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Buying a house - what did you change about the house?
So we're in one of those waiting periods for buying a house. We asked the sellers for a lot of work to be done (about 75% is little stuff and 25% is big - aka electrical upgrades). They don't do anything themselves since they are elderly, so they are waiting for quotes from electricians, plumbers, handymen, etc. They asked for an extension on the time to reply and we agreed, so now we have to wait until early next week to find out if they are going to do all the work we asked.
I'm not very good at waiting, so let me know what you did to your house when you first moved in. It will help me chat here instead of bombarding my DH with ideas on remodeling/painting/pinterest-decorating, etc.
What did you do right away (or even later) to your house to make it your home? Big and little changes are great to hear about.
Are you united with the CCOKCs?
Re: Buying a house - what did you change about the house?
We specifically avoided houses we would need to dump a lot of money into post-closing.
After we moved in we sat down and made a list of things we knew we would need to or want to do and prioritized them.
They included: leveling the back yard (it sloped and wasn't functional as a play area for the kids), window coverings for all occupied bed rooms, sand and repolly the hard woods (which we still haven't done 7 years later because we have small kids so there's no point yet), replace the carpet (again.. still not done 7 years later because we're waiting until the kids are just a few years older).
Now that we're 7 years in we've replaced: furnace, hot water heater, A/C, dishwasher, disposal, microwave.
In retrospect I wish we'd spent (read: financed) more up front for a newer home because the cash we continue to put into our house seems endless....
Total score: 6 pregnancies, 5 losses, 2 amazing blessings that I'm thankful for every single day.
They gave us cash to get some safety stuff from the inspection done, so we had a new breaker box put in and the radon mitigated.
We bought a new washer dryer because they took theirs.
THEN, we painted the whole first floor and stairs down to the basement (there were some truly hideous stencils). We pulled down the most hideous of the curtains (the slightly less hideous ones are still up 5 years later, lol)
The next year we gutted the kitchen and completely redid it.
We replaced the hot water heater when it started leaking a couple years in.
We bought a foreclosure, so the only thing the bank would fix was a window in the basement, and that's because it was required for an FHA loan.
We:
- painted the entire interior
- removed god-awful papier mache wallpaper
- tore down a divider wall (cosmetic only) to make a space big enough for a tv in the family room
- replaced all carpet, took out yucky laminate in family room and replaced with carpet
- repaired stove since the previous owners cut the cording
- repaired garage door opener
- removed a TON of dead plants & bushes (and some ugly one)
- stained back deck
- replaced missing copper from sprinkler system
I think that's it. If we stay here, eventually we want to replaces the hideous granite tile counters in the kitchen and take down the ugly backsplash. We'd also like to do something with the laminates that remain - tile, maybe. And the outside needs to be painted, but I'm hoping we can eek out another year.
ETA: I forgot a few things. We also:
- replaced every door handle & hinge (went from brass to oil rubbed bronze)
- Replaced kitchen faucet & powder room faucet
- replaced one toilet and the inner workings of the other two
- new shower curtain rail in guest bath
- new locks on all outside doors
No more baby siggie pics. Boo.
We also specifically looked for a house that needed almost no work. I'm not good with decisions or having to to hire contractors, so I knew I'd rather spend more money on the front end and avoid the anxiety of having to remodel or do any big projects after we moved in.
So the only thing we did immediately after moving in was to paint the two bedrooms. All the other colors in our house already matched our decor, which is why I think we were both drawn to our house in the first place. Otherwise, it was move-in ready.
Now that we've been here almost seven years, we've now replaced some older windows, refinished the hardwood floors, gotten new carpet in our family room, and just this summer we added a second bathroom and partially remodeled our basement.
Married July 21, 2007
In our last house, we pretty much moved in and did nothing to it for about a year - no window coverings, no changes, no upgrades, no plants changed outside. I think we were pretty lucky to find a move-in ready place.
After that we did the usual maintenance stuff - painted the bathroom twice, replaced fences, repaired furnace, replaced the skylight, replaced the water heater (twice - one failed, one was recalled), repainted the entire house, did some tuck-pointing, got it ready to sell and then moved out and rented instead. We also remodeled the bathroom (only full bathroom) after about 3 years at the house and did all the work ourselves, which was good b/c it saved money, and bad b/c we had to shower outside. We also did mini-kitchen updates with paint, new backsplash, and new hardware/faucet.
