Is there a realtor in the house? (semantics: finished vs. unfinished space)
I will preface this with NEVER again will I ever willingly own a house that is older than I am. Not unless there are some very exceptional circumstances (like someone else has done all the work updating it and bringing insulation and windows and electrical and plumbing and foundation and everything else up to snuff. And removed all carpeting).
We have owned a circa 1920s house for nearly 12 years. We purchased it with the intent of fixing it up and building on land we previously owned. We never intended to live here long. Hubby made lots of promises re: projects he wanted to do himself and he got a good start on many of them, but for the last 6 years or so we have lived in a kitchen that is only about 2/3 complete and have several rooms with no trim. He refuses to buy any of this stuff stock, instead fancies himself to be a carpenter. Ugh. I would have been perfectly happy with Ikea cabinets. He wouldn't have it.
He's finally sick of the 60 minute round-trip commute, especially as our kid attends school down near his work and it's really difficult for us to be very active in his school or get our son together with his friends when some of them live an hour away (charter Montessori school that draws kids from several counties). Our favorite LBS and their daily shop rides are also an hour away from our current residence, but if we moved 45 minutes South of here we'd be 15 minutes from DS's school, DH's work, and our favorite bike shop (as well as more job opportunities for me without an hour commute each way). So we've got a fire under us to get this place sellable in the next year or two. We have a LOT of work to do before that is doable.
Biggest issue our house has is NO storage. I mean, the entire freaking 1550 sq. ft. house has ONE tiny closet. That's it. The basement is only partial (the part accessible from inside the house used to be coal storage and is now home to litter boxes for 4 cats and the other part is entered from outside. Neither are habitable for anything but spiders). Our upstairs is essentially converted attic space (the ceilings are literally 6.5' tall--I can stand flat-footed and touch them without any issue...and I am <5'4" and have short arms). DS's room is up there and is the largest room in the house. The other 2 rooms are TINY and have severely sloped ceilings that reach to or almost to the floor. One room has space for a twin bed and that is it--no room for so much as a single dresser or wardrobe.
Our plan is to convert the larger of the small rooms into a bedroom for DS, then we will convert his room into a room for us. Our bedroom is currently a room off of the living room on the main floor (the only room with a closet). There is a shallow, but semi-wide nook outside of DS's current bedroom that we can convert to a closet, fortunately. Our current bedroom will become our living room, then our living room will become our dining area. Our current dining area is basically a glorified hallway and having even our small table in there is a major PITA, since the room has 5 entrances (living room, sunroom/office, kitchen, stairs, bathroom). To get anywhere in the house one has to walk around the damned table. So that room we'll convert into a library of sorts. The entire house was apparently laid out by someone with half a brain (on a good day).
Long story short, we're wondering how to handle the tiny room that we plan to dedicate to storage. I'm of the mind that we should gut it and return it as much as possible to a rough attic, that way prospective buyers will see that the house is really a 2 bedroom house with attic space, rather than a 3 bedroom house with no storage space. When we bought the house it was actually marketed as a 4 bedroom house, which is really friggin' dumb, since it only has one cramped bathroom. No one really looking for a house with 4 formal bedrooms would have had any interest in a small house without more than 1 toilet.
The hallway separating the rooms is already pretty gutted, since we had to tear up the carpeting from the previous owner's cat using it as a litter box. We'll be tearing out all of the carpeting upstairs, as we have already done downstairs. Downstairs we have pine plank flooring, upstairs we plan to keep it simple and use porch paint on plywood. That way the next owners will have an easy time laying their own choice of flooring and we will have something that will work for us in the short term (apparently some people actually do painted plywood as their permanent flooring and I have seen some neat things done with different color patterns).
Hubby thinks we should leave the storage room alone, including carpeting. I'd just as soon have that allergen breeding ground gone.
Anyone been through a similar renovation process prior to selling or have any insight to how a scenario like this one would play out in terms of what a realtor would recommend?
Here are some shots I took of the rooms the other day. Mind you, the smaller room is mostly full of empty electronics boxes. 2/3 of what is in the larger of the 2 rooms belongs to my pack-rat spouse. I've finally talked him into throwing out the majority of his 20+ year old shoes, including the pair that are duct-taped all around the toe-box. :rolleyes:
Larger room -- future kid's room (we're hoping the wallpaper only goes 2 layers deep...eek!). There is a window immediately to the left in the first photo. 2nd photo is looking into the hall and the tiny room:
http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-8.../i-8D9NNW4.jpg
Itty Bitty Room...I'd like to see the carpet out of this one, as it will be dedicated "attic" space:
http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-j.../i-jvRPqQx.jpg
Is there a designer in the house?
If I was trying to sell I'd get rid of the wall paper. Even if you find a buyer who likes tiny floral patterns (and in most cases you need an entire family who agrees they like the pattern :o) it's dark, busy and makes the space look smaller.
Speaking of paint: light colors "bounce light" and make spaces look bigger. The door at the bottom left, paint that too.
The swatch of dark vertical paneling in the bottom left photo? Gotta go. All these lines, like the bottom left room is fairly neutral but has the trim that's a different color? Gotta go.
So pick one nice, neutral, bright white or off white and paint paint paint paint.
Window treatments: Those dark curtains have got to go. The ones on the bottom left side which appear to be hung off a rack style of thingybopper. You see how the edges of the structure touch the walls? It just emphasises the small space. If only in that room you've got to find a different way to hang curtains or it's curtains for your sale :p
Hint: shiny things bounce light and make rooms seem bigger. I'd look for new curtain rods like brushed chrome. Makes buyers say "ooooh, shiny shiny." ;)
Look for window treatments that are light, bright, simple, clean lines. Consider replacing the lace ones too.
To paint you're going to need to clear the space. I'd declutter ruthlessly. If you don't actually touch it every single day, gotta go.
Imagine the space spare, bare, practically Spartan, with clean lines, lots of light and light colors it will look much bigger. Often that's all it takes to make buyers say "yes".
So my plan would be to de'clutter, clean and prep and paint (Hold off on the carpet decision till that's done. At minimum it's a tarp ;)), then accessorize with spare, simple lines.
Trek ~ CCA class of '83 ~ 420
