Last month I briefly investigated building another house (lot prices are very low right now, and as an architect I can get good pricing on construction and do a lot of the work myself). The investigation was brief because the numbers didn't work out the way I wanted them to (my goal was to wipe out our mortgage - about $86k left - or the project was a no-go).
Also - things would be too iffy (how much could we sell our house for? would it sell quickly) and the whole thing would be a giant pain (moving into a rental for a year, managing construction when I am supposed to be working).
OK, enough of that. The result was a new appreciation for our house. I built it in 1998, 16 years ago. If we sold it, there are a few things we'd need to do - these are mostly minor repairs and updates like painting (I've never repainted most of the rooms!). Since we are not moving, it makes sense to do these things so we can enjoy them!
So I decided to make a list and tackle those things a few at a time. My goal date for completion of most of these is Thanksgiving since the entire family is coming here for the holiday. Some of these are five-minute tasks (sometimes it's inexplicable why I haven't just done them).
In case you ask why my husband is not helping with the list: he is not allowed near my tools! I like him with all of his fingers.
This project starts today with a trip to Home Depot! I will keep you posted on the progress.
General
have a garage sale (find items in hall closet and spare room closet)
crack repair in master bedroom, pantry stain, threshold to bedroom, big chip in F’s room, shower)
Master Bathroom
declog drain
new showerhead
Master Bedroom
put in baseboard (measure, buy wood, cut, paint, install)
reattach trim
fix peeling paint
Living Room
adjust strike at front door
find out about glass in door
sand door and seal
cabinet for tv
paint table white
remove black covers off of track lighting
repaint!
remove nail and spackle
declutter entry table
Dining Room
move play kitchen upstairs
repaint!
Kitchen
adjust strike
trim piece below door (measure, buy at home depot)
appliance garage of some type
shelf for my grandmother’s cups and saucers
repaint!
Fs Bedroom
new rug (measure, get sample of paint color, Home depot)
Hall
paint
cut nail ends at nicho
spackle at nicho
Den
spackle holes
paint wall behind desk
weatherstrip (already bought! remove old strip and reinstall)
picture frame for picture I want to hang
edit the pictures on the picture shelf; frame as needed
Outside
paint unmatched stucco
replace dead aspens with foresteria
Fs Bathroom
redo grout (remove old grout first!)
paint table white
All of Those Unfinished Projects around the House
August 3rd, 2013 at 05:00 pm
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August 4th, 2013 at 12:17 am 1375571875
Those projects don't sound too terrible. it's much easier to do them in small chunks, trust me. We moved and then had to do a whirwind, 6 week 'renovation' of all the little things we put off but needed to do to sell. It was a lot of work, but the house sold within 5 days on the market, and this was in 2010, when things really weren't good.
August 4th, 2013 at 12:35 am 1375572958
August 4th, 2013 at 01:10 am 1375575019
Thank you for your nice comments about our house! It's a nice house to live in. It's easy to clean. And a good investment: total invested in the house including the land - $300k; current value $550k.
Just today I asked my husband for a pair of pliers and he came to me with wirecutters! Hee hee! But he does all the computer/electronics/internet fixing.
August 4th, 2013 at 01:32 am 1375576360
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