Monday, January 7, 2013

House Hunting

So..... we're getting a jump on one of our New Years Resolutions!

We've already put a contract on a house!! It's a fixer-upper, but it's going to be a really nice house when we finish it. I've decided to blog some pictures of it, and share ideas of how we'd like to improve it, if everything passes inspection and we get to close. Inspections are happening this week, and if we get clearance, we'll just be waiting for financing to go thru.

Needs some landscaping... ok LOTS of landscaping. But some pretty flowers would bring it back to life! It also needs a new front door and some porch lamps.
I think we'll push back the retaining wall a bit and widen the drive way. It needs to be smoothed out too. 
Back porch is overgrown, and needs to be cleaned up. It leads down to an above ground pool.  We'll be removing the pool and possibly building a pergola as an extension of the back porch one day. 
Master Bath: Has a his and hers closet on each side of the Jacuzzi tub, with a walk in shower.  We'll be expanding the shower and raising the ceiling above it....removing the wallpaper and painting the walls.... adding a few pot lights in the ceiling throughout the bathroom.
Ok, so obviously, all the paneling needs to go. We'll be sheet-rocking the walls and possibly even enclose the top portion of the fireplace in sheet-rock as well. We're also replacing all the flooring with darker wood and adding extra pot lights in the ceiling.
I dont understand why you would need 3 sets of french doors, but we would either enclose 2 of them  and turn them into windows OR just replace them with clean cut white sets.
The kitchen is the worst part of the house. The right wall is connected to the living room. We would LIKE to knock out  a portion of this wall and open it up to the living room. We'll also do a complete remodel and flip the kitchen completely around.

The house has 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths and a 2 car garage. It also has a formal dining room. We were originally looking at houses at the top of our price range, but after coming across this one - we decided that we might actually come out on top in the long run by finding something that could use some work, but we could make money on if we ever had to sell. We're gonna replace the carpet in the bedrooms, tile the kitchen and bathrooms and put hardwood floor everywhere else. Add a little color and repaint everything. Relandscape...  and it will look like a completely different house! 

Fingers crossed that the inspections come back clean and the financing is approved! It's in a great neighborhood, in a fabulous location. It's quiet, and safe and has so much potential! YAY!

4 comments:

Stacey @DivaDecor&More said...

Hello :) I can totally see the potential & your vision...good luck with everything :)

Unknown said...

Thanks Stacey! We're excited, but trying to contain it as much as possible... just in case. ;)

Cristi Atchley said...

My sweet friend! I am so excited for y'all! Praying for you and Rich this week and knowing God is in control of this. May HE open/close doors to have HIS will done in your lives!

I can totally see your vision... it's already a beautiful home, just needs some modernizing and updating! We are gonna have a busy Spring... planting flowers and having fun decorating! I foresee alot of trips to Lowe's and Hobby Lobby for us! Ha!

Another few thoughts:

maybe shutters on the front windows? do y'all like shutters? and yes, a new front door and lighting always dresses up the curb appeal!

love the big fireplace and ceiling beams! and just by eliminating the wallpaper in the master bath will improve it!

Can't wait to see it in person and get a feel of the layout! I'm so excited for y'all... and Miss Lily too! I see lots of play time outside for her!

Unknown said...

YES! It could definitely use some shutters. We need to update the exterior paint too. It's a blue color. YUCK! We need to figure out a different exterior color. We went to lowes and found a really nice solid wood door with frosted glass and rod iron for the front door. Plus we were thinking maybe get some of those gas lamps for each side of the door. Also need to re-landscape the entire front and back yard. Once the inspection goes through this week and we get clearance for financing, we'd like to do another walk thru with the agent and take a notebook and make notes of what each room needs to have done. Then we need to organize what order to do it in. Most important at the moment is to remove the popcorn stuff from the ceiling in the bedrooms and get those painted and prepped (remove all the flooring). If we can get all the rooms complete with new carpeting by the summer, then the kids will have their own space that's complete and we can begin the heavy duty remodel of the living room and kitchen in the summer when I'm out of school. It's going to be a work in progress for probably the next year. There is quite a bit to do. None of it is extremely hard, but it's just going to be time consuming. It has potential to be something really nice. The neighborhood is fantastic. And we got it for a price that even with the extensive amt of remodel, we'd STILL make money if we ever had to sell it. (Hopefully we wont. I'm ready to settle for a while in my own place.)

I will DEFINITELY need help on color scheme. I like color, but I dont want anything drastic. Tori likes blue and chandler likes green. So I was thinking beach theme in tori's room with puffy comforters and white curtains and vases with sand and seashells and then a science theme in chandlers room with lava lamps and science projects that he can work on this summer. I'll show you pictures of ideas for painting with those colors. I dont want anything dramatic, it needs to look nice, but I do like adding personality. Was also thinking about doing faux painting in the dining room and foyer to add character instead of just a solid wall. These are just thoughts. At this point, nothing is set in stone.

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