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Original poster

Am I obliged to make my house look House Doctor bland prior to selling?

30 replies

scottishfarmlady · 25/10/2006 09:45

I am moving house .
It is an old farm house and we are going to tidy it up, declutter etc and repaint most of the rooms.
Currently is has a variety of different colours and no doubt Ann Maurice would have us paint the whole thing cream. I think it might destroy the character.We did not have a lot of money to do it up so it is all a mix of colours and fabrics at the momnet. To me it is lovely!

Dh has already painted out the dusty red walls in one bedroom in cream. I think it looks cold and boring.
Any advice?

OP posts:
CreepyCrawlyCarmenere · 25/10/2006 09:49

I think that the reason it is advisable to magnolia the whole place is because when people see personal colours when they are viewing houses they automatically think of the extra work they will have to do to change it to how they would like it to be. That automatically puts a negative mark beside the property and even if it is lovely they will still have to factor that in. Basically living with magnolia is easier than living with dark colours.

Pruni · 25/10/2006 09:49

Message withdrawn

Blackduck · 25/10/2006 09:50

Depends what a 'variety of colours' means and how 'bright' 'wacky' they are IMO. Also who is the likely market? Don't think cream all over is necessary - but neturals (yellow/cream/pastel?) Having said that we sold a house with a green room, a blue room, a terracota bedroom, a red and yellow kitchen, and a yellow front room.....

LIZS · 25/10/2006 09:52

If it isn't to scary I'd leave some colour. Think you can get away with it more in a a character property. As a viewer I find too much "House Doctoring" is very offputting, just cannot imagine us living there and in some cases it still doesn't feel spacious, just cold and uninviting.

lulumama · 25/10/2006 09:56

hi scottish farmlady

hope this helps...

we wanted a fixer upper! otherwise we wuld not have been able to afford the sortof house we wanted in the area we wanted...so we bought a very very neglected house...needed new plumbing, rewiring, replastering, new bathroom, new kitchen...we couldn;t live in it for months...

but it was the potential that we bought, the ability for DS to go to a good school, to be in a family orientted area and to have a bigger house than we cuold have had if it was in good condition

how it was decorated was not on my list.....and it was absolutely minging filthy! BUT - we could see how fab it could be......

and i am sure your house is not anyhting like our was as you obvioiusly take pride in how you wnat it to look!

if you are selling an old farm house..surely people buying will want to see some character and wouldn;t expect pristiness and blandness...i would say clean & tidy is a bonus...!

you live in the house, it is your home,,you can't make it a show home while you are living there...

lots of buyers see past the cosmetic element and usually have an idea of what they would do anyway....

twocatsonthebed · 25/10/2006 09:59

Definitely do the tidy up and declutter, it makes everything look bigger. And giving everything a good wash down with sugar soap can also help.

Beyond that, I think you need to be honest with yourself about how much work needs doing on the house. If it's likely that someone will want to come in and change the bathrooms, kitchens etc, then I don't think cream paint will make much difference, as long as the price is right. Personally, I'd always look for a house that wasn't perfect, as I know I'll want to put my own stamp on it.

But if you've got quite an individual style - and if the colours make the rooms look small - then you might want to do one or two of the rooms. But I think if all the rooms end up magnolia, it could look very dull.

HumphreyComfrey · 25/10/2006 10:01

Our old house was on the market for ages.

It wasn't decorated in a wacky and outrageous style. Our bedroom was blue. One of the other bedrooms had a children's border. The kitchen was lemon with white tiles.

But once we did the Anne Maurice "paint everything magnolia and put all your clutter into storage", routine, it sold in a week!

We were amazed at the lack of imagination of some of the prospective buyers.

One didn't like the colour of our living room rug.

It was blue!

We were taking it with us!

marymillington · 25/10/2006 10:01

I think the whole house doctor thing has become so hackneyed now that if i went into a house that had been "done" it would actually put me right off.

it depends who your market is too - what does your estate agent reckon?

expatinscotland · 25/10/2006 10:03

where's the house?

i might buy it off ya.

Pruni · 25/10/2006 10:06

Message withdrawn

sorrell · 25/10/2006 10:06

With small children I didn't want a house I would have to start decorating right away. Our house was quite neutrally decorated but wasn't colourless - it was really nice and bright though and extremely tidy when we went to view. We didn't realise how much until we went back to measure up and it looked a LOT scruffier (family with three kids lived there).

