Can I hire you to stage my listings? You home looks fantastic! I have to agree with the above posters about the TV. I don't know if you have another Tv or a bonus room to put it in but it takes away from a otherwise flawless room. Your room will look bigger and space=$ The kitchen: Could you move the pretty rug for the MLS pics and showings? Little rugs while absolutely necessary for function show up as cluttery in pics. Again, I have to agree about the garbage can. If you don't have the undercabinet room for a small one, Consider buying a pretty metal one. Better there be a pretty one than just a totally functional one. My only other suggestion is putting some flowers in a vase for your dining table or something more substantial. That for the most part is just tweaking, it's great as is. I hope you don't mind your pics being my shining example when my sellers ask what I mean by uncluttered. Buyers are being a little fussy now. (I'm being polite-they are asking for the sun, moon and stars-and I'm in a GREAT market) I don't know alot about the Indy market but as long as your home is priced correctly, pretty (it is), you offer some $ towards closing the norm in my market is 3-3.5 of the listing price (that might be totally false in yours), offer the home warranty and it WILL sell. Spring is coming and in my area I am very optimistic for things to pick up. I think you did a WONDERFUL job and I'm serious about making you my shining example with your permission of course.

Kevin- Speaking of rugs....have you heard the latest TV commercials for The Dump? Yesterday (4/10) while preparing dinner the commercial announced that "The Dump is going out of the Oriental rug business." Prices will be up to 85% off this weekend only. I checked their web site, clicked on the Langhorne store and the same AD ran. I don't know if this is akin to the all the Oriental rug stores that are forever going out of business but I thought I'd pass it along in case you were still looking for rugs.

Actually there isn't a board in the country that can tell you what you do with the inside of your house. Although it has been successfully argued on the supreme court level that the outside of the house exists in the public realm and therefore local governments can make rules about what you do to it, I highly doubt it will ever be considered constitutional to legislate interiors. The landmarking of interiors even in public buildings is very very rare and fairly difficult to do. As far as whether boards are arbitrary or not, one thing they are not allowed to be (if they expect their decisions to stand up to lawsuit) is arbitrary. The architectural review standards of any community need to be spelled out, even if the guidelines are vague and provide wide latitude to the board members. This is far from arbitrary even though they may differ from one community to the next. Yes, I sit on such a board and yes, we have rules and standards and yes, I am currently involved in writing new ones (and I have worked with/observed boards from many other communities, both large and small). As far as what is considered "remuddling" and what is not, that is, of course, subjective. In true preservation, you must first define the "era of significance" of the house. This is generally when the house was first built, but if a significant event took place there or a significant person lived there, it can be a later date. Generally the only time you actually take a house in full back to a previous era is if the home is/will become museums. I can't think of anyone I know, even in the preservation community, who would not want the modern conveniences of things like indoor plumbing and electricity in their house and a kitchen with modern, functioning appliances even if these things predate their homes. I have friends who have a really neat kitchen, with an old monitor top refridgerator and an old chambers stove (before they were made popular by rachel ray) but their house was built in 1840 so these "modern conveniences" still differ from when their house was built by 80 years. A good rule of thumb is to identify the "character defining features" of any old house... ie what makes this house special. Those are the things one should work to preserve. Original windows (that often come in configurations, have thin muntins and wavy glass), original doors, original trimwork, porches, etc are the sorts of things that make old houses different from new ones. Remuddling, for most rational people, involves stripping the essential character from the house. It could be argued that a kitchen should be in keeping with the age of the house but personally I'd be much less concerned about a ca1960 kitchen being torn out and replaced with a ca2007 kitchen, even if it's styled in a modern way than say taking down the original victorian bullseye mouldings and replacing it with craftsman style mouldings because that's what you prefer. In the kitchen example you're not destroying anything worth saving, in the trimwork example you should just buy a craftsman house if that's the look you desire. Of course remuddling is also a word used by those who feel they "know better" to beat people over the head for not doing things their way. I'm a firm believer, even though I have a background in historic preservation, that the best way to preserve a house is for someone to love it and use it and the best way for that to happen is to allow them to put their own mark on it. If people haven't been doing that throughout the ages then there would be significantly fewer interesting things about old houses IMO. Poorly done changes to homes are detrimental to the home regardless of the age. All that said, I do believe "new house" people and "old house" people are just two different breeds and disasterous things can happen when they mix. I lived in a new house and HATED it, couldn't wait to get out of there. Of course some people build new, beautiful homes that successfully copy historic styles... but if you want to turn an old house into a new one, look for one that has already been stripped of its character defining features so you can imprint your own character on it. Yes, by having an old house BE an old house you are limiting your potential buyers but at the same time realize that there is also a limited number of old houses in great condition too whereas newer houses with less character are FAR more common. I do think that the supply and demand are in relative balance for that segment of the market.

Hi, thanks everyone for your input and encouragement. I was concerned about the photos and listing description, and did get several comments that the photos don't do it justice. We had 9 showings in 2 1/2 weeks, and 3 offers. (but no horse people!) We're under contract at 98% of list, and we don't pay THEIR closing costs. But they asked for and we impulsively agreed to throwing in the farm tractor and implements (that's ok) and my lawn tractor and wagon :-( I'll actually miss those . .. Closing is October 7th, which we should have negotiated. Seller is in no hurry to move out of current home, just eager to take possession. But I'm a first time home seller, and forgot to take into account I'll be doing 90% of the packing etc since he works out of town. I'll know if there is a next time! Now for the inspection, which I will address in a new thread. thank you!