Quick and cost effective bathroom makeover

Bailey1980

FreeBear said:

I'd agree with others - Nothing inherently wrong with the bathroom apart from the mirror & the tap. Both of those are (relatively) cheap fixes.

Airing the property on a regular basis will help alleviate any musty smells that develop in an unused property. Perhaps place a few air fresheners around the place might help. Then there is the estate agent - Sounds like a right knob if he/she is suggesting replacing doors & carpets. Still got the original period doors in *this place, and I'd give any EA a boot up the backside if one suggested replacements.

As a side note, Christmas is often a quiet time for house sales, and the slight recession hasn't helped. The market should start to pick up as the weather improves.

Thanks - it went on the market mid september so we hoped we'd miss out on the quiet christmas but fully aware that it went on when mortgages went crazy. 

Tap and mirror are being replaced next week. 

It is difficult to regularly air the property, but we have put in some plug-in air freshners for now and will try some other things. 

Bigphil1474

OP, we put ours on in October and only sold about 3 weeks ago. We've looked at loads of houses and that bathroom wouldn't put me off putting an offer in. For me, if a bathroom is usable until I can get it replaced to my taste, it's not a red flag on a purchase. If it's covered in mould maybe, but that doesn't appear to be the case. 

TBH, your EA sounds like a right basket case. Not sure spending a load of money on a property and reducing the price is anywhere near good advice. You would either reduce price and make it clear it's a fixer upper, or spend some money and keep the same price, in my experience.

Where we are, houses are selling much quicker now as the market has picked up in the last 2 to 3 weeks, so I'd hold out if you can, and just do some tinkering. I would only be removing old carpets if they are minging, which costs nowt really, or you could give them a good clean - we bought one of those Vax Platinum carpet washer thingamys for a couple of hundred quid, and did every carpet with it. Made a noticeable difference.

Katiehound

I would certainly put a few / 2 towels  & bathmat in there. Buy colours that you would use yourself.

warm shades: red, orange, yellow, terracotta (and hues of those such as apricot) 

An artificial ,plant or two would probably look good as it would break up the white expanse.

saying that white is great as it is a blank canvas & means anyone moving in can put their own stamp on it without huge expense.

I would hunt around for a different estate agent- sounds as if they are not bothered.

It is a pointless exercise putting in new carpets etc unless you can do it very cheaply- generally buyers want to put their stamp on the place & their taste may well not be yours!. 

Katiehound

Just had an idea about the outside. Is there anyone who would keep an eye on the property, clean up leaves , do the odd bit of weeding?  A bottle of wine/ large box of chocs as a thank you now & again?(IMHO artificial flowers outside look naff - they fade for starters)
Or a person to open windows now & then?

Niv

Bailey1980 said:

bex2012 said:

Can I be truthful? What are the black bits around the bath? Theres a big black blob on the tile on the bath panel. Is it mould or tile chip? If mould, get the bath resealed all round so you have clean, fresh sealant all round. If its a chip, can it be painted in somehow? Everything is so white in that room that it draws your eyes to the black bits.

Please dont spend lots of money, you wont get it back. Change the mirror, reseal the bath, change the taps to something smaller, consider dying the grout, and leave it the rest of it alone.

Thanks. The big black blob on the tile on the bath is actually some kind of silver fitting, similar to a screw or something - not really sure what its for as it's been there since we moved in. 

We are double checking the sealant however, as the estate agent has told us that the first photo which they took and has been on the listing was heavily edited, though when I went back to the house last week I couldn't see any mould/black bits which they told me were present but will be triple checking next week when I'm there all week to do everything I can (with the assistance of a contractor)  to make it more presentable so we can finally sell it. 

We don't want to spend lots of money but it's been on the market for about 4-5months now with 20+ viewings and no offers with the only feedback being it needs too much work because it's not to people's own personal taste and it was only about 2-3 weeks ago that the estate agent were actually in their words "brutally honest" with us that there is a whole list of work that needs doing if we want to sell. 

We are going to do what small / inexpensive things we can and instruct a different agent, but before doing the latter we want it to be the best it can be to avoid 4-5months of there's nothing wrong with it to only then be told after all this time that actually there's a lot wrong with it. 

My bolding. Its probably a mirror screw. The top should unscrew if it is. The screw is most likely there to hold the bath panel on.

Mutton_Geoff

The two taps in the OPs two photos are different. But they are both kitchen taps and look out of place.

Ganga

Mutton_Geoff said:

The two taps in the OPs two photos are different. But they are both kitchen taps and look out of place.

They are changing the tap next week.

Bailey1980

Bigphil1474 said:

OP, we put ours on in October and only sold about 3 weeks ago. We've looked at loads of houses and that bathroom wouldn't put me off putting an offer in. For me, if a bathroom is usable until I can get it replaced to my taste, it's not a red flag on a purchase. If it's covered in mould maybe, but that doesn't appear to be the case. 

TBH, your EA sounds like a right basket case. Not sure spending a load of money on a property and reducing the price is anywhere near good advice. You would either reduce price and make it clear it's a fixer upper, or spend some money and keep the same price, in my experience.

