Be your own house doctor

Prima online 14.05.2007

Try these tips for a speedy sale

Bright hallway Not all house doctoring demands serious surgery, and those who've used it seem to have had positive experiences. ‘It can be difficult for homeowners to look objectively. Just because the TV has always been in one corner, it doesn't mean it should stay there,' says Jane Cooper of house doctor consultancy service Dressed2Sell. ‘For a modest investment, you could expect a ten per cent return on the costs you outlay.'

Ideas for a speedy sale
Before you do anything else, try these tips...

Redecorate. You might love bright walls, but neutral is best and could add £3000 to the price of a house, according to research from Privilege. But don't take this to extremes and whitewash indiscriminately throughout. ‘Buyers will know you've tried to hide your pine clad ceiling with a coat of white paint,' says Tracy Kellett from BDI Home Finders.

Tired-looking carpets let a place down - hiring a cleaning machine will make it look and smell fresher.

Clear the hall of clobber and invest in hall storage that you can move with you.

Invest in new kitchen flooring - vinyl or lino won't cost a fortune, but it will lift the whole room. The beauty of changing the kitchen floor is that it's relatively painless, as there's no furniture to move.

Most of us want to eat in the kitchen. Find a table that will fit in, or add a hinged or folding one that takes up less space.

Update a tired kitchen with new cupboard handles or fronts. Use Evo-Stik Serious Stuff adhesive, £5.99, to apply mirrored panels to units to make the room look bigger and breathe new life into your kitchen in no time! Mirrored panels are available from all good DIY or household retailers and cost approximately £2.

Give a freestanding shower a classy look with a Showerlux Glide shower enclosure, which fits standard shower trays and comes with an Easi-glide Roller System for smooth opening. Priced from £769.63.

You don't have to spend a fortune retiling - regrouting gives an immediate facelift. If that sounds too much like hard work, use a grout reviver to brighten the lines. Tubby DIY Bath Resurfacing Kit (£35.99) does a great cover-up job on stained baths.

If you don't mind spending a little more time cleaning the bathroom, swap your shower curtain for a shower screen (above). Look for one that encloses the whole bath.