Preparing Your Home for Sale

Weed your garden and keep the lawn trimmed when opening your home for inspection. Consider your plants – remove dead plants and replace with new ones, but make sure they suit the conditions in your garden: you don’t want them to die before you sell. Neat and trip Colourful creations The garden is one place you can have fun with colour but rather than introduce lots of different colours into a small garden bed, try sticking to one shade, perhaps using varying tones. You can add instant colour with pots of whatever is in flower from the nursery. This should be placed at the furthest point from the entrance so your buyers vision is drawn to a distance, giving a sense of space. You can also give an illusion of space by paving the entire area with large pavers to make the ground look wider and less busy. Don’t use any dark colours in your courtyard structures as these reduce the perception of space. Styling your garden You can give your garden a simple makeover before you sell by adding defining borders to your flower beds and adding a focal point. Timber borders are popular, or you can outline your beds with small shrubs or grasses. Add a few larger plants as focal points but keep them in proportion to the size of your garden. Creating a courtyard Many houses today, particularly in the inner city, don’t have large gardens. Often there is only a small courtyard so it is important to maximise this space. The first step may be to create a focal point like a water feature, statue or urn.