Painting kitchen cupboards before selling house?

[GlaceCherries]

As titled, paint or not? We would also have to re-wallpaper the kitchen too (but the wall area is quite small, mostly covered by cupboard or tiles).

The cupboards are a "natural" mid-brown, quite old and (to me) not at all attractive. We've just never got round to doing it up because we were waiting to re-do the whole kitchen. 10 years down the line we have decided to move instead and will want to put the house on the market in the new year.

Do you think it would be worth the hassle? Probably won't add much value, but might stop potential buyers from going when they clasp eyes on it!

Depends on whether you can do a good job of it. Do the cupboards have varnish on them?

If you're going to try a quick tart up I'd recommend Annie Sloan Chalk Paint since the doors will need less preparation before the paint goes on.

Get valuations and advice from estate agents before you go to the effort and expense. If the cupboard doors are sound I wouldn't bother, perhaps just sort out the bit of decorating if it is really bad, e.g. water damaged.

I've just sold a house where the kitchen needed completely re-papering and painting. All the EAs I had round to value advised me to leave it as buyers would be looking to put their own stamp on the place anyway.

I was sceptical but the first viewer offered and we negotiated up to the level we wanted.

Chances are if you think it needs re-doing buyers will too - painting the doors won't make a difference to that.

I think it also depends on what the market's doing. If it's all moving pretty briskly then I'd say it won't make much difference. In a slower market it might just help - maybe not increase the value but maybe avoid putting people off.

Also what are your tiles like? If they are quite nice then it's more likely to create a good impression. If they're horrible then it might have less impact.

don't bother. We've got a kitchen like that and will redo at some stage, but it really isn't that hideous. Paint is expensive and unless you are really good at painting woodwork, you will make it impossible to do again with the buyers choice of colour.

witness the pink door in my house that is going to be real fun to re-paint...

Thanks all. I will look out for that paint atticus. We're not hoping to add value per se, just not put people off by the horrid brown woodwork. And the thing is, the wallpaper is lime green.... I know it will be a hassle, just have to see how keen OH is on doing this. It's the massive cleaning the house will need before viewings that I'm not looking forward to

Can you paint over the wallpaper?

If you do decide to do the cupboards, do you know about the little sponge rollers you can get for doing woodwork? Like a mini version of the ones for walls, really help get a nice smooth finish (you obviously need to use a brush still for any fiddly bits but they are great on the flat bits)

Don't give yourself more work to do OP - concentrate room by room on decluttering and deep cleaning. Don't forget windows, inside and out. And do get the carpets cleaned, it can make a huge difference.