When you have company do you clean the WHOLE house?
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5 years ago
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Rose Pekelnicky
5 years agosealavender
5 years agoRelated Discussions
What do you do when you have no 'vision' for a room?
Comments (15)Hi everyone Thanks so much for your thoughts so far - they are really helpful and have given me things to really think about. Here are some pictures of the space - the house belonged to my husbands parents so it has not been decorated in decades. You can see there is still paneling on the wall. Please excuse the boxes - my husband was using it as a den and has packed up his stuff to move to his new office (still being built). It is a nice size room, big window, lots of light. Flooring My husband is building the cabinetry which will be somewhat in a 'Shaker' / "Cape Cod' style similiar to picture. I was going to paint them an antique white with black hardware but open to suggestions. This is a draft copy of the units my husband is building for me which will be placed on the long walls facing eachother. Here is the picture again I mentioned. It is still a work in progress as I am restoring an old wood frame by painting it. I am not finished yet with this. This is a picture of the print on a pair of sheer curtains I was "thinking" of using but I am not sure if they are right for the space. I did think of a deep gold but I have BM Dijon in my hallway and thought it would be yellow overload. Your thoughts? Or a Rose, raspberry or orange shade??? Any color suggestions are appreciated. Thats it - wow lots of photos - sorry but you can see I am really starting from scratch and I am totally lost ! hehehe. THANKS SO MUCH! p.s hope pics are not too big Haley...See MoreOT - How much involvement do you have when selling your house?
Comments (39)You are getting lots of good advice especially from kellyeng, teacats and egbar. I had a fabulous realtor couple when selling my last home. We interviewed 3 full-time (don't go w/ a part-timer) experienced (at least 5yrs) real estate teams (2-3 people so you're covered ) who were good sellers in the area and who seemed to have good marketing skills. One team clearly was not up to par and we selected the best. They hired a pro photographer and paid for a stager to come in after we had things clean and decluttered and somewhat staged. I wrote, or tweeked, quite a bit of copy and made a sheet listing highlights of the property and recent improvements. That was well received by our realtor (who shared the goal of selling) and buyers. The realtor did a great job of marketing to other realtors and managing showings, feedback, offers, etc. We sold fairly quickly in a tough market. I have also sold 2 homes in more rural areas w/o a realtor but working with an experienced real estate attorney who provided me with appropriate forms for disclosure, offers, etc. Of course, I did all of the marketing. One was sold to a neighbors sister after we had an open house (not common in the area). They were not even looking to buy a house! I would expect your agent to do an open for agents and another general one shortly after listing even if it's not customary. I also made sure the house was presented well -- better than the norm. Clean, decluttered, and simple repairs and staging done. It sounds like that is what you have done and it should make your home sell quicker. But there is a time to say "enough" and get it on the market. It sounds like you are at that point. Good luck. Choose the best of the lot, don't sign a long listing so they will have to continue to earn your business, work with the agent on getting marketing set up then let them do their thing.. Mutual respect will go a long way to achieving the end you both want--a sold house....See MoreDo you run appliances when you're not in the house?
Comments (29)I live in Toronto, Canada. Unfortunately, we are one of the 10,000 residents selected to "test" the new "smart meter" - which means we are billed at different rates than the next door neighbours for using electricity at the same time of day or night. They have divided the 24 hours in the day into periods of low, medium and high energy use - and based the charges for those with smart meters on a sliding scale. So basically if I run my dishwasher and dryer from midnight to 7:00 a.m. I will be charged much less than say if I run it at noon. Yet our neighbours - with 6 people in the house - as opposed to the 2 of us plus dog - and no smart meter - can run their appliances at noon and be charged far less than we are. There is something wrong with this scenario. I have spoken with Hydro and the person I spoke with agreed, no way would he go to bed - or leave the house - with appliances such as these running. The ONLY good thing going for me at the moment is that I am on a fixed electricity rate for 5 years - which while sadly costs more per kw hour than the rate the NON smart meter people are using - I can run my appliances when I want and it will cost me less than adhering to the new rules imposed on me. But, when my term ends I don't know if I will be allowed to renew. The local firemen buy their firehouse food supplies where I shop and I asked for their opinions and they agree with me - and so did the dishwasher and dryer repairman who was here last week. What really scares me about the dryer is the lint/dust/hair you name it build-up in the drum. We needed new bearings and while I keep the lint trap and hose as clean as possible. I can't remove the drum since I can't re-balance it - the repair man confirmed that the average Joe can't do this - but he sure cleans his a lot at home. I cleaned it as fast as I could while he was working on fitting in parts - otherwise he would have had to stick in back in as is. When we are away I unplug everything I can - not the fridge though - but I think I will start turning off the washer hoses. Our insurance INSISTS that our outside water tap be turned off when we are away - too many instances of vandals breaking windows, tossing hoses inside and turning them on. Should this happen we would not be covered - not a risk I am about to take. When I call to tell them we will be away (a requirement) the first thing they say is to remember to turn off the outside hose - and forget timers. It is hard without family - and we don't have a trusted neighbour. But of course there are those who do have trusted neighbours, who unfortunately have "trusted" kids, with "trusted friends" and in the end a whole slew of people know your alarm code, things go missing, parties are held with underage teens etc. etc. I envy those with the true trusted neighbour! I missed the finale of Boston Legal because I wouldn't leave the VCR plugged in and set. Annoying....See MoreDo you "Rock It" when you clean?
Comments (33)I like to play music when I clean. If I'm in one of the rooms that don't have speakers, I will listen via headphones or a dock to my phone instead of turning the volume up so much. Generally it's 70's/80's music. Mostly pop/disco, but some rock like Bon Jovi, Poison or Def Leppard. I love jazz too and listen to it sometimes depending on how energetic I'm feeling while cleaning. I use my iTunes playlists....See MoreElizabeth
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