Dressing a house for sale - bedrooms?

[greencottage]

I'm about to put our house on the market. It's 4 double and 1 small attic-type bedroom. At the moment we don't use them all as bedrooms because we don't need that much bedroom space. Should I "dress" them all as bedrooms for the purposes of selling? (I'm thinking about picking up beds on freecycle and then making them look nice with bedlinen, cushions etc so wouldn't cost anything). It's a family house but you can easily fit a double in every room (except the small one) - should I put double beds to show they are doubles? Can I leave the small one as a kind of study space or playroom or should I put a single in there so that it's obviously bed 5. There is already a proper study/home office. Advice welcome!

[Finola1step]

I would suggest that if you want your buyers to see a 5 bed house, then it should contain 5 beds. You could have the small bedroom as a playroom though. Good idea with Freecycle.

[RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog]

Our last house had four bedrooms and a ground floor former three room annex that we converted to a sitting room (there were two other reception rooms plus a 36' kitchen/breakfast room) but - having removed the nasty 1980s bathroom with pampas suite - we installed a shower room ensuite in a new location within the floorplan so it had the potential to be used as granny flat/teenager suite/master suite etc.

One of the attic floor bedrooms was used as a large office by DH who works from home.

When it came to dressing the house for sale, we kept the downstairs former annex as a reception room with sofas etc, but our EA suggested we dress the office on the second floor as a kid's bedroom so we bought a bed etc on ebay, a rug from ikea and borrowed a decorative clothes rail from elsewhere in the house and moved the office into a smaller space (formally a storage area) between the two attic rooms.

Took a few days to reconfigure, decorate and dress the two spaces but it was definitely worth it, especially as our buyers had three DC and intended to utilise the attic rooms for two of them so they could see straight away how the space could be used. When we went SSTC we resold some of the items we'd purchased and the rug is now being used in our new house.....

[HelenF350]

I would say always dress bedrooms as bedrooms for sale. People have limited imagination. I had a 2 bed flat but used one room as a dining room, when we sold I bought a bed for a tenner from gumtree to dress it as a bedroom.

[SoljaBonita]

I wouldn't askfor beds you have no actual need for on freecycle. Given you own a five bedhouse I'm sure you can afford to buy some secondhand.

[TheOriginalWinkly]

solja given that you know nothing about the OP, her circumstances or indeed why she's selling her house, that was a very rude post indeed. Also why should anyone buy new when they can reuse and be less wasteful?

OP to answer your question, yes buyers like to see beds in bedrooms and do have very little imagination (from DMIL, who worked in an estate agents for many years) so your plan is an excellent one.

[KneesofEggleston]

I do not think people have limited imagination; i think they can be quite canny. Anyone can see when a bed has been squished in to a place that should not have a bed.

[pinkje]

I've viewed a house where they had laid packing cases 'dressed' with a cover on top to look like a bed.

[specialsubject]

don't bother lugging in beds. Have one room set up as a double and explain that the others are of similar size, hence they can also be doubles.

hopefully most buyers are sufficiently intelligent to read dimensions on a floorplan.

[KneesofEggleston]

Solja, I think you make a fair point

[greencottage]

Thanks for your advice. Actually Knees, Solja does NOT make a fair point. As said upthread, you don't know why I have to sell my house and it's not what I'm seeking advice on. What is wrong with receiving some beds from Freecycle and regifting them on Freecycle when I'm done? After all I won't be needing extra beds in my new, smaller house; effectively I'll be borrowing them in a useful way for a few weeks. How is that a problem?

[MrsSeanBean]

Yes to all 4 bedrooms. Put one of those ikea type daybeds in 5th / study to showcase dual usage.

[KneesofEggleston]

Ok Ok! I'm sorry!

I don't know what your ssituation is and did not get it from your original post. What you are doing is not a problem at all.

[HeadDreamer]

Depends on how well other houses selling the area surely? I noticed not many dressed up where we are. Lots of junk rooms around. As long as you declutter it would be fine.