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March 29, 2004
This weekend was spent primarily on projects around the house. In the next few weeks, we will be putting our house on the market. I’ve discovered that there is nothing like the prospect of selling one’s house to highlight all of the many half-finished, unfinished or never-started-but-should-have-been projects that exist around said household.
Mike’s new deck is almost finished. I spent my sunny, warm Sunday morning lounging on the deck, reading the paper over a cup of coffee, and it was heavenly (Hana kept herself occupied chasing chickens and picking weeds- -ahem, flowers--in the yard below). Structurally, the deck is finished and sound. We just need to finish staining the railings, and I’ve discovered that I REALLY HATE STAINING. Therefore, this final chore has been added to Mike’s project list (see below).
Among Mike’s projects prior to putting our house on the market: finishing the stain on deck railings, pressure washing the house and all hard surfaces (driveways, front walk, back patio, etc.), washing the outside windows, and cleaning the disaster-area that he calls his workshop in the basement (this is a BIG project involving clean-up of sawdust, drywall dust, ten million paint cans, miscellaneous tools, nails, etc. etc.).
Among my projects: organizing closets, cupboards & drawers, planting a few more spring-flowering (colorful) annuals in the gardens, organizing the (non-workshop portion of) basement, washing all inside windows, washing/polishing all hard floors, and setting up an appt for carpet cleaning.
And after all this, after our house sells (hopefully quickly! think a good thought!), we still face the daunting task of packing and moving. The blessing here is that my grandmother’s house is open, so we’re able to move things over in bits & pieces. We moved a lot of storage stuff (from the basement) over there this weekend, to clear out space in our basement and make it appear less cluttered. I consider us to be relatively well organized (except for Mike’s scary workshop area) and we are definitely not packrats, and even so…the prospect of moving makes me realize just how much STUFF we have. Yikes. We’ll be having an estate sale at my grandmother’s house soon, and I am starting a pile of our own stuff that we’ll add to the mix, and hopefully make a little cash on. A lot of the items in this pile are wedding presents—convenience items that ultimately aren’t so convenient and just require storage (fondue sets, rice cooker, picnic sets, all manner of hors de oeuvres serving dishes, etc.). I mean, its all lovely, but I only need so many of these items (or none at all, in some cases).
A question for those of you out there who have sold a house, bought a house, have real estate experience, or just simply have opinions on this: when opening your home to potential buyers, what are the important “display techniques” I should know? For instance, I’ve heard that clutter is a big no-no (obviously). That you want a few pictures here & there to highlight that a nice-looking, decent family lives here, but not a lot of pictures to clutter walls and flat spaces. That a few books are nice, but don’t have the bookshelves packed to the max. That for resale, neutral paint & flooring is best, even if you really like purple walls (I don’t). Does anyone have helpful tips like this for me? This is our first go at selling a house, so help is appreciated. I know that HGTV (or something like that) has some sort of show or special that focuses on this topic, but we don’t have cable, so I’m in the dark. Any tips or advice you can offer would be much appreciated (and yes, I do read my TTM board and really appreciate the posts, and yes, someday I will actually respond—my apologies for my current level of disregard).
Yesterday Hana’s eye was kind of goopy, and got redder as the day wore on. This morning she woke up unable to open her right eye, and the deal was sealed: Pinkeye (aka conjunctivitis). YUCK. We have a doctor’s appointment at 3pm. I find myself hoping it is bacterial so that we can get some antibiotics and clear this up. My girlfriend Shannon came over on Friday with her two kids. I just learned that her son woke up on Saturday morning with the affliction, so he is the culprit…Ah, the joys (and bodily fluids) of children…
Melissa & Ella are in LA this week and I feel at a loss without them in town (boo), although with my little contagious toddler, we probably wouldn’t have seen each other much anyway. This evening we’re going to Uncle Trevor’s (Mike’s 17 year old brother) lacrosse match at the high school just down the street. This will be my first ever lacrosse match; I’m intrigued. Hana & I were scheduled to meet up with my high school friend Adria and her two boys tomorrow afternoon, but with Hana’s pinkeye, that will be likely be off. A bummer too, since they’re predicting temps into the 70s this week, and the park would be a treat. My parents leave for a month in Palm Springs on Friday, so we’ll be visiting them on Thursday afternoon. Friday evening is a BBQ at a friends’ house (some out-of-towners are in town) and Saturday is the annual Easter Egg Hunt at the community beach/pool club in our NEW neighborhood. That sums up the agenda for the week, with the addition of the many projects around the house.
One last thing—last week Heather (http://ailey.typepad.com/the_dailey/) was in town with her family, and I was lucky enough to go out for an evening with Heather & Melissa (http://melissa.typepad.com/). It was a wonderful, albeit too-short, evening out. We went to Tini Biggs, a martini joint that on any night of the week but Monday would probably be loud(er) and hopping, but this night was quiet and mellow; well suited to our purpose (catching up). I just love Heather, real live, in person Heather. I love the blogging/online Heather too, but she’s even better (is that possible?) in person. She’s warm, witty, wisecracking, subtle and very intelligent and thoughtful. And I know she’ll hate to read this, but I stand by my previous claim that she is quiet. Soft-spoken is probably more accurate, as she is fabulously opinionated, very well-read and very articulate…she just speaks quietly, softly. Which makes one listen even harder. And there is much to listen to. I highly recommend meeting Heather in the flesh to anyone who has the opportunity. We enjoyed a couple of Manhattans, a giant plateload of garlic fries (ok, so I actually ate most of them) , lots of entertaining discussion, and some gossip. A great evening, and I do hope Melissa & I can visit Heather in her new home, Eugene, sometime soon.
If you would like to see some relatively recent pictures of Hana, please post your email address and I will send you a link!
Jessica
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