When I started this blog, my intention was to journal all the work we’ve done on our house from beginning (when we moved in), to the middle (living here), and the end (staging the house to sell). The economy being what it is, we probably are not going to get the price we want for our house. So our plan was to try to save money for a down payment assuming we weren’t going to get as much as we’d like for our house.
We started this process a couple of years ago. An eternity for an ADD girl like me!! The LOML is a little more grounded and analytical than me so when I come up with all my crazy bright ideas, he goes into thoughtful mode for a really long time. It’s just torture for me!
I’m going to share all the ways we have cut back on our expenses in our journey to save in another post. But for now, just know we STILL do not have a substantial downpayment. SOOOOO….the sad news (for me, at least) is we’re not moving. Very very long face!
Okay, enough moping! I’m on to my next idea! Told you I was ADD!
My 2012 list of projects for the house:
1) Paint the kitchen cabinets white and replace counters (butcher block, granite, solid surface).
2) Install a wall of built-in bookcases in the family room.
3) Hang family pictures, diplomas, artwork back on these bare walls. To stage our home, we had to depersonalize every room. I LOVE PICTURES! This will be fun for me.
4) Paint the entertainment center and bookcases in the Bonus Room black. Please forgive the mess. This room always looks like this sadly! Also, I want to find artwork to hang on the walls.
5) Hang cabinetry and install a storage unit in the laundry room. Decorate room.
6) Hang beadboard paneling in the upstairs hallway.
7) Replace the stairway wooden balusters with wrought iron balusters.
I’m hoping I can do all these on a tight budget….just in case we do get to move!!
The purpose of my blog has now changed but I’m going with the flow. I’m hoping and praying that one day my dream will come true and we’ll be able to buy a fixer-upper and just go wild. I hope you can join in the fun!
Have you ever had a dream that was unattainable and you had to change course? How did you handle it?
Linking up at The Nester 2012 Home Goals Party
Boy, have I had a few! And, we are in pretty much the same situation ourselves. We had to move around a lot for my husband’s job, and finally moved back to where we started – our home town. A couple of the moves were not smart ones, meaning, we should have stayed in the first place we had to move to, husband worked shorter hours, basement apartment already in place with money rolling in…you get the idea!
We purchased the house we are now in, mostly for the neighbouhood. Great neighbourhood. Problem? All older houses. What to do, what to do?! Husband promises the moon for updating the house, if I would go for it (I found it ugly, and dated). We moved in, and he realized, a little too late, that he is not a manual labor kind of guy. So, now, I am nudging (aggressively), him along, to do carpentry work, to make this a home we can both come to love. Especially since, where we live, in New Brunswick, Canada, house prices are falling. Great if you are looking to buy…not so great if you are looking to get top dollar for your home.
So…to make a long story short (oops! guess I screwed that one up, lol), we have a “short list” we are working on, to get the biggest bang for our buck if we sell, and to make the house something I actually enjoy living in if we stay, lol!
In other words, your “preaching to the choir”, girl! I hear ya’, I’m in it with ya’, and may we both come out of this smiling!
Hope I didn’t “talk” your ear off, so to speak.
Have a great day!