to ask for last minute house sprucing techniques

[doyouwantamedalorsomething]

I love my house but have loads of people coming over later and all I can seee if where the plaster is cracked or where there are marks on the carpet.

How do I make it seem nice when people come over later without having to get a plasterer round last minute.

What are your top tips

Light lots of candles, fill them with good food and wine and no one will care... they are there to see you!

Clean, empty sinks always make a house look cared for. Ditto vacuumed floors.

Most of them are coming to see me but there are definitely a couple who will be peering behind sofas...

Just make sure it's clean....you sound like me by the way! Before anyone comes round, I notice every mark on the wall/carpet!

A stunt pineapple. Definitely.

Wittery beat me to it so I will add stunt lemons and limes

Saucepan of water with orange slices, bring to boil and leave to simmer. Smells delicious.

Good dust, polish and Hoover in the rooms they'll go in. Chuck clutter in rooms they won't.

Scrub surfaces and floors in bathrooms and kitchen.
Wipe down inside of fridge.
Clean front door and make sure hall is clutter free.
Bake some scones (Paul Hollywood on BBC website, 10 mins to make and are impressive) to divert attention from house.

BUT know, they won't see the things you see everyday. If they treat visiting you as some kind of inspection then make it clear it will be their last visit to YOUR home. I only do the things above because I LIKE them, not because I feel obliged.

When we had friends over last we chucked clutter into a spare room. Next thing I knew my OH had taken our guests in there!

He said he forgot.

Clean and decluttered with fresh flowers and a candle lit go a long way.

Meanwhile, have you tried to tackle marks on the carpet? I just use a spray, bowl of warm water and a cloth and tackle all the marks one by one. And if cracks are hairline, you can usually paint over them. I go round spot-cleaning walls and if they are particularly bad I touch them up with a spare pot of paint I bought for the purpose! Tip for the future - don't ever choose a custom-blend paint colour, the batches don't always come out the same and you can't do touch ups, whereas standard paint colours are generally a good colour match. Sometimes you might want to take a shelf or picture down and if you can't touch up the area you'd have to paint the entire wall...

If your house is clean and clutter free people won't notice small things. Open all your windows for an hour to freshen the house up, have some fresh flowers and light a nice candle or if you have a fire light it/put it on.

These are all amazing I'm just running round now doing them