The List

This is probably dumb of me and boring to anybody else but I wanted to document all of the things we did to fix up our old house. For the GARAGE, we sanded and painted the front wooden frame, cleaned it out of many items, replaced the west door and that door frame. The DECK got sanded and painted. In the YARD, we discarded weeds and old gardening plants and items, removed cigarette butts, trimmed up grape vines, discarded a large pile of old tree limbs, mowed & edged, weeded the front garden, and added dirt, flowers, and a planter. In the FRONT ROOM, we brought in electrical power to the ceiling and installed a light/fan combo which we had painted to make it over. We mudded the holes from that installation, mudded and painted the walls, painted the baseboard and door frames, painted the doors, painted the closet, removed and replaced the carpet. To stage the room, we moved a couch into the room, covered it with bed sheets & pillows, repainted a buffet cabinet, and repainted a small side table. For the KITCHEN, we cleaned it out. For the cabinets we removed all cupboard doors and drawers and all the hinges on them. We used paint stripper to strip off old paint. We sanded each door, drawer, and the cupboard frames and painted each surface, front and back, with 7-9 coats of paint and protective coating. We reinstalled the hinges, doors, and drawers and added knobs to each door and drawer. We removed a wallpaper border, mudded and painted the walls, painted baseboard and trim, painted the pantry door, painted tile with floor paint & coated it with polyurethane (REGRET THIS IDEA btw), cleaned-dusted-removed-repainted the fan, installed a backsplash, cleaned up windows, replaced blinds, replaced a lighting fixture, and replaced the stove. For staging, we put down a rug for the table, painted the kitchen chairs, and brought in a tablecloth and place settings. For the 3 STAIRWELLS, we mudded and painted the walls, removed and replaced the carpet. For the FAMILY ROOM, we mudded and painted the walls, painted baseboard, painted & protective-coated the small tiled areas, scrubbed a thick black greasy coating off patio doors, removed and replaced the carpet in the closet, and cleaned up the closet doors. We installed a curtain rod and new curtains. For staging, we made over a coffee table and added pads for seating, repainted a corner table, brought in a little book shelf, cleaned up a bar table and repainted a matching chair, cleaned up the fan and re-painted the fan blades. In the UTILITY ROOM, we painted the door, cleaned out the room, repainted the trim, and replaced a 40-gallon water heater. In the LEFT BASEMENT BEDROOM, we removed and replaced the carpet, removed baseboards, mudded and painted the walls, painted the closet, painted the light fixture, installed-caulked-and painted new baseboard. We painted the door and the closet door. We had a small flood in this room so we had to dry out the carpet, drain and seal the window, repaint the windowsill and repaint baseboard. In the RIGHT BASEMENT BEDROOM, we removed and replaced carpet, removed baseboards, mudded & painted the walls, painted the closet, painted the light fixture, installed-painted-and caulked new baseboard, sealed the window, and painted the door. In the BASEMENT BATHROOM, we removed the toilet, cabinet, and baseboards. We mudded and painted the walls, painted the light fixture & medicine cabinet, painted the sink cabinet, cleaned and caulked the shower, installed-painted-and caulked new baseboard, painted the door, and installed a new towel rod-toilet paper holder-and hand towel rod. We also painted and coated the tile floor. In the LAUNDRY AREA and BASEMENT LANDING, we removed old flooring, sheetrocked & textured a hole in the wall, mudded and painted the walls and trim, installed tile and grout, painted and protected tile, installed-caulked-and painted new baseboard, painted the light fixture, and sanded and painted previous ceiling repair. For the UPSTAIRS WATER-DAMAGED CEILING, we removed sheetrock, cut and installed several new pieces of sheetrock, taped-mudded-textured-and painted the ceiling, and installed a vent cover to improve the look of it all. In the UPSTAIRS BATHROOM, we removed wallpaper border, painted the light fixture-medicine cabinet-and sink cabinet, cleaned out everything, painted both doors, mudded and painted the walls, painted & protected the floors, caulked, painted the closet, and installed a new toilet seat. In the MASTER BEDROOM, we cleaned it out, removed and replaced the carpet, painted the door and all the closet doors, mudded and painted the closets and walls, cleaned the fan and repainted the blades. For staging, we made a bed out of air mattresses and I repainted a little coffee table. We installed a curtain rod and new curtains. For the WEST BEDROOM, we cleaned it out, removed a wallpaper border, mudded and painted the closets and walls, removed and replaced carpet, and painted the door and closet doors. For staging, I repainted a computer desk and cleaned up and added a seat pad to a chair. For the EAST BEDROOM, we cleaned it out, removed and replaced carpet, painted the door and closet doors, mudded and painted the closets and walls, painted the light fixture, sanded and repainted part of the ceiling. For staging, I repainted the gold and flowery parts of the daybed, got new screws for the daybed, painted a small dresser, and painted a lampshade. For the LINEN CLOSET, we painted the door. We added new lightbulbs wherever they were needed and repainted all the vents and returns after cleaning them up. We replaced every plug and light cover. We filled 2 dumpsters and 1 scrap metal truck and we donated 4 SUV-loads of stuff to the D.I. Plus we filled the garbage can and recycle cans to capacity each week. We didn't do everything ourselves. We hired an electrician to bring in the electricity to the front room ceiling. We hired a plumber to replace the water heater. We removed and discarded the carpet but installers replaced it. We had friends from our neighborhood that came and spent a Saturday sanding the deck for us. My little brother helped tape and paint when he could. Preston's family and my mom helped removing many items. Preston's mom helped paint when she could. My parents brought drinks and food when they could. All of those things really helped us get the jobs done. THE END.

Before and Afters

What's consumed me the last two months is fixing up a house we previously rented out so we can sell it. I'm a little burned out so I won't say much about it. This is something I've always wanted to do and I finally got the chance but under the circumstances, I didn't enjoy it a lot. I did have moments of great satisfaction though. We're paying double mortgages so I felt pressure to spend every possible second there to try to relieve the financial burden as soon as possible. My kids were great. They were either on their own a lot (which was much harder on me than them) or at the house. There are a few things I wish I had done differently but overall, it's done and if our contract goes through at the end of the month, this will be one less thing for us to worry about. Here are the pictures: