I am not being spiteful. I am not ranting. I am not shredding someone's house for the heck of it.
Some of you don't seem to understand that when you put your house on the market you need to highlight the potential of its good points and minimise any issues, especially if you are fairly firm on the lowest offer you are willing to entertain. Online photos make visuals very significant in the process of marketing the property.
If you don't have blanket planning permission to knock down walls, build a conservatory/back porch, move an oven, and put in a downstairs loo, then you can really only do this by use of furniture arrangement and colour and by taking out clutter, replacing it with a suggestion of plenty of space and a lifestyle that is in accord with the price you are asking.
You are not selling your life to the next resident of the house. Your taste and your belongings should not be a distraction from the presentation of a commodity you are trying to get someone to commit to buying. It will most likely be the biggest financial commitment the buyer will have made so far, maybe the most expensive thing they will ever purchase. You are trying to suggest a lifestyle to potential buyers, and so is your competition.
I love all the books too - my own home is floor to ceiling books. But the books are jammed into those shelves and that doesn't highlight the potential of the unit to function as either bookshelves or a beautiful feature in which a family might place nice decorative items. To better highlight the shelves I would take out at least one third of the books and move select stylish objects and framed photos or art into the one third of the space left. I would expect the cupboards at the base of the unit to easily hold any children's toys or board games so I would remove the chest that probably contains children's items by the look of it.
The way it is currently presented, you are trying to suggest that a family of two adults and three children could live comfortably in spacious surroundings - having plastic storage in bedrooms alongside fairly good sized wardrobes, games and other stored items visible on top of a wardrobe, items visible under the bed and more children's storage in the living room suggest that a family of three children might be up to their knees in belongings in a short time.
You position furniture to highlight dimensions of a room and also to draw the eye to nice features like natural light and attractive windows. So yes, move the couch because at present it isn't functioning as an indicator of dimensions or how many people could fit in that room after Christmas lunch, take down the family photos so that people can imagine their own family there, get a rug and a coffee table, both of which would suggest a very comfortable living room and would also 'ground' a room which has no central feature like a fireplace, put the armchair that is blocking the view to the French windows in or about the corner where the standard lamp is now, move the lamp to the space between the couch and the shelves, and put the poang chair over near the French windows with the ottoman close to it. Remove the freestanding children's bookshelf unit - there should be room for children's books in such a big shelving unit. Get a big, tall potted plant for the corner where the lamp is now.
The colour of the couch is dated. The green is lovely against a white background in the armchair upholstery and as an accent colour in the poang chair upholstery. But as the main colour in a big piece of furniture it does not suggest the lifestyle of 2019 and combined with the beige carpet and wall colour it makes for a drab look. You can pique interest by using crisper colours.
no you can’t see garden from kitchen but you can from lounge
Not being able to see what small children are up to in a back garden from a kitchen is a problem. Many caregivers spend time in the kitchen getting housework done while their children are out back playing, or possibly poking each other's eyes out with sharp sticks. You might like to know which it is while also getting dinner together. You might not even be able to hear them from the kitchen, given the layout.
Access from the back garden to the house only via the carpeted living room is a problem that will be immediately obvious if moving in day for the next buyer is wet because that carpet will be destroyed. Installing a gate at the front of the gangway and removing the gate at the garden end of the passage, thus making it possible for children to use the front door, might alleviate the issue of mud all over the carpet if it rains. Natural light and ventilation in that passage would help keep moss and mould down so for that reason too I would suggest a tall wrought iron gate that can be locked, at the front end of the passage.
I suspect serious buyers with young families are looking at this house - it has a good location with decent schools, and there are local employers whose workforce needs homes and can afford them in this range or a bit lower. It is a nice, solidly built family home with a good back garden where children could enjoy themselves.
But the potential buyers are being turned off by the combination of price plus cost or impossibility of changing details to make it livable if they have small children and two jobs (one bathroom and therefore one sink, for instance).
If you are not willing to drop price then you have to use the best foot forward method of attracting a buyer.