Tips for Selling your Home-Part 2

Most people naturally like the most current trends in everything, including homes. One of the best ways to see what the current trends are, is to look through model homes to see what finishes and décor are being used in new construction. As much as possible, try to imitate these things in your home.

Homes that have a touch of contemporary mixed with the classic style seem to be very popular right now. Not everything needs to be model home perfect but if you get a start, your buyer can catch the vision. To imitate this contemporary/classic style in your home. Here are a few things to consider changing.

• Brass has currently lost favor in most décor. So spray paint or change out everything brass. (Watch for my future blog about spray painting brass.)
• Change out or spray paint light fixtures and ceiling fans, especially those with brass.
• Remove wallpaper. Wallpaper is such a personal choice; it will be rare to find someone who has your exact tastes in wallpaper. Removing it is a tedious process, so do the work for them and sell your house more quickly at possibly a higher price.
• Paint colors should ideally be neutral. I still have a few areas on my “to-do” list to paint. I had a purple fetish when we moved in and although it is starting to gain popularity again, it is not a favorite color for the majority of people.
• Updating window treatments or simply removing them all together will add to the brightness of your home and give an updated look.
• Floral prints are not as popular as they once were, so a solid color slip cover on furniture might be worth the investment, plus you can take it with you when you move.
• Plant a few annuals in front of house or use pots by your door to add color.
• If your grass has a lot of weeds, consider using a weed and feed to tame them.
• Scale back furniture to make rooms seem as large as possible.
• Try to find the balance of allowing the potential buyer to imagine living in your home with their stuff, but not going so far as to be stark.
• Consider hiring a “stager” if this seems overwhelming to you.

Here are a couple of before and after pictures showing how staging can make a world of difference.

 

Tips for Selling your Home- Part 1

THE ESSEINTIALS

As we’ve been preparing our home for sale, I’ve tried to determine the “essential” items to deal with.  I thought I’d pass along what we have learned.  Doing these things will set you apart from your competition and possibly make your home sell more quickly.  At least that’s the goal.   Ask a trusted friend to give a fresh eye to your property.  I was blind to dirt in places I “tuned out”. 

• Fix anything that isn’t working the way it should or appears to be damaged.  Check for sticky or broken windows and doors, torn screens, wall damage, floor damage-(we ended up getting our carpet re-stretched), light switches, leaky plumbing, caulking around bathtubs and showers, heating and air issues, service your appliances that will be staying with the house if needed.
• Clean, clean, clean.  Make your house sparkle.  Clean your carpets and windows, scrub your floors. Now is the time to do deep cleaning.
• Deodorize-remove anything smelly.  Since we become use to the smells we are around, we might not be able to detect an objectionable odor.  A few too many stinky basketball shoes are a culprit in my house.   Ask someone who doesn’t live with you how your house smells when they walk in the door.  I love Febreeze and spray it on anything not practical to wash. It helps after having sweaty boys plop down on the sofa.  
• Simplify any collections and decorative accessories and begin packing them away.  You want potential buyers to see your house-not your stuff.  Keep out only a few things to make your house feel lived in.  It is better to error on the side of too little than too much.
• Pack away the majority of your personal pictures.  I don’t like to remove everyone, because I think it shows a potential buyer that our family has enjoyed our home, but don’t have out so many that they can’t imagine their family living there.  
• Keep horizontal surfaces as clear as possible.  It makes rooms feel bigger.
• Clean and de-clutter every closet and cabinet that will stay with the house.  Buyers WILL look in them.  You want to make them look amply big. Start packing stuff you can live without.   
• Make sure every light fixture has a working light bulb. Light makes rooms feel larger. A burned out light bulb might imply other areas of neglect.
• Touch up woodwork and paint.  Wood tones can be easily touched up by using a stain similar in color to your existing wood.  It doesn’t have to be a perfect match.
• Wash or paint the exterior of your house-make sure it makes a good first impression.
• Weed garden areas and trim shrubs. 

Here is a picture of my front closet and one of my kitchen cabinets.  They don’t normally look this nice.  I removed a lot of things to make them feel spacious.

Keeping them this neat will be its own challenge!

 

Some of the non-visual things can be moved lower on the priority list so that you can get your house on the market more quickly. Plan to work on those items as you are marketing your house.   If you think it will be an issue on a home inspection item, chances are your buyer will find it. Save yourself the hassle of putting it off. Just deal with it if you want top dollar for your house.

