The house was looking its best in these photos and we were lucky to have sunny weather the day they were shot in late September 2011. Before the house went on the market there were months of preparation to make it more saleable. We had new French doors fitted, paid a decorator to paint the exterior woodwork, spent hours gardening, had new carpet fitted in our bedroom and changed a study into a fourth bedroom.
Like many people trying to sell their house we were too busy improving it to get the full benefit of the changes we made in those last few months. All I remember are months of decorating, decluttering, hiring a skip, ebaying, car boots sales and trips to the charity shop with donations. And minutes before the estate agent arrived I remember running down the garden with a few boxes to stash in the newly emptied shed to make the house appear even tidier. It was a lot of hard work and I became a little obsessed with making it über neat.
We chose our estate agent partly because of the quality of their photos (note the wide-angled lens) and because they used a lot of photos in their literature. Whether it was the estate agents photo skills, our decluttering dexterity or sheer good luck, I don't know, but we sold our house in three months. It took a further agonising five months for the sale to be completed but I still think we were very lucky to sell and buy in a depressed housing market. I can totally empathise with anyone currently going through this process or considering it.
I look back on these photos of our old home with fondness but not sadness. It was our home for nearly ten years and we enjoyed giving this tired 70s house a more modern look even though we didn't get to complete it. Realising it was costing us too much in time and money was a sad moment but a life changing one. I look back and think about how little we used the separate dining room, the tattiness of the kitchen close up and the downside of owning a corner plot. These are problems it was great to walk away from.
It's been a busy first year here in our new house but one thing we've spent a lot less time on is decluttering, decorating and house maintenance. I certainly didn't have time to blog back then.
I'll leave you with these photos and thoughts. Have a great weekend.