So how would your home stand up to the current auctioneering voyeur-fest . . . not with regard to the antics of its occupants but to the style and look of the house itself?

With so much competition around, how does your property measure up? And with increasingly discerning buyers out there, how do you present your property so that buyers want to bid on it rather than the one down the road?

We asked four experts on what constitutes good taste . . . and bad . . . when putting your home on view.

KAREN HOWES and GAIL TAYLOR of London-based Taylor Howes Designs have styled a number of upmarket developments here, including Abingdon in Malahide. Their advice is not to let your personal design tastes limit your potential market.

"There's a difference between keeping a room plain and making it dull, and using beige and making it quirky.

Don't let old pieces of furniture detract from freshly painted walls: make use of throws or new cushions to update a tired room.

"Remember, if you are selling a city home . . . where purchasers tend to be very demanding . . . then your property needs to be very well presented just to get them through the door.

"First and last impressions are the most important. If you have a front garden, make sure it is immaculately presented and the front door is newly painted. A well presented and seemingly spacious entrance hall will set the scene for a house. Good lighting, neat wallpaper and chandeliers all provide immediate impact.

"If you have money to spend, focus on updating or installing new kitchens and bathrooms. Installations from the '90s are already considered out of date. Invariably you will recoup the money you spend on these rooms, although if your existing kitchen works well and looks good you may get away with just updating tops and unit door handles.

"If you are doing up a home to let it, then you should be spending about six months rental on its 'dressing'. Go for durable but cost-effective furniture."

DECLAN CASSIDY, managing director of estate agents Gunne Residential, says to clean everywhere meticulously and de-clutter ruthlessly, including things related to kids, pets and personal hobbies.

"Forget all of the old stuff about creating the scent of freshly roasted coffee or baking brown bread, " he says.

"In today's market, the crucial first impression starts from the outside.

"A lot of this is common sense, but the first thing I would do is stand out on the pavement and look back at the house. People are going to draw up in their cars outside, so this is your shop window . . .your magazine cover . . . that is going to encourage them inside.

"If there is grass growing in the guttering, get rid of it.

Clean the windows. Buy some pots of lavender or colourful geraniums to brighten up the entrance. Similarly, inside the house, pack away any clutter, including the lovable but fragrant pets, and then be careful with what's left.

"A vase of fresh flowers and softly-lit lamps in the hall make a nice welcome. Ideally, you have the neutral paint backdrop that lets you put colour on the walls and the furniture. In that way, viewers can see it's easily changed if they don't like the style.

"It's a hard one to call as to whether or not you should spend money, but investing in nice mirrors that are then strategically placed to enhance light and space can be helpful . . . and you can always take them with you when you go.

"If a third bedroom is set up as a home office/study, it may be better to turn it back into a bedroom, complete with the sort of crisp, new bed linen you have put in all the other rooms.

"If you decide to open the windows, maybe turn on the heat to take the chill out of the air. Also put on some soft music in the background . . .

obviously not thrash metal or Eurovision, though."

Architect EVA BYRNE also runs a special consultation service advising home owners on maximising the space and potential of their homes.

The big task when putting a property on the market is to present it with maximum appeal to a wide range of buyers, says Byrne. Cleanliness and lack of smells are high on the list of prerequisites, and it's worth getting the professionals in on this one.

"One visit from a team of professional cleaners will last the sales campaign, and shift any doggy/cat/cigarette or other smells."

After that, a rule of thumb is to think about how to show off the nicest features of the house to their best advantage. Remove any elements that might distract from this: family photos, knick-knacks, everything really personal.

A preliminary de-cluttering at this stage is a good way to start to say goodbye to the house anyway."

Repainting is expensive but may more than pay for itself.

A soft, creamy colour will maximise the sense of space and allow buyers to see the house's potential for themselves. "I lately visited a recently purchased house where even the flock wallpaper and bathroom tiles had been painted over: brilliant in terms of making the job of sizing up the potential of the house so much easier.

"The usual guidelines regarding placement of furniture and maximising light could usefully be revisited at the final stage. Too many photos in sales brochures feature rooms with furniture skulking in the corners and a vacant, unattractive space in the middle.

"Pull furniture away from the windows generally and, in the case of the living room, gather it in a conversational way about the fireplace. Make sure that tight spaces, like the hall, are free enough to allow large numbers of people circulate freely during viewings."

Interior designer CLODAGH CONROY, presenter of recent RTE series Desperate Houses, tackles clutter head-on regularly . . . she has hidden the kids' toys away for our photograph. When it comes to presenting your house for sale, she says, you have to think like someone else: your prospective buyer.

"You really have to strip out about 80% of your personality in the property itself, which can be tricky, as you don't want to leave the rooms completely soulless. You can't just rely on the four walls to sell the house. However, there are things that owners might regard as cute, such as two dozen cuddly toys sitting on the bed, or collections of wedding gift crystal, or a display of ethnic bric a brac from Thailand . . . all on prominent display and fighting for attention with the furniture.

"Most buyers are completely unmoved by these things and regard them as dust-gatherers.

"The big no-nos are bedlinen gone grey in the wash, and cupboards stuffed with that clutter we were talking about. Buyers are nosey and will open those cupboard doors. " Where you should concentrate your efforts . . . and some cash . . . are the kitchen and the bathroom. "These are the rooms where the new owners are aware that they will be stuck with your fittings for the time being, so not only should these places be spotlessly clean, but also have a little money spent on them.

"You will reap the rewards of a set of replacement kitchen doors, fresh tiles and a new lick of paint everywhere. You have to pretend you are the buyer looking at your house, so maybe get a fresh pair of eyes to give it the once-over.

"You want an honest opinion, so maybe don't seek out your very best friend on this one.

BAD TASTE STUFF TO BANISH
1. Huge collections of anything . . . family photographs, copies of Loadedmagazine, your Dinky toys from the l950s 2. Withered houseplants
3. Any ornaments given as gifts for which you have always harboured a secret dislike (porcelain figurines in crinolines, for example)
4. Smelly Fido and Felix (send them on holiday to a boarding kennel/animal loving friend for the duration of the sales campaign)
5. Armfuls of cuddly toys, big boxes of Lego prominently displayed
6. Trophies from the golf club/darts tournaments/ bowling green
7. Forbidding signs stuck in the glass hall door, such as 'Beware of the dog'
8. Bed linen gone grey and knobbly in the wash
9. Net curtains
10. Broken blinds
11. Dirty windows
12. Plug-in air fresheners
13. Printed tablemats printed with a coach and 10 horses
14. Internal doors suspiciously locked
15. The lingering smell of last night's takeway, or this morning's fry-up
16. All copies of Dan Brown novels
17. Swagged and tailed pelmets
18. Plastic lampshades
19. Cheaply framed, cheap reproduction prints
20. An excessive display of nude paintings/black leather/gym equipment