Preparing Your Home for Our Photographer

Great photographs get potential buyers through the door. The quality of the photography of your property will make a critical difference in the 2 – 3 seconds that an on-line viewer initially spends with your house. In those few moments a modest home, well-presented and photographed, will attract more potential buyers through the front door to see it for themselves, than an untidy, cluttered, badly photographed house.

Clean, neat and tidy – Dirt shows up on photographs. Dirt and marks show up on reflective surfaces, glass, porcelain, tiles and uniform colours. This can limit the angles from which effective photographs can be taken. Hide any scent dispensers from view. Your house may smell like a floral meadow, but if there is a scent dispenser in every photograph a viewer might think you’re trying to disguise bad smells. Cut flowers are a much better option.

Declutter – A potential buyer will want to imagine their own stuff in a room currently occupied by your stuff. It is much easier for a viewer to envisage transferring their life into a more open and clear space. Remove toiletries and medications from sight in bathrooms and bedrooms. Hide the mundane things like dust bins and toilet brushes. Stow kitchen appliances and clear sinks and dish racks. If possible, remove evidence of pets. Put all shoes, coats, umbrellas and dressing gowns in closets. Clear the top of wardrobes and the visible space under beds. (If possible, move these items into an area that will not appear in any photographs.)

Dress it up a little – Display only enough framed photographs and personal effects to show a happily lived in home. Make the beds in muted colours. Smooth cushions, covers, bedding and pillows. Set dining room tables. Open blinds and curtains and let in as much natural light as possible. Rearrange furniture to show off the space to its best effect and reveal wooden or beautifully tiled floors. Add “lived in” finishing touches, like flowers, a sculpture, a bowl of fresh fruit or an artwork where appropriate.

Outdoors – Remove Cars from the drive or the front of the house and hide trash cans, bicycles, lawn mowers, garden hoses and tools from view. Make sure paths are swept, leaves are raked and lawns are mowed. Where possible collapse or remove washing lines, or at least remove the washing and the pegs. Set out garden furniture as if someone has just been enjoying the garden.

Hide personal effects – Remove keys and portable high value items from sight. Remove photographs and any personal items that you do not want on display on a public website.

However grand or modest, we want to show that your property is well-loved and lived in. Because we love photography we treat each shoot as if it is going to be published in a glossy lifestyle magazine. By preparing and photographing your home with care and respect we believe that on-line and brochure viewers will just have to see it for themselves.