Sion Hill, Bath – 5 bed Period Home
Furniture Hire and Styling
This house had been languishing on the market for 6 or 7 months without a buyer. I had noticed it advertised at various times and with various different pictures (through the one agent!). Fully dressed, with furniture, it looked a solid comfortable family home – the last details showing most of the rooms empty, made it look vast, unfriendly and a little shabby. It came with a hefty price tag, one which didn’t reflect the now vacant interior.
A local contact told me the owners were now abroad and the house had been empty since the last tenants moved out. I made a few calls to the agent, suggesting dressing would help sell the house but to no avail.
Then out of the blue I was contacted by the owner. They’d tried to sell their beautiful home from afar and couldn’t understand why it hadn’t sold etc. etc.…would I take a look?
Before & After Gallery
The location was fabulous: far reaching views over Bath, surrounded by greenery, off road parking, good address and walking distance of the city centre.
Once inside the property, it was pretty obvious why prospective buyers weren’t putting in any good offers. Although it had been refurbished a few years before, with a new kitchen and bathrooms, now without furniture the interior looked a bit sad and dishevelled.
The paintwork looked shabby, a couple of floorboard were loose and the stair runner was coming away from its fixings. I loved the house and could’ve moved in but after 5 minutes in the place I’d already compiled a long to-do list of (minor) niggles… and like those who’d been to view I was mentally reducing the price.
Result: After presenting the owners with my findings I sourced some local decorators and a handyman, gardener and plumber. My quote to provide a fairly basic package of rental furniture and accessories was accepted, and whilst the spruce up team got going with the repairs, I sourced the furniture to style the rooms.
In just over 10 days we were ready to install.
With a new agent, who loved what I’d done…
“Thanks for today, the house looks just amazing, what a transformation!” Viv – Cobb Farr
…an amazing brochure with some great professional photos, a fab interior presentation and a much tidier garden; the house went up for sale in early summer (June). Having previously been on the market very visibly and for such a long time, we were all a bit anxious as to the interest the house would generate…even with all the new styling!
The good news is that the house exchanged less than 8 weeks after first hitting the market, just shy of the original asking price.