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palimpsest

Long X-post with dec...odd room out in unit.

palimpsest
14 years ago

I may be putting my 2 BR, 1 BA bilevel condo on the market in Feb/Mar., because there is another property I am interested in.

I have one problem room, but let me give you the context of the whole apartment.

1st floor: fully restored plaster ceiling and cornice, replicated historic woodwork, tiny kitchen with custom cabinets Subzero, and Miele DW. Stack washer and dryer. Fully restored sashes and new storm windows.

(The S-Z, Miele, and level of restoration are unique to the complex; perhaps 20% of the units have W/D; perhaps 5% have restored sashes and new storms)--It's over improvement if anything.

2nd floor: stairhall, small bedroom and bathroom have crown moulding that goes well with the plasterwork downstairs, and well-repaired plaster and/or drywall. Bathroom will be all-new. New storm windows and exterior restoration of the historic windows. Small bedroom has a wall of custom recessed paneling around the closet and room door.

The large bedroom was slated to have significant work done to it, so it has remained in "as bought" condition. No moulding, closet with 60s louvered doors, and a ceiling with several large but stable cracks. (Drywall was cut to fit 45 years ago around the sags, and nothings moved). There is a small hole exposing the intact but non-functional firebox in this bedroom.

The moulding in the other rooms was special order, relatively expensive, and reguired a certain amount of ceiling work to make it work. I had planned on membraning and skim-coating the large BR ceiling. The carpenter who is doing these small jobs on the side for me has unfinished bits and pieces started in June 09. He comes when his wife lets him out of the house (literally).

I am a point of zero-incremental return on investment. I will make money, not a return on anything I am spending now.

So the large bedroom is the odd man out. Would you paint it and leave it at that? I have patched the ceiling a lot but the junction between ceiling and wall undulates. Would you paint the ceiling to match the others in the apartment and the wall a different color? Would you paint the entire room the ceiling color?; would you paint the entire room the wall color? Would you leave the hole exposing the fireplace, so people can see the decorative potential?

How much of a negative would one bland room in an otherwise restored place be for you? This room will still look better than other units for sale, but it's out of place in this unit. We do have decent furniture and lots of accessories etc, so the room would have decent "window dressing"--but I don't look at those things when I house hunt. I feel like I would see through that to the inherent "undone-ness" of the room.

What would you do? What would you expect as a potential buyer?

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