March 13, 2009

Before and After

So I've said on here a number of times that we've been repainting our house. "Staging" is the big thing these days when one is selling a property. The house had a lot of color, and since it's been on the market for awhile our realtors felt like it was time to neutralize in hopes that it might draw some interest. Well, it has been quite a project... about 3000 sq feet of the house has been repainted since mid-January. We used up about 25 gallons of paint if that gives you any indication of what we've done! We hired a painter to do the paneling because of the oil based primer and ended up having to fire him, because he was making a mess with it. So he did get the primer done, but Robert took some time off and my dad came down to finish it ourselves. There were 16 doors and windows, so it was no small task... the exact reason we hadn't done it yet!





Dining Room




Living Room




Master Bedroom




Kids' Bedroom




Now for the paneling... the major transformation!

Stairway in entry




Upstairs hall... this is one of the most distinctively different areas because the lighting isn't great in this spot.




Den (play room/computer/school room) I've wanted to paint those bookshelves white for a long time! Not to mention they needed some de-cluttering.







I was sad to take my time line down. I haven't put it back up, but if I do it will be in a different spot. Probably on the wall to the left of where I'm standing (to take this shot) because it won't be visually cluttering there. Actually, I'll probably do that this week as we're learning about the Civil War and I really need to get that on the time line so Jacob has some perspective.

This is the short little hallway with our downstairs bedrooms and bathroom. I walk through this several times a day and think I'm in someone else's house because it's so fresh and bright now!




All in all, we love the paneling painted. It's fresh, bright and updated. I miss some color, though I have learned that one can have boring walls and add color with lampshades, throws, curtains and pillows. And Robert confessed he liked the neutral rooms. (He's always told me to paint however I wanted because I was the one home all the time. :) ) So whenever we end up in a new house, I guess we'll go neutral. Hopefully not all together, though.

Staging complete!!! Now someone just pleeeeeeeaze come buy our house!

8 comments:

rainydaymichele said...

Very nice, Melissa. Hope you get your buyer soon. :)

Molly said...

It looks great! Especially the painted paneling. I think that'll make the big difference for buyers!

April said...

Wow, amazing work!! Good luck on having a buyer soon. We are also in the process of selling our house and hoping the market picks up.

Anonymous said...

Love it. We have paneling in our great room and I'm ITCHING to do something (anything) with it. Do you have a website or anything that told you how? Was it worth it? I'm so sick of brown.

Karen in TN from FIAR board

Lora said...

The transformation is beautiful Melissa! Are you sure you want to move? Seriously, I didn't know you had your home on the market.

I like color too; but I agree with your agent, I think the neutral colors will help the buyers.

Anonymous said...

Great job! I love the painted panelling. I hope you are able to sell soon!

Valerie said...

The painted paneling looks sooooo good. I miss your colored walls! Praying for a buyer!

Unknown said...

Wow that looks great! We painted all our paneling at our last house and it looked soooo much better!