I feel a little sorry for our real estate agents. I've been a little pedantic about their word choices for listing our property. Initially, they wrote 'rustic' and 'self sufficient', which I believe have particular connotations that would exclude people coming to check it out.

To me, 'rustic' means 'unfinished' - as if all care hasn't been taken. It sounds like work needs to be done. And 'self sufficient' it isn't - I don't grow wheat and barely last the winter with veggies, let alone a meat source. Besides, that sounds like hard work, doesn't it? A potential buyer might love the veggie patch, fruit trees and chickens, but would they really go for a self sufficient property? Sure, there might be some, but most are just treechangers or people who want some land and can't afford the coast.

Their initial blurb also missed a lot out for me - the gazebo, the bus, the shedding, the NBN and solar, the fact it was north facing. I mean you're not going to sell the place because broccoli and chickens, right?

So we flung a few words around - 'serene', 'soulful', 'lifestyle' and 'sustainable' I approved. I did not like one sentence that ended with a preposition - I didn't tell her that, because that felt overly teacherly, but it jarred, so I offered an alternative.

Though a lot sounds like real estate superlatives, to be honest, it's how we feel about the property - all the hard work is done, the vistas from each room are beautiful, the house is modern and natural, and the gardens are incredible. We will miss it awfully and sincerely hope that someone loves it as much as we do.

I'm also going to put a list of birds on the property and the fruit trees as pdfs on the desk for people to look at. I'm not sure that's a done thing but it's an important part of the property, in our opinion. We've planted for birds too, so it's important.

The fruit trees - ah I will miss the fruit trees. The lemons and limes are looking spectacular at the moment and people nearly die when they see them. What's your secret, they say? Attention, fertiliser, watering and protection from the cold - easy. I will miss my lemons and limes!

They came and took all the photos yesterday. My house has never looked so good. I actually was completely unminimal and went to Kmart for a few things to make the place look a little more 'neutral' - I'd read people need to imagine themselve in the space so I want to tone down the colour a little. I swapped a red bowl for a natural looking ceramic for the limes (I needed a new bowl anyway), some neutral towels and bathmat for the bathroom, a linen look queen sized doona cover and a plain one for the spare room - they weren't expensive, but they did make the place look more ready for market. When the real estate agent came in she couldn't believe how good it looked - and joked if I wanted a job as a stylist.

I'd also googled about scents, and put some orange essential oil in a burner and bought a lovely mandarin and lemon myrtle room spray - subtle, but fresh.

I've actually had a lot of fun doing it, and wish I'd done a few things a long time ago, such as the slim line bucket in the laundry which is far more subtle than the bulky blue bucket and green handled mop I had.

It's also been good putting away all the tat that made it look cluttered. I mean my place isn't that cluttered as I like the feeling of space, but I really decluttered this time, removing small prints on the bookshelves, little personal knick knacks, and so on.

We redid the timber bench top too and it looks awesome. I'm too scared to use it in case I stain it again before it sells. It's a real feature of the house so I won't be putting anything on it so they immediately notice it's beauty. It's recycled oregon pine - or douglas fir - so yes, I suppose I concede it fits the 'rustic' look, a look I'd much prefer was called 'natural'.

Honestly, I think all the little things will add up to the bigger picture to sell my 'soulful sanctuary'.

What do you think?

Have you sold a house before?

With Love,

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