Remodelling for resale

Now, I didn't actually chose this floor based on V.White's ability to blend (she's a gigantic white dog, she doesn't blend at the best of times anyway). What I decided to work on most sincerely were, and are, the things that contribute to resale.

For most markets, kitchens and bathrooms rank highest on interior modifications that recoup their cost and improve the value of the home. I found a lovely primer at Stacks and Stacks' blog. As one commenter pointed out, almost no-one is in the market for a fixer-upper, as they are too costly to fix now.

This house, for example, was an epic mistake. While the location is good, it just needed so much work to make it presentable, and it's not over yet. I have done a resoration job, and even I wouldn't take this place on. You have to be really good with looking at the bones of a place, and estimating the costs (and not overestimating your desire to do the work yourself) and the amount of time it'll take before you jump into a real pit.

There are inexpensive things you can do to improve the value of your home, as well as more major renovations. Never underestimate the power of a good clean either! Freshening paint on the trim, pressure washing the sidewalk, cleaning windows...all of these can help!

Of course, if there's something dodgy in your house, you'll probably want to address it before the home inspection happens. It pays to have a real estate agent in before you decide to put your house on the market to give you advice on how to best present your home.

In the meantime, I'm busy cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Getting rid of the clutter (think: packing for the move NOW) and getting systems in place so that Himself can sell the house as quickly as possible when the time arrives. Of course, it never co operates weatherwise in Halifax, so sometimes jobs get postponed due to 100% humidity, which makes me wonder how anything gets painted here- EVER.

I did manage to find the link for the beadboard wallpaper improvement for cabinets...you can check it out from my last kludge post. :)

Fun with technology and kludgery

Well, here I am, fully embracing the 21st century (finally). I got myself a TweetDeck account set up, and the iPhone application to boot. I am even using my Twitter (@thisoldpmq) as well. Wonders never cease.
And heck, I may even use it for good instead of evil...barring any kind of strange house-fails that I might have to use strong or vulgar language to describe.

So, in the meantime, how about some actual house type photos?

I suppose I owe everyone an explanation: what I did was remove the outrage that was happening as the 'non backsplash', and used a tip from another blog (Update: I told you I'd find it! It's from this blog...http://southernhospitalityblog.com/beadboard-wallpaper-project/) to use simulated wainscotting wallpaper to create a backsplash. Quite successful, I thought. Apparently, Himself complained that the ONLY place the adhesive cured completely when he needed to remove it to do an actual tile backsplash was the part that wasn't covered by the new tile. Ha! That'll show him to procrastinate when I ask for something!

I realized that I also didn't take a good picture of my lovely finished product before it was demolished forever, so instead I'll show you the lovely tile. As usual, in this house, nothing ever goes completely right. So instead of subway tile, it's 4x4 tile, but hey. As we say here "Better than before", which may be the house motto.