House Work

About a week ago, I finally got fed up enough with the awful paint jobs in the house to enlist the help of my friend, Elizabeth, to help me stage the house to sell. It's been on the market for about 3 years and no one has ever made an offer. This is obviously a huge red flag but I chose to just plow ahead in prayer to show the house myself until someone made an offer. We had multiple showings over the summer but no offer, no matter how low the price was. As I gear up to work full time in two weeks I decided to make all the changes to the house I possibly could within our budget so when the fall season rolls around, it'll be in better shape to show.

I wanted to start with the orange dining room but Jeff insisted on repainting the living room first. The stark white color makes the house look even older than it is...so with the help of my friend, we rolled taupe paint over the walls. The end result is it looks much warmer and cozier. It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do to change the feel of a room.

It's hard to get a good picture of what the room looks like on camera because the backlight from the windows washes the color out. While the paint job may not be the most professional, it was my first time trying it out...my back and arms are still sore from the seven hours of arm movement it took to coat the room.

The most disasterous part of the house is the bathroom. It's tiny and unappealing. The wooden countertop was stained and water soaked through the finish Jeff apparently put on to protect the wood. It looked horrific.

However, after sanding it down, applying a coat of primer and two coats of latex-based floor finish, the countertop doesn't look as awful. It's still not ideal but it's a huge improvement. I also primed and painted the shelving space above the toilet because it was half done.

Here on the right is a snapshot of the orange walls that colored the dining room. Obviously, it's not in everyone's taste. Or anyone's taste for that matter with the exception of Jeff. He didn't want to paint over it but in keeping with our theme of staging the house to sell, I thought it best to coat the walls with a neutral color: toast. It's two shades lighter than the living room.

Again, it's hard for me to take a picture of the dining room with the backlight, but here's a shot I took this afternoon. The kids think the neutral color is a huge improvement. I agree with Jeff that it's a little boring but it's much more buyer-friendly.

But my favorite part of the house now is the front yard. Not that it's a spectacular garden but it's much more manicured and I like looking at the flowers. Dad Hopkins week-whacked the lawn (did you know there was such a thing?), while Mom Hopkins helped us choose flowers, perennials in particular, to decorate the front for curb appeal.

I even got to choose a plant and decided on a HIBISCUS. It's Hawaii's state flower. The woman at the nursery said, "Hibiscus plants wither in the winter. It stops budding and starts to die when there's a drastic temperature change." THAT'S JUST LIKE ME! I thought right then, "I've got to take care of this plant. It has my personality." I talk to it to encourage growth. I'm trying to find a sitter for it while we're away in Hawaii. I'm nervous it'll rain and get cold while we're gone and it'll die. I can't let that happen. So if anyone wants to baby-sit my new flower, just let me know!