It’s Party Time

We realize that this will most likely be our last summer in this house so we have volunteered to host several get togethers here.  In trying to squeeze in as much summer fun as possible, we ended up scheduling three parties at our house this past weekend.  It is not uncommon for us to host a few parties over the course of a year, but THREE in one weekend!  What were we thinking?  Honestly, it wasn’t that bad.  All we had to do was open our home.  Others worried about the specific details of each party. Most of the work was cleaning the house and yard before the weekend started and we only had to do that once, instead of three separate times. 

Our weekend started with a Pampered Chef bridal shower for my nephew Kyle’s fiancé, Melissa.  The PC consultant, did the majority of the work and my SIL, Michelle, was co-hostess and helped with the small amount left to do.  They even cleaned up when the shower was over.

                  

As the last person was leaving the shower, my son’s basketball coach and wife came and set up for an end of the summer season party.  They too, had all the details worked out and the food prepared.  It involved about twenty-five high school basketball players and their parents. The parents all helped clean up before they left.

Sunday late afternoon, we hosted a season kick-off for our church’s youth group.  The youth group leaders took care of the food and details.  This party was a little more unusual.  We didn’t do an official head count, but we guestimated that there were about 100 kids in our back yard. We have never had that many at a party before.  The leaders did a great job keep the kids in line and out of the house and they even hauled away the trash.  Several commented that it was the best youth group party they have ever been to.  Comments like this makes it all worth it.  

 

God has blessed us with a wonderful home.  We are glad to share it.

Just in case you’re interested, this is what our backyard looks like as we prepare for a house showing.

Failure to Prime

Before I start today’s post, I’d like to thank Alina at My Yellow Umbrella for featuring my counter top post.  Make sure to visit her site for some fresh wonderful ideas. 

Here’s one I thought I’d share so you could learn from my mistake.  Sometimes I get in a hurry and don’t take the time to prime my walls when they really should be primed.  I don’t prime every time I change paint colors but after you remove wallpaper, the experts say you should prime your walls.  I removed the wallpaper in one of the bathrooms a couple of years ago. I washed the walls with soapy water to get any remaining glue removed.  I thought that would be sufficient, well it came back to bite me.  Not right away, but within a few days.  At first I didn’t realize there was a problem.  To me it looked like someone took a steamy shower and the walls still had steam marks on them.  This did not go away, even several hours after a shower. Logically, I thought my son was taking three or four showers a day and I questioned him about it.  He assured me that he was not taking THAT many showers, but did  he noticed it too.  On further inspection, I realized that the walls felt dry and that these were permanent steam marks. This happened because I did not prime the walls after I removed the wallpaper.  A tough lesson learned.  The question now is do I go back and prime and repaint in preparing to sell?  I think I will move it down as low priority and only deal with it if we are getting negative feedback. 

“What Goes Around Comes Around” or “Recycling a Ceiling Fan”

Ceiling fans are a wonderful invention. Nothing beats them for circulating air in a room. How do deal with them if you want to change your décor? One way is to simply replace it with a new model, but when you are trying to pinch pennies, finding one you actually like could set you back quite a bit.  Fortunately, they can be revamped at a fraction of the cost. This one in our master bedroom had served us well but was beginning to look a little dated with the brass and glass. Before

So I got out my ladder, turned off the power to the fan and began taking it down. I discovered that I didn’t have to remove the entire fan from the ceiling. I was able to leave all the electrical connections in place since I was painting my ceiling, I could spray paint part of the base without removing it. Just make sure you have drop cloths under your fan. But if you are not painting your ceiling, you will need to remove everything that needs painting.  I removed the blades from the brass pieces and took all the brass and white metal pieces outside to paint. I wiped them all down, put a coat of grey primer on them and the painted them with Brushed Nickel spray paint. The next day, I reassembled everything and replaced the globes with some new ones I found a Wal-mart for under $4. Total cost for the new ceiling fan was under $20.

After

Quite an improvement don’t you think?

The Master Bath fan was identical to the master bedroom fan, but I didn’t want to do the brushed nickel. I only painted the brass and left the white alone. I replaced the globes with the same ones from Wal-mart to add continuity.  

