Changes before we closed

While we were interested in the house from the moment we saw it, it took us a while to officially get under contract and list our house.  Also, the owner was trying to finish up some projects in order to get the house market sellable somewhat ready. 

The good thing was, since we were really interested, she let us put our input into the projects she was finishing up. 

One of her projects was to finish painting the breakfast nook/screened-porch.  This looks a lot better than the bare beadboard.  She also put in indoor/outdoor carpet.  I’m not a huge fan of it but it will do until I can maybe find a rug to cover it up.

   

Thankfully, she also decided to paint the living room, dining room, hallway and sunroom and let us pick the color.  Since I wasn’t sure if we were even going to get the house and if we were how I would be decorating it, I decided to go with a really light neutral color.  That way if we didn’t get the house, it would look good for whoever did, and it was light enough that I knew they’d have to paint it really well to cover up those dark crazy colors. 

We went with Valspar’s Homestead Resort Jefferson White.  It’s one of those that looks white by itself until you put it next to true white.  It’s got a slightly brown/slightly gray look to it.  I love the way it turned out.  Very light, airy and warm and it’s one of those National Historic Registry colors which is kind of cool.

 

 She also told us that she was planning on replacing the dining room light fixture and if we found anything we liked that was around $100 she’d buy it for us.  I personally love chandeliers.  Big, vintagey chandeliers with lots of crystals.  I’d probably put one in every room of the house if Stephen let me.  

Looking at Home Depot and Lowe’s as well as some antique shops on the Square discouraged me because there was nothing that was size appropriate for the space in that price range. 

Then I found this one at a vintage shop on the Square.  It’s not perfect (in fact I’m pretty sure it was spray painted black and some of the crystals are missing), but I loved the shape and it was be big enough to fill the space.  Even better, the price was only $125, but they gave me the ’shops in here a lot’ discount so it came out to be only $100.  Score!  I love the contrast of the black against the light paint color.

 

Then there was the bathroom.  You can see what a mess the hall bathroom was by looking at all the before pictures here and here.  

Stephen and I were both prepared to start stripping wallpaper and cleaning this up, but the owner had already decided to take care it.  New walls, new ceiling, new shower installed and new floor.  I was sad to see the original floor go, but I absolutely love black and white flooring and think this definitely goes with the period of the house.  We did pick out the paint color but unfortunately I can’t remember the name (which I hate because there are already places we need to touch up). 

The tube and sink are original and were reglazed.  She did replace the sink hardware, which I kind of like, but I’ll might change them out down the line.

 

Overall we thought this bathroom remodel somewhat made up for the condition of other parts of the house since it would have been a lot of time and effort to fix it. 

These small changes were big improvements in the house, but we still have a long way to go….