We’ve kept our Brighton Ridge house well maintained;
We’ve fixed things, painted, finished the basement, built out additional closet space, put granite in the kitchen, replaced the appliances etc…
But, in early 2009 we sat down and thought about what we would have to do if we wanted to sell, especially in a slow real estate market. What could we do that would maximize the $ and minimize the time on the market.
Our house was built in 1988, which doesn’t make it old… but does make some of the parts “ancient”. Our two furnaces and two air conditioners are original and while they work fine, at that age they are sure to raise some eyebrows. The water heaters were both replaced in 1998 when we moved in, they haven’t given us a lick of trouble but they are near the end of their life. We had too much wallpaper, we had a hole in the wall, our last dog had scratched the heck out of some of the woodwork, our three boys had wreaked havoc on the walls and floors of the finished basement, the Andersen Window crank housings had cracked and the wood sills had dried up.
Needless to say… we felt overwhelmed.
Lisa started with the kitchen wallpaper, she removed all of it and she and (our son) Trevor repainted the kitchen in a soft green. Lisa also wiped the cabinets with a light stain to refresh them and replaced the handles. We were going through Costco one day and they had a stainless Whirlpool french door refrigerator for less than $1000, so we bought it (great deal!)
New french door fridge, new handles on cabinets, wallpaper removed and freshly painted
I ordered all new window cranks and Andersen crank housings on the internet, I removed the old ones, lightly sanded the sills (where needed) applied new stain and polyurethane and installed the new plastic housings. While the windows didn’t look new they looked great; fresh, clean and healthy.
We took the old teenagers dark bedroom, repainted in light tones and made it into a real guest room.
I repaired some walls in the basement and repainted.
The above items (except the fridge) didn’t cost much but they were things that we were able to enjoy at a minimal cost and do ourselves.
Former teenagers room goes from almost black to bright
What we really paid for:
The bathrooms were big upgrades and we hired someone to fix the hole in the wall and re-paper it, we also hired painters for a few rooms and did some touch up ourselves. We had Rob from Exploring Flooring come out and he replaced the carpet in the basement, the den and the family room.
We also had Bill Bassetto “Bassetto Builders“ (he did a lot of the bathroom work) fix a hole in the garage door and relevel the paver sidewalk. Bill has been a Custom Home Builder in Naperville for years.
And then when we finally made the decision to move… we hired Janet Kidston from Inspired to Sell™ in Naperville to stage our house to sell
And don’t forget to download our free e-book “450 ideas to help your home sell faster”
Guest Post
Guest Post
Here are three upscale private golf course communities in Naperville and Aurora, they are significantly different from each other while remaining lovely, vibrant and unique
