and glass are properly clean.
The objective isn't sterile.
It's:
Cared for.
That's a very different feeling.
Let the light in
Before the photographer arrives, open curtains and blinds properly.
Check that bulbs work.
If a room is naturally darker, think about whether anything is unnecessarily blocking the light.
And if the lampshade has been hanging slightly wonky since 2019…
Today is its moment. 😂
Light affects how spacious and inviting a room feels, both in photographs and when buyers eventually come through the door.
The kitchen
You don't need to remove everything.
But kitchen worktops benefit enormously from space.
Put away things that don't need to be there.
Perhaps leave the coffee machine.
Maybe the kettle.
A nice plant or something simple can work beautifully.
But if the buyer has to mentally fight their way through an air fryer, toaster, bread bin, knife block, paperwork, cereal boxes and seventeen mugs, they're not really seeing the worktop.
And worktop space is part of what you're selling.
The bathroom
This is one room where reducing the everyday clutter really does help.
Shampoo bottles.
Toothbrushes.
Cleaning products.
Half-used toiletries.
Laundry.
You know the collection. 😂
Clear what you reasonably can.
Clean the mirror and shower screen.
Put out clean towels.
Close the loo lid.
Done.
No scented-candle ceremony required.
Bedrooms don't need to look like a catalogue
Make the bed.
Clear unnecessary clutter.
Straighten things up.
Give the room some space.
That's most of the job.
You do not automatically need a new bed, bedroom furniture, cushions, throws and an entirely new duvet set because you're selling your house.
And if anybody tells your other half that Amanda said you need a completely new bedroom…
Amanda did not say so.
😂
Don't forget what buyers see before the front door
The viewing doesn't begin in the hallway.
It begins outside.
A buyer may have already formed an impression while you're still waiting for the doorbell.
So look at the approach to the house.
Sweep the path.
Move bins if you reasonably can.
Cut the lawn if it needs it.
Tidy obvious garden clutter.
Straighten outside furniture.
Move the hosepipe that's trying to murder somebody on the path.
If you have a driveway, think about where cars will be when the photographer arrives.
Again:
You don't need Chelsea Flower Show.
You need:
Looked after.
And then there are the dogs
This is clearly the most technically demanding part of property presentation.
We have consulted our in-house specialists.
Lottie and Araya.
Their recommendations appear to be:
1. Keep all dog beds exactly where they are.
2. Place toys in every room.
3. Ensure several tennis balls are visible in the garden.
4. Under no circumstances remove the food bowls.
5. Pay consultants immediately in chicken.
We have overruled them. 😂🐾
In reality, if you have pets, have a quick look at how their things appear in photographs.
A lovely dog bed tucked neatly into a corner can make a house feel like a home.
Fourteen toys distributed across the sitting room may be slightly less helpful.
Food bowls can usually disappear temporarily.
Leads can be put away.
And if your photographer is taking exterior photographs, somebody may need to supervise the dog.
Unless, of course, you're specifically going for:
Beautiful Bedfordshire family home with blurred Labradoodle carrying sock.
In which case Lottie and Araya are available.
Should the dogs be in the photographs?
Sometimes, actually, yes.
Not every property photograph needs to look completely devoid of life.
For the right home, a tasteful lifestyle photograph involving a dog can subtly communicate something about the property.
A country cottage.
A home beside lovely walks.
A large family garden.
A village property where the lifestyle is part of the appeal.
But it needs to be deliberate.
There is a difference between:
beautiful dog sitting beside the fireplace
and:
dog unexpectedly licking the patio door halfway through the photograph.
We'll make that decision with you.
Think about how the house flows
Before photography, walk from room to room.
Are doors opening cleanly?
Is furniture making a room feel smaller than it is?
Is there something blocking a natural walkway?
Would moving one chair temporarily make the room photograph better?
This doesn't mean hiring a storage unit and removing half the house.
Sometimes shifting one piece of furniture by three feet completely changes the photograph.
We're looking for space, proportion and flow.
Now walk away
This is one of our favourite tricks.
Once you've finished preparing the house:
Leave.
Go for a coffee.
Walk the dog.
Pop to the shops.
Then come back through the front door and pretend you've never seen the property before.
What do you notice?
Where does your eye go?
Does the entrance feel welcoming?
Is there a smell you've become used to?
Does something suddenly look cluttered?
We stop noticing our own homes because we see them every day.
Coming back with fresh eyes can be surprisingly useful.
Before spending serious money, talk to us
This is probably the most important piece of advice in this entire article.
If you're considering spending significant money specifically because you're planning to sell:
Please speak to us first.
New carpets.
Full redecoration.
A new bathroom.
Replacing worktops.
Landscaping.
Expensive repairs.
Sometimes expenditure is absolutely worthwhile.
Sometimes we'd advise doing something completely different.
And sometimes we'd tell you:
Don't spend the money.
Because our job isn't to persuade you to create the prettiest house on the street.
Our job is to help you make sensible decisions about what will help you sell it.
The photographer isn't there to photograph your belongings
They're there to photograph the property.
That's the distinction.
The photographs should help a potential buyer understand the space, imagine themselves living there and want to see more.
You don't need perfection.
You don't need a show home.
And you certainly don't need to spend a fortune because you're worried your house isn't Instagram-ready.
You don't need a show home. You need your home shown properly.
That's the line I'd build the whole visual campaign around. ❤️
Thinking about selling?
Before you start redecorating, replacing or spending, invite us over.
We'll tell you what we'd change.
What we'd leave alone.
What we'd tidy.
What we'd highlight.
And, importantly, what we wouldn't spend money on.
Because sometimes the best pre-sale advice isn't:
“Do this.”
It's:
“Leave it alone.”
Amanda & Aiden Wright
Mother & Son · Co-Founders
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Ash & Acre · Family Run Estate Agents
Clarity. Confidence. Trust.
