It's been a little while since I've posted, so...got the tile on the kitchen backsplash grouted. I hope to seal the grout tomorrow so I can move the microwave onto the counter top and take the microwave stand out of the kitchen, then build the little bistro table and chairs and put them in the kitchen. Then all I need to do is pack some more cupboards, hang the shelf, place the E-A-T letters on it and caulk the gaps between the upper cupboards and the ceiling.
The massage room downstairs is almost complete, just need to decide on location for wall decor and whether or not I want to paint the microwave stand and repurpose it for the oils, towels, candles, etc in the massage room.
The bathroom downstairs is finished other than caulking around the toilet. And maybe a tiny touch up painting on the walls where some white paint has dripped.
The downstairs bedroom is another story. We had an unfortunate 'accident' recently. The flashing on one side of the fireplace where it meets the roof needed to be redone and the downspout on the rain gutter was disconnected. So, apparently water from the melting snow was pouring directly down the left side of the fireplace causing a small flood in the basement.
I pulled up the almost new carpet and removed any pad that had gotten wet. Then used a room heater and fans to dry the carpet out and am now waiting for Darvin to box up all his 'STUFF' that he moved from his closet to spread out all over the room to dry. I'm worried because now it smells a little 'musty' down there. Need to find something to get rid of that smell. Fortunately I have extra pad that we can use to patch back in and then get the carpet re-installed. Then I need to decide how I'm going to stage that room. I borrowed a blow up bed from the Zauss's and I have a bed frame out in the garage. So we'll set that up. I bought some art including a piece that I can use as a 'headboard', and bought some new bedding that I'll use on my own bed after we move. I'm planning on moving all the furniture from our upstairs bedroom, except our bed, downstairs because it's a lot bigger room. It'll be kind of a hassle and quite a bit of work, but I think it'll look much nicer. Then I'll paint the old chest of drawers that's out in the garage, along with the two extra night stands and will use those in our bedroom upstairs. That way it'll seem more roomy upstairs. I'll probably keep my clothes downstairs and Darvin can keep his in the chest of drawers in our bedroom upstairs. I have a couple of lights that I can use on the night stands as well.
I plan on removing a chair from the living room and the love seat from the family room and setting those up with an end table in the downstairs bedroom around the fireplace to make a cozy reading area, etc. I'll also move the file cabinet from the family room into the closet under the stairs.
The dining room is essentially done and the man cave just needs a bunch of dejunking and a little decorating on one wall. The living room needs a couch removed as well as hiding my tax boxes (I need to start working on taxes as soon as I'm done with the house, so they need to be accessible but out of the way).
I have a self-imposed deadline of January 4th to get this place listed. If I stick to that date then we'll be able to get in the monthly Real Estate shopping guide, we'll be able to have the realtors' open house a couple of times and hopefully will have the place shown a number of times while we're out of town to Texas for Darvin's birthday.
I'm having a hard time choosing a realtor. I'm down to two choices, Joanne Melton (a family friend) and Meg Irwin. My neighbor Joe who is an appraiser highly recommends Meg (hands down in his words) he says she has all kinds of connections, so if we want to get it sold and fast, he'd go with her. The realtor's market analysis came in from $219,000-$250,000 with Joanne's on the high end. Joe said he'd print me off some comparables. I'll be interested to see what he comes up with as none of the realtors used the same properties for their analysis's. One advantage of Joanne is that she'd only charge 6% commission, Meg charges 7%, so on $200,000 that a $2,000 difference! I may ask Meg if she'd charge 6% each if we list our place and then Grandpa Clement's when we are ready to list his. Meg works for Prudential Almon Real Estate who have about 1/3rd of the market share of real estate transactions in the area. They have a separate marketing department and Meg is a top producer. I like Joanne a bunch, but I think Meg will get the house sold quicker. Oh decisions, decisions...
Well I'd better get to bed, it's now about 12:30 in the morning and I've got to head over to Alan Afualo's around 9 a.m. to cut some wood and put a beveled edge on it for a plaque to make a family birthday calendar for Grandpa Clement for Christmas.
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