K, we're all but ready to paint the outside, DH is finishing up the stucco

[NMDemDist2]

patch today.

My chore this morning was to go through the "catch all" desk in the dining room



it's in the dumpster and I've put this in instead. Can I get away with it for showing the house once I get the kitty stuff out of there and pretty it up a little more?

[eleny]

1. From the picture...

It looks like a tight squeeze to get to the windows. I'd move out as much as I could anywhere so it looks easy to get to windows.

Man! Your place looks so spiffy and neat. You're rip snap in there.

[NMDemDist2]

2. good point and then I can put the water cooler by the pantry and

the rest of the bay window will be wide open

but I can live with this in the mean time

thanks!

[wildeyed]

3. Nice light fixture.

Is that new?

I would schooch the unit over, then get rid of almost everything on the top except the phone and maybe a candle or the salt and pepper. The phone books should go away, too. I dunno, it might be better to just pack the whole thing up when you start to show. Make the dining area look more spacious.

One of the things I did before I got my last house ready to sell was go look at a few model homes in new developments. Then I tried to stage my home is a similar fashion. They use a lot of tricks in those models. One I saw over and over was using a love seat instead of a regular sized couch in the den. Made the place looks so spacious, and probably most people didn't even realize their couch wouldn't fit until they moved in. In master bedrooms you would suddenly realize there was only one dresser and no place for a second. Anyway, it was a help in figuring out furniture placement in my own house. Not how I would want to live, but it made my compact home look spacious and airy for the potential buyers. Got two full price offer the first week in a buyer's market, too. :)

I left some of my cookbooks out when I sold because I had a special built-in for them in the kitchen, but I lined them up by height and made sure all the spines were even. :)

[NMDemDist2]

4. those fixtures were done when we painted. they are from IKEA and

were on sale for like $25 each! I matched up two of them for the big "country" kitchen

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15579&catalogId=10103&storeId=12&productId=65904&langId=-1&parentCats=15579*15932*15935

I'll end up taking it out when it's time to stage the room I expect. the funniest thing about that big ol' desk is when I got done going thru it I had the phone books, a couple photo albums, a box of office stuff 9x12x4 and a big black garbage bag of trash.

Unbelievable how crap just piles up over the years huh?

here's a pic of the other side with the matching fixture. we took out an ugly flourescent box as shown in the second pic

[wildeyed]

5. We moved to a much bigger house.

I never thought we could fill it up. But here I am, sorting out the clutter again!

Ikea is an amazing resource for those of us who are budget challenged.

[NMDemDist2]

6. I tell ya, the stuff just breeds the minute you turn the lights off LOL

and we may end up with a SMALLER house in NM :shrug:

[wildeyed]

7. Our house is so big,

if the economy goes bad, I am going to slap in a kitchen upstairs and rent it out. Seriously!

Both my husband and myself grew up in small houses, so we feel a little bit un-mored in this big house. We were looking for something a little smaller, but this was in exactly the right location, on exactly the right lot, so we decided to take the extra square footage and do the reno that it needed. We had been hoping for a smaller, renovated house, but I guess we are fixer-uppers at heart. :crazy:

[NMDemDist2]

8. Mr K hates "fixing up" but with our budget for the new house

he'd better learn to love it :rofl:

[NMDemDist2]

9. went and got paint today at the "oops" store

got 2 gallons plus 2 more 5 gallon buckets and all four are different. they gave us a 55 gallon barrel so we'll mix them all together for a "custom" color :rofl:

we did make sure the paint was all from the same manufacturer and the same type so it should mix up very nice. total for 12 gallons of paint $58

:bounce:

[wildeyed]

10. What color will it be when you are done?

Any ideas? :rofl:

[NMDemDist2]

11. a sandy/beige/rosy/white color hehehehe

should be light and neutral with a desert feel

[eleny]

12. I was gonna say - Realtor Beige!

Our county used to collect leftover paints from the locals, mix it together and use it for painting homes of people in need. And it always turned out some sort of neutral beige. You can't lose with that.

[NMDemDist2]

13. exactly! as long as it doesn't clash with the almond garage door

we can hide a lot of sins with the color of the 10 ton of new gravel :evilgrin:

[Warpy]

14. Ugh, I just flashed on "landlord brown" and "landlord green,"

two colors I have never seen outside Boston or New York City. The "brown" sounds like what would be made from a bunch of leftover paint, sort of a pastel pinkish mud color that faded to diarrhea. The green is simply indescribable unless you've seen that color. It's truly hideous.

It was a merciful day in Beantown in the late 60s and early 70s when landlords finally discovered off white. It wasn't a very nice one, but much more tolerable than the two alternatives.

[NMDemDist2]

15. DH painted almost the entire house today and the color came out fine

I'm off to assist at a house party for my Congressional Candidate but I'll post some pics tomorrow. I had a business thing today too, so poor Mr K didn't get much help once we had the paint all mixed up

it came out just fine though,


I remember that Green though.... :puke: