Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The Hardest Part


Most of you know that we have been getting our house ready to sell for the last 12 months. If you didn't know that and want to see what projects we accomplished in  that time, you can read about it here.

 We have lived in our house for 10 years, but we are ready to have a smaller home. 1 or 2 floors instead of 3 is just fine for me. As I've said before, our girls go to school, have jobs and most of the time I am here by myself or with Mr. Fanatic ---  : ) this part is good  --- and we really don't need a big house anymore, and more importantly, we don't want to spend as much time taking care of a big house.

Anyway, back to my original reason for the post. The hardest part about prepping the house for sale has been taking all of our personal photos down. We have far too many to leave them up until we get a call that someone would like to see the house. Everyone says that personal photos have to be taken down so the potential buyers can see themselves living there. We have taken almost all down, but kept a few that can be taken down at the  last minute... I kept our oldest daughter's graduation photo and our youngest daughter's homecoming photo with her dad. Oh, and an antique photo of my aunt which is in a beautiful antique frame and one of my favorite cat. That's it. I will take down all of these except for the antique one when there is a showing.

I wanted to show you all the places (well, most of them)  that we have photos & how bare it looks now without them (at least for me)
Living Room
The bookcase looks ok. I think I'm going to steal use Kim over at Savvy Southern Style's idea of putting a burlap back in the bookcases. Hers looks great. You can see it by clicking here.















Foyer
I've got nothin' for table :(













Family Room Sofa Table













 Kitchen- I'm going to miss these cute photos  A LOT! The plant looks ok, but I really miss the photos.





The Upstairs Hallway had the most photos of all. The yearly photos of the family and our girls. I have nothing to put on the shelves. I thought about taking them down, but there would be big holes in the wall and it would have to be painted. Any suggestions/opinions?













Master Bedroom Nightstand
The ornate frame is empty. I might put a drawing in it.


The Master Bedroom Dresser
 I found the silver box at HomeGoods yesterday and thought it would look good on my empty dresser.
I really miss my photos, but know it had to be done. Not sure if I could live without them indefinitely, though. The wall of family photos was a lot to be displayed, so putting them in an album is going to be a future project. How about you? Do you have a lot of photos in your house & would you have a difficult time taking them down. If you have sold a house, did you take your photos down & how did you feel?

Hope to hear from you... Have a great day!


Pam


17 comments:

  1. Hey Pam! Yeah, I see your dilemma. Everything still looks beautiful even without the pix. For your foyer I would stack some black/white prints in black frames of varying heights on those shelves and maybe add in some small accessories, like candles or some orbs. Just a suggestion. Good luck! And I can't wait to downsize - it's my dream to one day live in a rancher with low maintenance!
    xoxo,
    Kim

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  2. Pam, how sweet to link back to my post. Thanks. I am glad you can use that idea. It was really simple to do. I don't know why realestate agents want all the personal stuff out. I think it makes a home homey. I know they are supposed to be able to picture their stuff in there, but hey they can imagine that regardless if your personal stuff is out or not. My sister had to box up a lot of stuff, too when their house was on the market and then they did not sell and she pulled a lot of it back out. All your stuff looks great either way except for the blanks shelves in the hall. I don't see anything wrong with photos being on those.

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  3. What you have done looks great, but I know you miss them. I would still have just a few family photos on the hall shelves..very little mixed with maybe a few prints or greenery or something. That way the family can see what they will use this for too! That is the most annoying thing to have to remove family photos. I personally think it's a crock! Like who really can't see themselves in a house because of another families pictures? Really!

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  4. I wouldn't worry too much about the personal photos either. I would keep them to a minimum, but I would not put that high on the priority list of preparation. The best is to have a home with basic colors, very little clutter and a homey atmosphere. Most people don't want to move into a home knowing they have to repaint. They have enough to do with just a move. That's unless they want some very different color.. and even then they can live with you basic color until there is time to paint.
    How nice to be able to downsize. We have a two-story home, our bedroom downstairs and designed to close off the upstairs unless we have company. Where we messed up was not building an office in our plan (never thought my husband would work from home) and never counted on a son coming home to live temporarily. Oh well...
    Good luck!!
    Karen
    Ladybug Creek

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  5. I think the shelves in the hall could still have a few photos, just not so many. Maybe choose just your very most favorites and display those. I use plants (faux) to fill in blank spots anywhere. They always look good and also give the house a welcoming feeling. Good luck on selling your house. Hugs, Marty

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  6. I think everything looks great! I have lots of family pictures out. We did sell a house & I didn't take down any of my pictures & the house sold in 2 weeks! When we were looking at houses I loved seeing the family pictures. It made me think about how happy a family had been there.

