Home staging: how to prepare your flat for sale before we take the photos

Home staging brings to mind interior styling and hired furniture. In practice most things that make a listing more attractive cost nothing but a few hours of work. Here is what we do with owners before every photo shoot – and what you can do yourself, even if you sell without an agency.

1. Depersonalise

A buyer has to picture themselves in the flat, not the current owners. Family photos, diplomas, fridge magnets, toiletries in the bathroom – all of it disappears for the photos and viewings. It is the hardest step emotionally and the most effective one.

2. Make space

Full wardrobes, cluttered worktops and furniture placed “because it was convenient” make rooms look smaller. The rule is simple: the fewer things, the bigger the flat. If something is going to the new home anyway, pack it now. Boxes can go into storage for the duration of the sale.

3. Fix the small things

A dripping tap, a cracked grout line, a missing bulb, a squeaking door. Each detail means nothing on its own, but together they build an impression of neglect, and the buyer immediately starts counting “how much more will need to go in”. The repair list usually fits into one day of a handyman’s work.

4. Light and colour

We shoot in daylight, with the windows uncovered and all lamps on – so it helps if the bulbs have the same colour temperature. Intense wall colours in a single room are better repainted in a neutral shade. It is the one “investment” we recommend almost always, because it pays back in the first week of the listing.

5. Smell and order on viewing day

Airing, clean windows, fresh towels in the bathroom, smooth bedding. Pets and their accessories are best taken out of the flat for viewings. It sounds trivial, but these are the things that decide whether a buyer stays ten minutes or half an hour.

When more is worth it

With empty flats and premium houses it sometimes pays to hire furniture and accessories to show what rooms are for. We agree the scope and cost of such staging with the owner before work begins – always in relation to the expected price and time of sale. We do not propose expenses that will not pay back.

Want to know what we would do in your flat? Book a meeting – the first consultation and the preparation list are part of our pre-sale work.