Thanks for all the ideas. I put an ad on Craigslist for someone to carve a totem pole for me. chainsaw carving that somone mentioned. I also liked the tree face idea. I was going crazy thinking about these blue bottles I have and idea after idea came to mind. I then was working and saw a tree trunk that somone planted a garden in top. I did not like it...looked garish. so I scrapped the whole bottle tree idea for the tree (but not totally). I started searching the Internet frantically trying to find a good inspiration by searching chainsaw carvings and tree trunk carvings and I came up with this. I love love love it. finished product... I am trying to find someone to do this. What do you think would be a reasonable price??? I am going to paint her with Creosote and stain her hair black. put some gem rocks on her neckline and maybe do the area below her necline a color to resemble a dress. I am so excited!!!

Seil.... Yes, Lynnie is a great garden rose - thank you Kim - but, this experience taught me to listen to myself when I know I need to do something NOW to keep a rose healthy. I know the budeyes have to be exposed to the light to activate. That bit of knowledge often informs my pruning cuts. I knew I had to cut those leaves back, but every time I thought of it, I was in the midst of something else I needed to get done and my pruners/shears were not handy, so I would make a mental note to do it the next time I worked on that level of the garden. What I didn't know was how quickly the lack of light would impact the plant or how quickly it would recover. From now on, instead of a mental note to myself, I am going to stop what I am doing and take care of whatever may inhibit the plant from growing well. Lesson learned the hard way. Smiles, Lyn

Staging and adding color to curb appeal would go a long way. It looks like you got the decluttering thing down, but maybe a little too much--some rooms are a little too spartan and thus not very welcoming. My first impression after looking at the photos was: -The kitchen was updated, but the color and style clash with the table and there are no stools at the island. These things tell me that I will need to repaint either the kitchen or the rest of the house right off the bat to make them flow better. The table (while it would be going with you & not staying) gives the wrong feel to the otherwise modern kitchen & the green tablecloth has to go. The absence of stools at the island make me wonder if there is not enough room for the stools and the table in that space. The chandelier & light fixture don't look like they were updated (the pots hanging from the ceiling draw your eye upward so you definitely notice the lights)--check out the big box stores for some affordable, easy to install updates. Love the window treatments and that wonderfully large window! -Living & Dining rooms both feel very spartan and cold in the photos. Pulling the curtains back will help bring in more natural light and make it feel more welcoming & open. Is the dining room table centered in the room or pushed off center toward the window? It seems cramped at the window end which to me says the room is small and family dinners will be elbow to elbow. As mentioned above, too many different paint colors--the yellow doesn't do much for me & the white or pale blue in the living room is very cold. Framed prints on the walls and an area rug would go a long way to warming the rooms up. -Bedrooms need warming up too--more framed prints & an area rug needed. Slide the bed in the master over so its more centered in the room. The way it is now, it appears cramped. It looks like there is a tray ceiling in there too--an off center bed is negatively accentuated in this situation. The green curtains need to go and be replaced with neutral colored ones and again, pull them back to let in natural light to give an open welcoming feel. -Masterbath needs some warm welcoming touches too. Framed prints, some candles, strategically drape a folded towel along the edge of the tub, add a pretty container of bath salts to the tub corner, add a pretty window treatment to the window above the tub vs. the plastic mini-blinds. Warm, fuzzy, yet tasteful bath rugs will help too. The walls need some color. Make it feel like a spa environment-somewhere potential buyers would like to retreat to after a long day at work. Don't forget a handtowel on the towel ring! -Love the family room--maybe an area rug...that's it. -J&J bath--looks good. Add a framed print or two, a window treatment, fuzzy warm yet tasteful bath rug & hang the hand towel up. Choosing a nice neutral color of towel throughout all the baths would help too. Something in a fluffy white or beige to give that spa like feel would be good. -Laundry looks great--open the curtains. -Nursery looks great--maybe a framed print or two. -Exterior: Deck needs new coat of paint. The front looks a little tired. Adding some spots of color will help the curb appeal--a tall fat planter with colorful flowers on both corners of the porch, some colorful flowers planted in the beds, maybe a couple tall plants under the porch lights. another planter or two with plants and flowers on the back deck would help make it seem more welcoming too. It seems like you were working on updating the house and managed to get to the kitchen, family room, laundry, nursery & J&J bath. The rest appears to have not been updated since the house was built. While I love antiques, the furniture in the unupdated rooms with this scenario does not help. The obvious brass fixtures in the master bath scream 1980s and most if not all potential buyers are wondering how hard will it be to update them. You definitely have 3 vastly different styles going on in the house which can cause a major disconnect with potential buyers. If you were to repaint the kitchen, dining room, bedrooms, master bath & living room to more neutral colors (similar to family room & J&J bath) + update brass fixtures + add warming touches as outlined above to rooms for staging + exterior color and I think you could probably relist for the $290K in the spring and walk away with around $260-$250K. My BIL is a real estate agent and when we sold our house with him he even said not to tell him the absolute lowest price we were willing to take for the house. I can confidently say that repainted & staged well (including replacing a couple light fixtures, new comforter for DS's room, new bathroom stuff, quick exterior spruceup by adding color) when we sold our house. We listed the house $10K higher than the exact house down the street that sold a couple weeks earlier for a higher than average price for our neighborhood. We had an offer in 2 days and ended up with a bidding war between two potential buyers that ended on day 5 on the market. Trust me, potential buyers need to be able to see themselves living in your home and driving up to your home everyday--your staging makes all the difference. Good luck to you!

Thanks everyone, we are very appreciative of what the builder did for us as this could have been a major disaster. We are currently looking for a new house and excited to see what we can find. We think the builder might of had other request for houses in the neighborhood and with the lots full couldn't sell them one. Maybe they knew they could sell the house with the demand. I will be happy for them if they do sell the house and happy for the family that gets it as long as it meets their needs, also happy that we didn't end up with it.