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  7. Thanks for all the feedback ladies!
    I love seeing family photos in a house like you Traci - & for the same reason. I am still on the fence as to whether to buy some inexpensive frames and put something in them or taking the shelves off of the wall & patching & painting. They are upstairs, so they really aren't in a critical area. Both involve some work, but I am also still in the mode of getting rid of things, so adding more frames goes against my downsizing goal.

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  8. That was sad to me too when we had to take all the pictures down. Just didn't seem like my home to me. You could put a few frames up or even line the top and bottom row with tea lights or something. I hope it sells soon! I hated the cleaning and never leaving the house without all beds made, blah, blah, blah!!! It will be over soon and you will be exactly where you need to be!

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  9. Awww...POam it kinda is sad you know, even though I don't know your home...or you....I feel like I do in a way....all the memories and such. I guess I say this because recently when we went back to Florida, Jack my youngest, said how much he missed our home...well it was where he was born, and I guess he feels the history there....everything looks awesome though...I can't wait to see your project. Thanks for joining in on the party. Debbie

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  10. We have our house on the market, too. I gathered a bunch of our framed pics and filled a basket with them. I like having the basket out, and the pics are close by. It's a nice compromise between too much clutter and too much starkness! Linda

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  11. Pam: As you know, our house is on the market also. Well, we don't have that many family pictures around...I just never got around to buying frames, in general, and I really try to keep everything to a minimum anyway! Our realtor never even mentioned the ones we do have!
    But.. that said, I do think some pictures are wonderful! Why don't you leave one or two on each shelf up in the hallway? Also, you could try a collection of shells there too. And/or candles.
    I can't imagine you're going to have a hard time selling such a great house; it does pay off when you keep everything in good shape, right??

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  12. Your hard work shows through. I think a great selling idea is to 'prepare' the home for the sale, and you two have made it look fabulous.

    For your convenience, Here Is My Show and Tell Bargain Link. Hope to see you visit with me.

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  13. Very pretty…I am hosting a CSN Giveaway on my blog. I would love for you to stop by.

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  14. I certainly can feel your pain getting your house ready to sell!! We are in the process of de junking, de cluttering and getting it staged for sell as well!! It will probably take a year or so for ours to sell the market is so bad here!!
    Good luck on your sell!! Your house is gorgeous!!

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  15. It's so hard to prepare your house for a sale. I've been through it and my mom is currently going through it right now. You've done a fabulous job! Your home looks lovely! In your hallway where you have all those shelves, I would just add some other decorative pictures (instead of family photos) and other small accessories. That would be a much simpler solution than taking down the shelves and repairing all the holes. ;o)
    I wish you all the luck with your home selling and buying!
    Have a wonderful weekend!
    ~ Jo :)

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  16. Wow, your pictures are just beautiful!
    Thank you for sharing!
    Have a good evening!
    Leticia

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  17. Definitely keep the personal photos to a minimum. My parents just bought an apartment for me in Boston, and while I was looking with my realtor I saw many where people still had their personal pictures out. There's nothing wrong with it, but I personally found it rather distracting. I found myself to be looking at their pictures (because I love to look at photos! haha) and looking at the actual apartment less. I think the four you said you left out are completely fine.

    As far as the open shelves go, I would suggest putting artistic photos there. Florals and nature images are always a safe bet. Maybe you can find some cheap black frames and just print pictures from online or something to fill up the space. What I would do: buy inexpensive black frames and print black&white nature-esque photos to put in them. I think that'd look great in that spot, and it wouldn't distract potential home buyers! Hope that helps :)

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