Before You Sell
Decorating Before Selling in Surrey
Getting a Surrey home ready to sell is easier when you know where to start.
This page explains whether decorating is worth it, which marks buyers notice first, and when to finish before photographs.
- Is it worth decorating before selling a house?
- Which decorating defects will buyers notice first?
- How far before photography should work finish?
Surrey Decorators connects people in Surrey with a trusted local decorator. Call 01483 930151 for a free quote.
Why Choose Us
Why Choose Us?
Ranked Scope First
The rooms and surfaces in scope are put in order rather than treated as one whole-house repaint.
Quote Covers Same Job
The written quote sets out the rooms, the preparation and the order of work.
Free Site Quote
Surrey Decorators can arrange a free site quote with a trusted local decorator.
Sized To Your Date
The job can be sized to fit the time you have before the photographs.
The Short Answer
Is It Worth Decorating Before Selling a House?
Yes, decorating before a sale is worth it in three situations.
- Buyers would notice marks and damage.
- The rooms photograph badly.
- The paintwork looks uncared for.
A clean, matching interior lets buyers look at the rooms instead of the faults. That is the whole case, and it does not depend on any promise about your sale price.
The opposite is just as easy to see. Scuffed skirting boards, a stained patch on the ceiling, or woodwork in three different whites catch the eye at the wrong moment.
Buyers take visible wear as a sign of how the house has been looked after. Viewings are short, so it counts.
Nobody can promise a higher price. Your estate agent gives valuation advice, and no decorator controls what a buyer offers.
Decorating controls how the house looks, in photographs and in person. Both are judged in seconds.
Selling an empty property after a bereavement? The page on probate house decorating covers access, clearing the house and keeping the process controlled.
First Impressions
Which Decorating Defects Will Buyers Notice First?
Buyers form their first impression on the way in, before they have seen a single bedroom. The faults that create it are easy to predict, so they make a useful to-do list:
- The entrance and front door. Flaking paint on the front door is noticed before anything inside. A clean entrance sets buyers’ expectations for everything after it.
- Hallways, stairs and landings. Every viewing walks through them, and daily life scuffs them first. They often need work even when the rooms behind them do not.
- Strong colours and marks. A bold feature wall can work in a lived-in home and still distract in photographs. Scuffs, stains and unfilled holes look like neglect.
- Repairs left half done. Half-filled holes, corners touched up in the wrong white, or a repair that stops in the middle of a wall. Buyers notice where the repair stops more than the repair itself.
Start here before spending anything on the rooms at the back of the house.
Room Priority
Which Rooms Are Worth Painting Before Viewings?
Not every room needs painting. Rank the rooms by how much buyers will see them and how much they need doing, and the job gets smaller.
Kitchens, hallways and main living rooms come first. They appear in the most photographs and buyers spend the longest in them.
Bathrooms come next if they look tired. A clean, bright bathroom looks well kept.
Bedrooms come last unless a room is properly damaged. Buyers spend the least time there.
Comparing quotes for the work? The page on questions to ask before hiring a decorator helps you check that two quotes cover the same job.
For decorating before selling in Surrey, Surrey Decorators can arrange a free site quote with a trusted local decorator. Call 01483 930151 to book the visit.
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Ask Surrey Decorators to arrange a free site quote for your decorating project in Surrey.
Colour Choices
What Colours Work Best for Sale Photographs?
Light, matching colours photograph best, but no single neutral suits every property.
Keep wall colours in one family across the ground floor, so the rooms flow together in photographs. Use light shades in rooms with little natural light. A north-facing room in a cool white can look grey on camera.
Choose matt or eggshell paint for walls, because gloss reflects camera flash. Paint all the woodwork the same colour. Deal with marked skirting boards before anything else.
This is not the time for strong feature walls or fashionable dark colours. You are decorating for a stranger’s first visit, not for your own taste. The aim is a home that looks well cared for in every photograph.
Choosing The Work
Should You Repair, Touch Up or Repaint?
Three kinds of work cover almost every wall before a sale. Choose by the condition of the whole wall, not the size of the mark.
- Repair. For isolated damage on a wall in good condition: fill it, sand it, prime the spot and repaint the repair. This is the cheapest option, and the right one where the paint around it is sound and recent.
- Touch up. Where the wall is sound but marked, a touch-up can work. Test it somewhere hidden first. On older paint, even the same colour can show as a patch, because the original has faded.
- Repaint. When part of the paint has aged and the rest has not, repaint the whole wall. A partly repainted wall is the one that shows.
Older walls with many layers of paint need even more care. The approach to period surfaces differs from a modern room, and the quote should say so.
Local Rules
Does Where You Live in Surrey Change the Work?
Two local facts can affect how much you do outside and how you present the house. Both are worth checking before you decide anything about the outside of your property.
Mole Valley Conservation Areas: Outside Paintwork
Mole Valley Council says it has 26 conservation areas, including Leatherhead. It also says Article 4 controls apply in parts of Leatherhead, and it advises checking both before you alter a property. Outside paintwork is one of the things rules like these can cover.
Before you agree any work on the outside, check your address with the council. Only the council can confirm what applies to your property. Nothing on this page suggests an answer either way.
Transform Leatherhead: Keep the Job in Proportion
Mole Valley’s Transform Leatherhead plan aims to create a modern market town where people can shop, eat and relax by the riverside. A town that is changing can make it feel urgent to smarten up your own home.
It should not change what you do. Nothing in a town plan tells you what your own photographs need. Cover the entrance, the hallways and the main rooms. Leave out anything the property does not need.
For a painting and decorating company covering Surrey, Surrey Decorators arranges a free site quote.
Working Backwards
How Far Before Photography Should Work Finish?
Work backwards from the photography date, and leave more time than seems necessary.
Paint has to do more than dry before the photographer arrives. Most water-based paints feel dry within hours. Walls need longer before you wash them. Furniture should stay off fresh paint for a few days.
Rooms need airing and floors need cleaning. The photographs look better when you dress the house as well as paint it.
If the gap is too short, do less rather than rush the paint. A hallway that has only just been painted photographs worse than an older one that is clean.
For decorating quotes in Surrey, call Surrey Decorators on 01483 930151 and speak to the decorator covering Surrey.
The Five Stages
Planning the Dates Backwards
Plan the dates backwards from the photography date, in this order.
1
Last Coat
The final coat of paint goes on first in the countdown, so everything after it has room to happen.
2
Drying
Time is left for the paint to dry and cure before the room is used again.
3
Cleaning
Floors and surfaces are cleaned once the paint has had its time.
4
Dressing The Rooms
The rooms are aired and dressed so they present well.
5
Photographs
The photography date comes last in the sequence, with the work already finished.
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Pre-Sale Decorating FAQs
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