get my house ready to sell

that I’ve been okay not doing until now, are now done. The house is ready. But since I didn’t want to sell the house in the first place, I’m bummed.

But there’s a few bigger projects I need to do to get everything ready.

I still should do those tasks, but not becuase we’re looking to sell the house this season. Maybe in a few years…

a few things that need to be done:

new curtain upstairs
mirror and lights in downstairs bathroom
carpet glued on stairs
rake and new wood chips
flowers and curb appeal
clean out garage
clean out linen closet
clean out bedroom closet
random junk removal/storage

We did do one thing today…bought a dresser that replaces a very juvenile looking secretary and helps our closet appear less cluttered.

Renovating and selling our house was extremely taxing and stressful, but we did it! Actually, we reovated the entire house over the last 6 years we were there, but in the last two months before selling, it was marathon time to finish up all the lose ends and do several unexpected repairs (found by the inspector). I did all the work myself, and I figure after cost we ended up making about $50-60k. So yeah, MORE than worth all the pain.

Everyone was so impressed with our work (real estate agents, inspectors, the buyer, etc.) that it actually has me considering “flipping” houses at some point. As a result of all this, we just moved into our dream house a few weeks ago. Awesome.

is if I get divorced. Which may not be so bizarre, but it certainly isn’t a “goal” anymore.

jkd

Cleared some of the gravel from the front right bed, whose edging needs to be replaced. In the process of potting up some pansies and violas for pots, dug the first drainage channel that needs to go UNDER the gravel next to the house.

Potted up violas and pansies in pots atop sap buckets and in another larger planting IN sap buckets. Very cheery!

The full buckets are sitting on the brick edging next to the walk and edging the beds with the daffodils, jonquils, and daylilies in it in front. The daffs/jonquils are blooming their heads off, it looks very pleasant. The daylilies are just leaves now, but bigger and behind the daffs. Looks great against the brown of the house. The the brick edging on the right side of the path hasn’t been evened up (a mouse made a tunnel there so it’s low) and that looks a bit odd. But overall, it makes me smile when I see it, so I guess it would make others smile too!

Started clearing the side daylily bed, the violet “hill”, and the perrenial garden last week. Also hauled more junk wood off to the dump, which has made a huge improvement on the side yard.

There’s a “reserved” sign next door. With any luck about the time they move in, we’ll get the house on the market. Although, when it comes down to it, I don’t think DH will go for that. But that’s a worry for another day. I’m moving in that direction, even if he is dragging his feet, still/again.

jkd

and raked the lawn in front too.

I still have to clear the leaves/weeds from the gravel right under the roofline and clear the beds in the top of the stone wall and also the beds at the bottom of the stone wall.

From the front of the house to the driveway goes like this:

house
gravel bed (under the dripline of the roof)
front bed (daffs & day lilies)
brick edgeing-grass
top of the stone wall bed (hardy succulent, creepers)
stone wall
bottom of the wall bed (rugosa roses, spearmint, daylilies)
sand driveway.

One of the things we really need to get this year is a load of gravel. Not only do we need it for the driveway, but the folks who put in the gravel bed under the roof’s drip line did it in WHITE stone. Which shows where every single oak leaf sat on in more than one day. I absolutely, positively REFUSE to wash gravel so that this will look good again. What I intend to do is use the same pea gravel I want to use on the bottom of the driveway and for paths. The mixed colors and smaller stone won’t show the tannin stains from the oak leaves (I hope!).

I also want a gravel bed/drip line all away around the house, the front is the only place it was done previously. And, if we have the time/energy, I’ll get some perforated pipe and set it up so that it will pull some of the water away from the house, which would help a lot of things too. I’m pretty sure that if we get the gravel I can add it on top of what’s there. I’d like to think that I can also at least reset the edging on that front bed and possibly do the sides and back. Adding the pipe would be a logical addition, but it is large extra expense and time requirement, so I don’t know.

jkd

the louvered doors are oiled. The boxes which had held linen now hold my shoes. I still need to clear DH’s clothes out of it, fold and redo my out-of-season clothes in it, clean the shelves off. Eventually, I need to take EVERYTHING out of the closet so that I can oil the back wall. It will happen. I’m leaving the closets, cabinets, etc. until I get everything else in the room done. Although I did remove all the stuff on the floor today so that I could vacuum the floor.

I also need to do the bathroom closet and cabinet.

I found an oak framed medicine cabinet today. If I can get DH to go along with converting some old shelves into bathroom shelving, we can have a real medicine cabinet! Wow…luxury!

Also, there is DH’s closet to do too. But we’re making haste slowly here. There’s a lot to do, so I just try and keep at it every day. I’m trying to get one thing cleaned up a day: a closet today, part of the bath the other day, etc.

jkd

and Ringo and I started the cleaning in the master bedroom yesterday.

Still to do in the bathroom: wash the window, paint the inside of the frame (needs to be done everywhere), clean out the cabinets, line the shelves, clean the floor.

Still to do in the hallway: everything.

Master bedroom: vacuum the area that had been covered with books/boxes/ and laundry. Cull the luggage, books. Do the laundry. Make furniture decisions. Wash walls/mirror, windows, oil as appropriate woodwork. Lots to do there. [Took the endtables to the antique store, they sold in less than a week. YEAH!]

The upstairs office, hall and master bedroom are the only places where there is carpeting. One of the goals is to get the area clean enough that I can clean the carpeting too.

jkd