Here is a picture of another fan I revamped a few years back. I don’t have any before pictures but it was also brass and white to begin with. I used Oil Rubbed Bronze and added a touch of Rub N’ Buff  gold paste to give a little more dimension. With this fan, I also had to replace the blades since I no longer wanted the white. I purchased these blades as well as the new globes at Lowe’s. A definite improvement in my opinion. I spent a little more than in the bedroom, but still it was a fraction of the cost of replacing it.

Here are a few more amazing and unusual fans.

Chandelier Ceiling Fan Source

Futuristic FanSource

 

This one is quite unusual

Source.

Ribbon Ceiling FanSource

Victorian Ceiling Fan Source.

Old and new mixSource

 

There is definitely a fan out there for every taste!

Let the Sun Shine In

Who doesn’t hate washing windows? I know I do. I counted our windows just for fun and discovered that we have 31 windows with most of them having multiple panes of glass. This is one project I put off until, well, I just can’t put it off anymore. We use to pay to have our windows cleaned on an every other month basis, but we quit doing that a few years back due to the expense. Selling our house is one of the reasons that I need to deal with those dirty windows.

There are a few windows that get sprinkler spray or splash from the pool area. They have hard water spots that continue to show even after the windows are cleaned. I decided to try a new product on them-Rain-X. It is supposed to repel water from car windows. I don’t know why it wouldn’t work on these pesky windows on our house. But first, I need to get the hard water spots off the windows.

I’ve always heard that vinegar will do the trick. All I had on hand was apple cider vinegar, so I diluted it about 50/50 with water and put it in a spray bottle. I was very liberal with my spraying and used a Scotch Brite pad to work it into the window. I rinsed with the hose and it seems to have done the trick. I finished up with the Rain-X after I cleaned the water spots off. I only used it where I was having trouble. I did read that it can damage paint and plastics so I wanted to be very careful and test it out only where it would be extremely beneficial.

Now on to the rest of the windows. I really didn’t want to pull the ladder out and use window cleaner and paper towels on every window. I decided to try it the way the window washer used to do it-with a squeegee. I bought one at Wal-Mart, but I was not impressed and quickly returned it. I decided to buy a little more expensive one at Home Depot. I also found a cleaner that is specifically made for this type of window washing. The cleaner really smelled good. (I might have to think of more things to clean with this cleaner.)

I borrowed the handle from the broom and mixed the cleaner and water in a bucket and headed outside. I learned a couple of tips that I’ll pass on:

1. Make sure the squeegee fits the bucket you have. Mine was a little big.

2. Don’t wash windows when the sun is shining on them; you get lots of streaks.

I cleaned the entire front and sides of the house in about 20 minutes. The Home Depot squeegee worked so much better than my initial purchase. The windows are not perfect, but they are vastly improved. The sun now shines in the windows with out being interrupted by layers of dirt. I just need to get a longer handle for the back of the house.

Note to self for next house-fewer windows!

We Have a Bite

Here we go.  We don’t have our house officially on the market yet, but we already have someone wanting to look, just by word of mouth.  We aren't quite ready, but we scheduled the appointment to look at the house a week out.  This will help us to prioritize what really needs to be done, and what we can wait to do later, or maybe not do at all.   I need to tell my self to concentrate on the big items and quit getting bogged down in the details.  I have a tendency, and so does my husband, to get bogged down in the details.  We about drive ourselves crazy. We are both perfectionists, which sometimes is good but sometimes not so good.  We can easily waste valuable time trying to perfect what ever project we are working on, for minimal or unnoticeable return.  I have to remember, only God is perfect; I am not.  God has all the time He needs to do what ever He wants to do; I do not.   This is a hard lesson for me.   I am continually asking Him, “When is it good enough?”  We have an answer.  “What ever we get done in one week, is good enough.”  In the mean time, I’ll give you a sneak peak  of a few of the rooms we think are ready to show. 

