A. The furniture isn’t what you’re selling, but its condition can still affect the way your home is perceived. Buyers can be captivated by the aesthetics of a well-decorated home, said Dianne Weston, a senior vice president in the New York office of Keller Williams, a real estate company. And they will often pay a premium for that aesthetic, although they know the furnishings don’t come with the home.
“People are really buying lifestyle,” she said.
For that reason, it may be a good idea to fix your table before opening your home to buyers — especially since it is something you will probably want to do eventually anyway. “While one piece of furniture is seemingly a small item, it’s reflective of the overall state of the apartment,” Ms. Weston said. “You should repair it and really have everything as perfect as you possibly can.”
There are a couple of temporary fixes you can do yourself that will quickly improve the look of the table for showings, said Ian Nicolson, an owner of Richomme, an antique furniture restoration company in New York. But first, consider how noticeable the damage is. If it’s just faint surface scratching, it may be best to leave it alone.
“If it’s something you have to bend down in the light to pick up on, don’t bother,” he said.
If there are a few scratches that really stand out, the easiest fix is to use a wood touch-up marker or pen, which you can find at a hardware store. “They’re good for an edge or a corner of a table,” Mr. Nicolson said.
That kind of cover-up won’t last forever. “You can get away with it for show,” he said, “but you couldn’t get away with it if somebody came along and cleaned the table.”
The next step up, Mr. Nicolson said, would be to apply a colored wax made by a company like Liberon. “It can take care of minor little stuff and looks a little bit nicer while you’re showing the house,” he said.
Also, it’s a forgiving product that’s easy to work with. “It’s not foolproof, but you’d need to mess up a lot,” he added, to make the table look worse.
But if the table has a significant scratch or chip, it may be time to call a professional. “Anything deep, where you would need to sand the finish,” Mr. Nicolson said, “is for somebody who knows what they’re doing.”
Questions about repairs or redecorating in preparation for putting a home on the market may be sent to marketready@nytimes.com. Unpublished questions cannot be answered individually.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/garden/market-ready-repairing-scratches-on-a-dining-table.html
