Ready For Open House Weekend

I have been avoiding this blog for several reasons 1.) We really detest this house in Lowell and every time we have to talk about it we get discouraged.  My favorite quote from Stormie upon our last visit before leaving MI. was " I knew it we were stopping at that terrible house." 2.) We are expecting and I've been very tired and with foggy brain have been able to think past feeding my face or sleeping.  Now that I'm past the first Trimester I'm not as tired and feel more like myself.

So, here is a tour of our finished home before the Open House.  I'll show you a picture, title it, and then I'll list off all the things we did to that room please don't bore yourself by reading it all.  What I want you to see is how hard we worked this past summer and take into account all the money we  put into this home and feel our frustration.

The Front of our home

1.) Grass mowed & raked.

2.) Flower Beds were weeded and filled with more perennials & annuals

3.) Trees & Bushes were trimmed.

4.) All window screens were replaced with new.

5.) All windows were washed inside and out.

6.) All trim was touched up around windows.

7.) New front screen door.

8.) Sidewalk to front entrance had a lot of  pot holes a few of the major ones were filled.

9.) The over grown grass was cut back from the sidewalk.
10.) Perimeter fences repaired.  

Living room view #1 as you enter the front door.

1.) Fresh ceiling paint

2.) New ceiling Fan/light

3.) Pine floor received a new coat of Polyurethane.

4.) Window frames were growing mold. They received a good bleaching and then stained in areas of need; finalized with some Polyurethane to protect.

5.) Added a mirror to make the room appear bigger.

6.) Dusted and vacuumed the fireplace.

Living room view #2

1.) Put up some window blinds and curtains.

2.) Borrowed the area rug and some furniture to stage it for the Open House.

Pine room or so it was

1.) Realtor's and Friends thought this room was to dark because of the pine walls and ceiling.  So, it received fresh paint on the walls and ceiling.

2.) The carpet was shot so it also got new carpeting

3.) There was a broken window that got replaced

4.) The door and trim to this room was never stained so we stained and Polyurethaned it.

Bathroom

(Sorry for the sideways picture Blogger does this to all my pictures that I take on my camera sideways????  Yes, we have a program to turn our pictures, and I do, but every time Blogger turns them back.  I've even tried playing tricks on Blogger by downloading the picture on its side.  Blogger just flips the picture to the other side.  So I try to avoid pictures that are taken sideways.  Many pictures you don't get to enjoy because of this problem.)

1.) New caulk around tub and toilet

2.) New paint and boarder trim (used to be a white and very sterile looking bathroom)

3.) All the Iron stain was scrubbed from the toilet, tub, and sink (not in that order!)

4.) Lots of water damage under the sink so mold was bleached and wood was repaired.

5.) Tub was porcelain and wearing out so we repainted it.

Side note: This was the room Ace and I wanted to remodel for the next renter before we changed our thoughts to selling.  Very important note to future blog.

Front Entryway opposite of bathroom Note to Architects: Don't ever put front door across from the bathroom.  It leads to some exciting events when unexpected company arrives!! LOL

1.) Front door received a major overhaul.  New paint, weather strip and some planing to make fit nicer.

2.) Entry received an updated light.

3.) New Flooring lighter in color

4.) Fresh Paint on ceiling and walls

5.) Closet received fresh coat of paint too

Kitchen/Dinning

1.) Fresh coat of paint on ceiling and walls

2.) New curtains

3.) Lots and Lots of scrubbing.  Degreased ceiling for the paint.  Degreased cupboards around the stove. 
4.) Scrubbed all the appliances and cupboards inside and out.  Hours and hours of scrubbing! Just wanted to give the kitchen a thumbs up for being very clean.

Back Entry way/ Laundry room/Utility room

1.) Fresh paint on ceiling and walls

2.) Lots of scrubbing around the heater, water heater, water softener system a lot of dust bunnies (they multiply fast) and mold

3.) The floor was in need of paint or something so it got scrubbed 3X's to prep it for paint

4.) Shelves were painted

5.) Door was white and painted green inside and out to match the front door.

6.) Trim was missing from two doors so we trimmed in some doors too.

Nursery/Office/ Small Room

1.) Fresh Paint on ceiling and walls

2.) New Carpet

Largest Bedroom

1.) Fresh paint on Ceiling, Walls, & Closet

2.) Trim & Door were bare and needed stain

3.) New Carpet

4.) Replaced blinds as they were broken

5.) Replaced some outlet covers and light switch cover because they were missing.

Garage

1.) Garage was striped (huge job) and repainted

2.) Garage front and back door was painted green to match the house doors.  My favorite part!  I think it made the house look really sharp.

3.) The Garage was dejunked and dejunked again.

4.) The inside surface of the Garage door was painted white to add light to the inside of the Garage

5,) The floor was power washed for a cleaner look.

Shed

1.) Painted the Shed and it was a paint guzzler!

2.) Shed was dejunked and cleaned

3.) Missing window was replaced

4.) There isn't much listed but the shed took the whole month to accomplish!

Sandbox

1.) Rotting wood planks were replaced

2.) Was a bed of grass and the kids spent a lot of hours pulling out grass roots.

Back Yard

1.) Outside of house was powerwashed made a huge difference

2.) Some Shingles were replaced and a few nails were pounded back down.

3.) Leaves were swept off the roof top.

4.) Spent a whole day and $300.00 to repair the well which was clogged from not being in use.

5.) Lots of clean up because of big Weeping Willow tree in back yard.  Anyone need some firewood?

Wood Pile for Fire Pit

1.) A big mess now neatly stacked and a lot was burned.  We ate a few Hot Dog Lunches.

Fire Pit

1.) Burned up this mess!  We sure wish we had more time to have a Bon Fire Party because this was a huge pile of wood.  Lots of carpenter ants too.

Flower Bed

I know I already told you about my flower bed.  However I had to throw this picture in because I would work on it in the cool evenings many tears were shed here over per exhaustion and memories made here.  Lots of prayers were prayed on my knees here for a Miracle.

Taking our last family photo in front of 761 Lincoln Lake, Lowell, MI.

So here we are excited and ready to sell our home!  Whoo Hoo!

 Two long days of showing our home.  We had 100+ people stop by and look.  We had 26 bidders some were low-offers but, there were 6 real offers.  

I forgot to mention our guide to all this racket!

Ace on the phone with the Round Robin Bidding.

After lots of phone calls we came up with a buyer for $65,500.  $24,500 short of what we owed.  We sure were hoping for a bigger miracle than that.  God is good lots of miracles tho, like how many people came to the Open House, How many offers, and really with this economy a high offer.

Ace called the bank and friends and nobody would help us to make this deal go thru.  Very discouraging yet we knew the chapter was not finished.  What was to come???

At the buyers request we placed the SOLD sign up although our hearts weren't in the excitement.  Deep down we knew this wasn't going to happen.
Thank you for your prayers!