 

 

Those Tired Countertops

My purple countertops could use a little TLC before we show our house.  Let alone that they are purple, but they also had some surface scratches  and bleached out spots.  Over all they were in pretty good shape.  None of the laminate was coming loose anywhere and there were no big areas of surface damage. 
One solution was to replace the laminate, but that would be a several hundred dollar option and the new owner might want to do something different so I scoured the internet and found several sites were people had painted their laminate.  I combined the ideas from several and decided to tackle it myself using spray paint.  I like the texture you can get from many of the new spray paints that are just not possible with a roll on paint. 
This is what I did:
Give the countertops a good scrubbing to make sure they are clean.  Let it dry thoroughly.
Lightly sand with a fine grit sandpaper.  You just want to take off the gloss and give the paint something to stick to. Wash again to remove the dust and let the countertop dry. Tape off all surrounding areas and cover the floor.All the other web sites said to use products from the same manufacturer.  I disregarded that advice and decided to use these products.I choose the Krylon Fusion, because laminate has plastic in it and this paint serves as a “plastic” primer and base color all in one.  You could use a basic primer and a different base coat and do this in two steps if you wanted a different color.
I choose American Accent Stone, because I liked the texture and color variation it provides.  It does need a base color under it though.
I choose the Minwax because it was the only Polyurethane I could find in a spray can.  
Put a couple of light coats of the Fusion on the surface and  let it dry an hour or so. Make sure you open  windows and doors for ventilation since you will be using spray paint in the house. This is very important. If you cannot get good ventilation, I would not suggest using spray paint in the house.
Also, if you have gas appliances-stove, water heater, etc., any where near where you want to spray paint-DON'T DO IT unless you have turned off the gas source. (Contact a professional if you are unsure how to do this.)  THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!! If you are unable to turn off the gas source please do not use this method.
Then apply the stone texture. I did several light coats with very little drying time between coats until I got the look I wanted. I let this dry for four hours.
Next, gently scrapped the surface with a plastic putty knife just to knock down high spots. I vacuumed the counter top to remove any loose debris. 
Follow up with several coats of semi-gloss polyurethane. Let it dry to the touch between coats.  I wanted to be careful to allow enough time for the countertop to cure, so I put protective paper on them, the next morning after the polyurethane was dry to the touch and kept them there for two weeks.

Here is a picture of the final product. 

 

UPDATE:   The countertops seemed to discolor with any extensive moisture. They would dry back to what the picture shows, but I was concerned about the durability. I love the texture that the spray paint offers, I just didn’t care for the spray on poly. I added 2 coats of brush on polyurethane in a satin finish since I originally did this project and they are holding up extremely well. If I did this again, I would skip the spray on polyurethane altogether and go with the brush on poly instead. They seem to be impervious to moisture now.  I am extremely happy with them and would highly recommend doing it. 

WARNING

Spray paint near gas appliances could be very bad news and extremely dangerous. Only use spray paint if there is no gas source (stoves, water heaters, furnaces, etc.) any where in the vicinity or if you are completely certain that you have turned off the gas. And please only use spray paint indoors  if you are able to open windows  and doors and get a lot of ventilation. 

Heat Exhaustion-Floral Style

My flowers were not blooming as well as they should so I thought they needed fertilizer. I wanted them to look as healthy and happy as possible.   I stopped by my local nursery and asked for the best fertilizer for encouraging blooms.  They told me not to fertilize when the weather is as hot as it has been.  My problem was not a lack of fertilizer but the excessive heat.  I never knew.    This pot should be full of blooms. 

 

As a side note, as the weather has become more pleasant- upper 80’s and lower 90’s as opposed to days on end over 100 degrees-the flowers around our yard have started coming to life again.  Yeah!

A Grand Entrance

I’ve heard it said, and I know it’s true, that there is only one opportunity to make a first impression, so our front entry has gotten a little special treatment, especially as we are preparing our house for sale.

I have always enjoyed a colorful front door. We have gone from red to green to purple and a few other colors through the years. In my opinion, color just adds something that says “Welcome.”

Another welcoming touch is plants. Over the years I have had twin planters on each side of my door and I have tried various plants in them. Since our house is south facing, I always bought sun loving plants. They never did very well. I finally, after several years, figured out that my covered porch was shading my pots (duh!!). I started putting shade loving plants in the pots and they have done very well. (Did you figure out that it takes me a while to catch on to something?) This year I picked up palm trees from Walmart. I had never tried palm trees before and I rather like the way they look. I put pink impatiens around the base and they looked gorgeous until we started having multiple 100 plus degree days.

A wreath or something else on the front door always adds a special touch.

Besides that, I tried to make sure that my entry way sparkles. I cleaned the stains off the concrete and made certain the door jam was clean and in good repair. I think my entrance is ready to show.

Here are a few more colorful doors that are fun to get inspiration from. I wonder what color I will pick for our next house.