It was nicely styled, super tidy, decluttered and very clean and that goes a long way.
I personally would be more likely to buy a house with a cream bedroom than a dark red one though. Think that sounds a good move.

expatinscotland · 25/10/2006 10:11

Sorry, Pruni, I'm needing three bedrooms and a garden large enough to grow some FOOD!

Bramshott · 25/10/2006 10:14

Our old house had a lovely cosy red living room, but it was on the market for a year, so we painted the living room a really boring cream, and the next people to view it bought it! We now have an equally lovely red living room in our new house!!

Pruni · 25/10/2006 10:17

Message withdrawn

Original poster
scottishfarmlady · 25/10/2006 14:30

Thank you everybody for your helpful repies.
The agents did not say too much they just wanted it on their books NOW but we are not selling till spring.
None of the currrent decor is bright or wacky but there are a few rooms with strong colours. No patterns, all just painted walls.
I think we need to put in a new bathroom as the main one sort of lets the place downbearing in mind it will be going on at about offers over 525 K. The kitchen was done very recently and I am sorry to leave it behind.

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 25/10/2006 14:32

K, guess I won't be buying it then.

Pruni, it's all yours.

TwigTwoolett · 25/10/2006 14:35

Yes I think it could stop some people being put off

that said when we bought this house

the lounge was dark green with gold fleur-de-lys and above the picture rail was dark green and cream stripes

the main bedroom was similar but in maroon and cream

the dining room was pink, green, cream stripes

the hall was dusky pink with a green leafy border at dado height and white above the picture rail .. also had a pink runner on the stairs

need I continue?

MrsBadger · 25/10/2006 14:44

the posts here bear out what I suspected - a non-neutrally decorated house will sell, but only to people with imagination, and you might have to wait a while before they come along.
A neutrally-decorated house has wider appeal and will sell to anyone who comes in the door!

Have a look on rightmove.co.uk at what houses in your area and your (hopeful) sale price look like inside - yours will need to be at least as nice if not nicer!

expatinscotland · 25/10/2006 14:46

I don't think it's just that buyers who want a more neutrally decorated home lack imagination, but also that a) they may have small children and find decorating around them a PITA b) they may be quite cash-strapped after the purchase c) they may have very busy lives and not a lot of spare time to be bothered w/the hassle.

Chandra · 25/10/2006 14:51

I wouldn't change it, if you are going to buy a farmhose at the price, you are looking for character not for a "blank canvas" that removes the patina of the age.

bran · 25/10/2006 14:51

I was looking at a couple of houses last weekend when I was in Dublin, they were on the same road and had an identical layout and the same sized rooms. One had very old fashioned but pale decor and the other had more modern, stronger colours and I was amazed by how much bigger the pale rooms seemed. So I do think it's worthwhile freshening up with pale colours, if you think cream/magnolia is too cold then use a warmer colour, just not a strong, deep colour.

Original poster
scottishfarmlady · 25/10/2006 16:07

Chandra you put well what I was trying to say!

OP posts:
MrsBadger · 25/10/2006 16:15

Agree you don't want to remove the patina of age from a period property, but removing the patina of the last ten years is a different matter...

If you were planning to repaint it to sell anyway then you might as well use mass-appeal colours the first time round - imagine how cross you'd be if you repainted in strong colours and discovered, like Huphrey and Bramshott, that it wouldn't sell and you needed to repaint again in cream to shift it.

It needn't be actual magnolia but something light, warm and neutral will never be a mistake (try F&B String or similar), and remember you're moving so it doesn't matter if you personally find it bland.

expatinscotland · 25/10/2006 16:17

Now don't take it the wrong way, I'm all for character, but there's a fine line between character and naff.

I'm not saying your house is, but perhaps it'd be a worthwhile investment to hire a sort of house doctor to give it a quick once over before putting it on the market if you feel you'd like to get the most possible for it?

Dunno.

There's a house that's been on the market in my ILs street that I thought would have sold ages ago, but it hasn't and my ILs went to look at it and they said it's b/c it's not really well done up and there are others that are.

Best of luck.

JackieNoHeadJustABloodyStump · 25/10/2006 16:19

Or call in Cod's trademarked 'blunt friend', as a cheaper first step?

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