ready to sell series | The Big White Farmhouse

July 13, 2012

{home} Getting Ready to Sell: Picking Paint Colors

So today’s post is about updating rooms with paint. I seem to come across this tip all the time! Paint freshens things up, makes spaces feel current and clean, and is a relatively cheap upgrade. In our home, we are focusing on three areas: the master bathroom, the kitchen, and the trimwork…all are in need of a little “refreshment”.

I’m sticking to mostly neutrals, and can I just say that picking a white is HARD! So many undertones! I’ve been staring at these sample charts all week and I think I’ve made my decision, but no promises until I get to the paint counter 🙂

Do you have a favorite neutral color for the kitchen or bathroom? Have a go-to white for trim? Please share in the comments…you just may make my life a whole lot easier! Have a good weekend, friends!

June 28, 2012

{home} Getting Ready to Sell: A Mini Bathroom Update

The master bathroom in my house has much to be desired, at least compared to a lot of other homes. We don’t have the separate tub and walk-in shower, double sinks or lots of storage space. Instead, our bathroom is small and functional, with builder’s grade everything and little pizzazz. Master bathroom = boring.

Now that we are preparing to put the house on the market, I wanted to add some interest to this room. So while it may be on the small side, a potential buyer would walk in and say “Wow!” instead.

Step one: replace the shower rod and curtain. I am a bad blogger and neglected to get a “before” picture, but imagine an old silver rod and a seen-better-days shower curtain from our newlywed days (almost 7 years ago). A quick trip to Target and this is what we have now:

We purchased a curved shower curtain in oil-rubbed bronze (similar to this) and a white waffle-patterned shower curtain. I love the change! It’s a great start, but can you see my problem now? The shower curtain is “true white”, which makes the builder’s grade white wall paint look…dingy. Like not white. So paint is definitely on the to-do list for this room, along with:

I also want to get new towel rods in oil-rubbed bronze and some crisp, white towels. Hopefully these changes (while staying in a $200 or less budget) will have a big impact! What are your tips for staging a bathroom? What do you look for in a master bath when you are house hunting? I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments!

June 11, 2012

{home} Getting Ready to Sell: How to Survive a Hardwood Floor Installation

I have had “hardwood floors” on my home improvement list practically since the day we moved in. But like most of you, money doesn’t grow on trees here…bummer. So we started a meager home improvement fund and put a little money aside when we could. Five years and a lot of patience later, the day has come!

BEFORE THE INSTALLATION

The weekend before the installers were to arrive, we moved all of our furniture and toys out of the living and dining rooms. Stupidly, I thought this would be a simple, maybe even quick process. Um…WRONG! It quickly turned into a real life version of Tetris. But we prevailed and the rooms were cleared:

Side story on the unsightly blue stain on the carpet: Way back in December, my cousin was visiting and we updated my bedroom. After a late night paint party, we left the can, which was 3/4 full, downstairs in the dining room. Fast forward to the next morning: one of my sweet cherubs tipped the can over (with a lid not on as tightly as we thought!) and dumped paint in a lovely circular pattern onto the carpet! After a lengthy interrogation with the big boys, we determined a sweet 12-month-old did the crime. At that point, you just had to laugh. Needless to say, that lovely stain has been “hidden” under a towel for the past six months. Keepin’ it real! 🙂

So back to the pre-installation prepwork. With two empty rooms, you may wonder where all of that furniture was stored. Exhibit A:

Fortunately, we had an amazing company work for us. The…hmm, what do you call him? A carpenter? Floor guy? Anyway, Cesar (that was his name) was super fast, but thorough and detail-oriented. He had the carpet ripped out and the new floor down in a day and a half, for which I was forever grateful. Having my three kids stuck in two bedrooms for eight hours was tough!

This is the flooring we picked: Bruce Engineered Hardwood in Gunstock Oak.

AFTER INSTALLATION
And now the after pictures. I still need to work on the mantle and find a suitable coffee table, but for now, we’ll call it done!

May 29, 2012

{home} Getting Ready to Sell: Progress on the Dining Room

Today I’m starting a new series on the Big White Farmhouse: Getting Your House Ready to Sell!

As much as we adore our sweet little home, the time has come to get it ready to put on the market. One of the big changes I’ve been referring to lately is that my husband got a new job. An awesomely great job that he deserves. But like every awesome thing, it doesn’t come without challenges. And one of those challenges is moving in this horribly awful housing market. Perfect timing, right?

With Baby #4 in utero until October, we have decided to wait until the end of 2012/beginning of 2013 to put the house on the market. So that gives me 6ish months to whip this house into selling shape!

Now let me be the first to tell you that I have absolutely no qualifications when it comes to house selling and I don’t really know what I’m talking about. But I do look at a lot of pretty homes in magazines and on Pinterest and I do love to research, so I’m hoping we can all learn together!

So today: the dining room. Before I painted last weekend, this is what it looked like:

A whole lotta red. My husband loved it, I tolerated it. But we all know Rule #1 in the Home Selling Handbook is “paint neutral colors” so the red had to go. I used YOLO Colorhouse Paint in Stone .02 that I ordered through Amazon. A couple hours later, and we had this:

HUGE difference. The room instantly felt taller and larger. But I’m not done yet! Check out what’s left on my to-do list:

I’ll be back soon with updates! Until then, what about you? Have any tips for staging a dining room?

P.S. Don’t mind the fact that one of my sweet innocent children broke one of the drawers off my antique dresser/sideboard. Jury’s still out whether I can fix it.
P.P.S. That sweet innocent child is hiding under the table. Can you see him?

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