Monday, January 7, 2013

My newest obsession

I think I've mentioned this a few times before, but we are looking to sell our house this year. It's a lovely home that was perfect for us back in 2008 when we were childless and Jon was working downtown, but our entire lives have changed since then. The 3 bedrooms, all wood floors, and convenient access to downtown have completely lost their appeal. I want more space, more carpet, an extra bedroom, a big backyard, and to get as far away from downtown as possible.

Initially, we were going to wait until May to list the house, but, um, well, I'm gonna be kinda busy that month, ya know giving birth to a human and all. When we found out we were pregnant I was all like "Cool! Let's sell our house and buy a new one and move in and decorate it in the next 9 months! It can be done, yay!!!!!

There must have still been some residual caffeine in my system, because here I sit, sipping my decaf at 22 weeks pregnant thinking how in the fuggity fudge are we going to make this work??

No, it wouldn't be a deal breaker if we had to stay in our house. But it just feels like the walls are closing in on me. It got so much smaller once Emerson (and her toys) moved in, so I can't imagine living there with two babies.

Though we bought our house right before the economy went to shit (of course), we bought a "project" house that we have since renovated. Every single room has been updated in some way, some more than others. Though it's definitely not a seller's market, between the updates we've made, the school district we're in, and the lack of inventory in our area, I (foolishly?) think that we'll be able to sell our house in a reasonable amount of time. I can say without a doubt that we are selling a MUCH better house than the one we bought. I could kick myself for not taking more before/after pictures, because we have put so much time, sweat, blood and tears into that place and I want to show it off.

I am actually less worried about selling than I am about selling and buying a new house before the new baby comes. I am sure it's ridiculous to think that this will all work out, but that's just how I function. When I want something done, I do it. I can't control who if anyone will buy our house, but I can control everything else. And believe me I am trying to. I'm a mom. Control is my life.

Since I have a kicking time bomb (not a typo), I have become OBSESSED with home staging and HGTV (even more than usual). I am trying to de-clutter, de-personalize and re-organize to make people walk into the house and think "Hot Damn! Give me a pen so I can give these people top dollar today!"

The room I'm struggling with most is our kitchen. It's so boring. We've updated the appliances, put tile behind the stove, added a new light fixture, painted the walls, doors and trim, and added knobs and pulls to all the cabinets, but it still seems dull. We didn't want to pay to update the countertops, but I'm just not sure what we can do to make this room look a little more exciting. I've been scouring Pinterest looking for ideas, but only seem to find good ideas for our potential new house, and not our current one.


 

So other than tidying up a bit, what can I do to make this kitchen better? I'm calling all you good decorators and stagers out there! 

I don't want to spend much more money, but HGTV tells me that kitchens and baths sell homes, so I don't want to skimp on this. Help me.

7 comments:

  1. i am sure this is beyond the time & money you want to put into this, and your husband will probably hate you if you make him do it, but we painted our cabinets white. Made a WORLD of a difference. Its mostly a time investment: take the doors off, sand/strip the finish off doors, prime & paint. I've got pictures somewhere on the internet - let me know if you want to see any. Good luck!

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  2. Gahh. My favorite!!
    I may or may not have taken my real estate license tests in both CA and KS, and yet don't use them.
    So I saw a house listed a few weeks ago that the agent didn't even try to move the clients junk out of the way, just took pictures, it about gave me hives looking at it. Nice house but it will never sell. Anyways..
    Change the curtains. To something simple, but with some color, coordinate with a small rug in front of the sink, and some fresh fruit. Think granny smith green, people love that color, makes them think clean. Also, ditch the microwave, the toaster on the fridge and the breadbox. All say you don't have the storage to move them up off the counters. Oh, and take down everything from the tops of the cabinets.
    And then, it will be perfect :)

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  3. I have no idea as I am struggling with the same thing, but good luck!! I hope it sells fast!!

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  4. Mallory just said what I was going to say... when we sold our house the realtor said we could only have 1 thing on the counter. It could be a microwave, it could be a paper towel holder, it could be a salt shaker. She didn't care. She was like pick one thing and hide the rest. GL on your home's sale!!

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  5. Shawn's parents just redid their kitchen cabinets on the cheap! It only requires two or three coats of some stuff and voila new cabinets. Kristen and Rik did the same thing to theirs. Might be the thing to kick it up a notch in there! And maybe some color? It's all very natural, which is good. Different colored curtains, towels hanging on the oven, a colorful pic on that wall between the bathroom door and the outside door, colorful fruit in a basket on the counter, colorful shiz above the cabinets. We can talk Wednesday :)

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  6. Maybe some rugs? It needs just a tad of color splash. I have been addicted to HGTV lately. Good luck lady!

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  7. Check out girlintheredshoes.com today! She just did the cabinet makeover and it might be just what you are looking for! I don't see anything that would make me say "no" to that kitchen at all, but if you want a dramatic change and aren't happy with it, go for the cabinets! If you decide to use a green as suggested, we used an awesome green called sweet Caroline by Benjamin Moore. It is a barely there/non-sage green. But I like the color you have too. Good luck! The idea of selling makes me sick...but with 3 bedrooms, it is eventually coming for us too!

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