Open the window coverings the same way
Raise every shade to the same height so the light looks even from room to room.
Walk the house and set each shade, blind, or curtain the same way before you take a photo or open the door. One closed room beside a bright one looks accidental, and it makes the dark room look smaller. Pick one height you can repeat: shades just above the midpoint, or fully up. Write it on a card by the door so the morning of a showing is not a new decision.
Work room by room, including the ones down the hall. A blind that hangs crooked is worse than no blind. If a covering is broken, take it down for showings rather than leaving it slumped. A bare, clean window is easier to read. Replacing a single vinyl blind is often about $15 to $40 if you want it back up before photos. Measure the width inside the frame before you buy, and write the inches on the list so you do not come home with the wrong one.
Open the coverings before you turn the camera on, and look for glare. If a bare window washes the wall out, shoot that room from the other corner or wait until the sun moves. Do not close one shade to fight the glare and leave the others up. The set should still match. Dust the sill while the covering is open. A bright sill full of grit shows up once the light is even.
Do this again the morning of a showing. It takes a few minutes, and it is one of the first things people notice when they look from the doorway into the next room. If you live in the house, the bedrooms will have been closed overnight. The card by the door is the reminder. Check the street-facing windows last, from the sidewalk, so the front of the house matches the rooms inside.
What to do
- Pick one height and set every covering to it.
- Remove a covering that will not hang straight, or replace it after you measure.
- Look for glare and dust the sills while the windows are open.
- Check the coverings again the morning of a showing, including from the sidewalk.