Where we are, houses are selling much quicker now as the market has picked up in the last 2 to 3 weeks, so I'd hold out if you can, and just do some tinkering. I would only be removing old carpets if they are minging, which costs nowt really, or you could give them a good clean - we bought one of those Vax Platinum carpet washer thingamys for a couple of hundred quid, and did every carpet with it. Made a noticeable difference.

Thank you, that's always been my attitude if things are usable/liveable then it doesn't put me off. When we moved in the kitchen walls were painted London bus red; not our taste but the kitchen was useable/liveable and we then changed it once we'd put the money aside. Though now regretting that as we made it into our dream kitchen but now because of life we've had to move; I'm heartbroken about having to leave behind the range cooker. 

we are changing estate agents, however, I've always been of the view that if you like a property but feel there's work to be done, then an offer should reflect that so if its on for £179K and you think it's going to cost £10K to replace carpets or whatever else, then you offer £169K; I don't know if I've missed something. 

I think perhaps the green carpet is perhaps one that needs replacing as it is the oldest carpet, well worn and was in the most used room but estate agent has said the other bedroom carpet that's a ligt blue/purple is too vivid and is therefore putting people off so needs replacing. 

Katiehound said:

I would certainly put a few / 2 towels  & bathmat in there. Buy colours that you would use yourself.

warm shades: red, orange, yellow, terracotta (and hues of those such as apricot) 

An artificial ,plant or two would probably look good as it would break up the white expanse.

saying that white is great as it is a blank canvas & means anyone moving in can put their own stamp on it without huge expense.

I would hunt around for a different estate agent- sounds as if they are not bothered.

It is a pointless exercise putting in new carpets etc unless you can do it very cheaply- generally buyers want to put their stamp on the place & their taste may well not be yours!. 

Thank you, yes we are going to put some towels, bathmat, handsoap and artificial plants 

We thought white was a good because of the same reason but then the estate agent is telling us it's not to people's personal taste?  The only colour really are two of the bedroom carpets so I'm not sure what else there is that isn't to people's personal taste but estate agent has told us to change all carpets even when I've challenged them that new carpets won't be to people's personal taste. Yet still they are insisting we remove and replace all the carpets. 

We are going with a different estate agent once we do a few minor tweaks. 

Katiehound said:

Just had an idea about the outside. Is there anyone who would keep an eye on the property, clean up leaves , do the odd bit of weeding?  A bottle of wine/ large box of chocs as a thank you now & again?(IMHO artificial flowers outside look naff - they fade for starters)
Or a person to open windows now & then?

Unfortunately there isn't anyone and I did worry about how artificial flowers would look; some cheap bedding plants might be better and with the UK weather watering them shouldn't be an issue! 

Niv said:

Bailey1980 said:

bex2012 said:

Can I be truthful? What are the black bits around the bath? Theres a big black blob on the tile on the bath panel. Is it mould or tile chip? If mould, get the bath resealed all round so you have clean, fresh sealant all round. If its a chip, can it be painted in somehow? Everything is so white in that room that it draws your eyes to the black bits.

Please dont spend lots of money, you wont get it back. Change the mirror, reseal the bath, change the taps to something smaller, consider dying the grout, and leave it the rest of it alone.

Thanks. The big black blob on the tile on the bath is actually some kind of silver fitting, similar to a screw or something - not really sure what its for as it's been there since we moved in. 

My bolding. Its probably a mirror screw. The top should unscrew if it is. The screw is most likely there to hold the bath panel on.

We are going to double check what it is and if there is perhaps something better looking that can be used or a different way of securing the panel, if that's what it's there for! 

Ganga said:

Mutton_Geoff said:

The two taps in the OPs two photos are different. But they are both kitchen taps and look out of place.

They are changing the tap next week.

The tap that was there when we moved in seemed ok, however, when we got the kitchen re-done the sink tap in the bathroom just kept dripping very loudly/nonstop so we replaced the tap, but a kitchen one was used as our contractor had it spare and the kitchen renovation went a little over budget so we were trying to save money and we also thought that we would completely replace the bathroom was going to be the next job within a few years of finishing the kitchen. 

Katiehound

That seems a good plan- replace the coloured carpets with the cheapest blandest carpets you can find-  then it can be marketed as 'ready to move into'
If you have a chance I would suggest you go & look at new developments with showhouses. this will give you an idea of what they think is a selling point.

Sorry to hear that you have had to leave your dream kitchen : what a blow, especially as the house hasn't sold.

Hope you find a new EA who is more sympathetic / helpful/ useful.

Paint the mirror screw with white gloss/ undercoat/nail varnish so it is less obvious?
(Mind anyone who is muttering about that is just looking for something to moan about!)

ch3shirecat4

heyy seeing a lot of comments about the bathroom etc if you need to add any new fittings, which can always make a huge difference I just got some from Plumbhq. got some new taps, new radiators and a new cabinet, cheap fixes always make a difference