Funny old thing – we bought this house 4 1/2 years ago, knowing it was never going to be our ‘ultimate’ family home, and also knowing it was in a bit of a state (“in need of modernisation” according to the estate agents). I fully concede that we expected to have finished “modernising” the house sooner than 2 weeks ago, but there we go. So the estate agent came around to value it this morning, so we spent considerable effect yesterday “staging” the house – de-cluttering, cleaning, tidying, etc..
Please don’t interpret amazement as arrogance – but it looks fantastic. It’s stylish, clean, smart – really well presented. And we both hate it!!!! Suddenly it’s a boring/stuffy/formal house, not our home that we’ve grown to love. There’s none of little “ownership” stuff, like half drunk cups of tea, or journals, or toy cars. The dining room actually looks like a proper dining room, instead of the useful general dumping ground that can be blitzed to provide eating space if friends are coming round.
I know that this is the whole point of staging a house, so it looks attractive and fresh, and like it can be instantly lived in – but it’s a little bit sad, to be honest. We’ve taken a deliberate view that we’re not trying to “sell a lifestyle” – you’re apparently supposed to buy expensive stuff and try and sell the lie “if you live here, you’ll lifestyle will be like this”. But it’s still only sensible to maximise it’s appeal as a house that a buyer can turn into a home, which does mean removing much of our “ownership”. To be blunt, it’s a really nice house to live in, and one which we’re both going to miss.
I guess the other thing going on is that this is quite possibly the last house that we’ll live in and own until I retire in 35 (or so) years time.