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In our soon-to-be house, my list for right after we move in is super long...
We also have plans to do more to the house with remodels and such (egress basement windows, kitchen remodel, open up main living area more, add master bath, remodel main bathroom, etc.), but that will be another year or MANY out when we can afford it.
Are you united with the CCOKCs?
Our list on the day we moved in is drastically different than now, at least as far as priorities. When we first moved in however, we: r
eplaced the carpet upstairs (wish we would have done it thorughout, but we were thinking that one of our intitial top priorities of expanding the hard floors into the living room on the main level was going to happen sooner, and it hasn't, and also isn't high on our list anymore.)
We painted all of the bedrooms and replaced the doors (DH was set on panel doors, instead of the flat ones original to the 1979 house), I highly recommend painting with old carpet and no furniture, as we ended up painting a beige ceiling white, and wouldn't have been able to do that easily with furniture or new carpet. The doors on the other hand were a pain, and we didn't do a very good job.
We ripped out a weird shaped wood deck and then the yard sat trashed for another year before we resodded and put in a new irrigation system to replace the crappy older one. We also did some small areas around the yard. I would like to do more, but those projects in our heads are expensive, and so we're putting them off, though we would love to have a better yard overall.
ETA: Because of hail, we got the roof replaced and had the exterior repainted. We got lucky, because the roof was on it's last legs when we bought it, now we're set for a long time!
There are a ton of cosmetic and major renovations we have in mind, but with my impending maternity leave, our budget is stalled out again this year.
my read shelf:
You already know this but we really just did some painting and had new carpet put in one room which was negotiated into the sale.
I REALLY want to redo our downstairs bath which I wanted before we moved in but there just wasn't time. I also want to paint and put in a new vanity in the master bath. I actually have grand plans to paint nearly every other space in our house as well as the trim...eventually. Those are all aesthetics and nothing that requires immediate attention. Someday I would love to add a full master suite above the garage but I feel like that is when the kids are off at college or much older.
Honestly, we want to travel more with the kids in coming years and overall as long as my home is comfortable, safe and allows for entertaining, it just isn't something I see us putting a ton of money into, no matter how much I wish it looked like a place in Architectural Digest!
We bought our current house a little over a year ago, and with an 8-month-old I wanted to avoid doing remodeling while we were living in the house. We gutted and remodeled the kitchen (floors, cabinets, counters, appliances, fixtures, paint) and we pulled up the carpet in the bedrooms and had the wood floors underneath refinished (they were in bad shape). I knew that we would never do the floors once we moved in, I am so glad we did it before. We bought a cheaper house with an older kitchen so we had room in our budget to do it right away.
Other projects on my to-do list:
- Remodel two bathrooms (this will probably be after both kids are potty trained because one is on a different floor from the bedrooms)
- Pour concrete on one side of the house where it slopes towards the foundation (probably in the next year or two)
- Build in storage in the basement family room
I'm sure there is more...
Well, we bought a house knowing that we'd have to adapt it to our desires so we are not the norm by any means
Our requirements:
The lot needed to be above certain sq footage. I believe 25000 sq feet + to be able to add an additional shop/garage. It also needed proper access along the side of the house to access. We also wanted AC, newer windows, hardwood flooring and at least 2500 sq feet. The rest was whatever.
Sine we moved in at the peak of the market in 2005 and didn't get a deal or any concessions, we have added a detached 1200 sq foot shop in our backyard along with burying the electricity between the rear and the house. We have gutted and remodeled 90% of our basement approx 900 sq feet which includes a master suite, media room/office, laundry & storage. Re-landscaped the entire lot and added a sprinkler system. New Roof in 2007 (somewhat of a surprise). Changed out the bay window in the LR for a traditional normal window. New water heater. Removed the wall between the DR & LR. Added hardwood flooring to existing and refinished all of it. Remodeled main bathroom. With these renovations, we have updated the electrical, since we had no ground previously, and plumbing to PEX. The only big project left is our kitchen remodel and expansion into our sun room. After that, I'm sure we'll tweak all of the previously completed projects and work on the curb appeal. I would love to add a front porch and get new garage and exterior doors. Really, it's never ending for us. We plan on being in our very modest home forever. That is, unless we win the lotto
DD -- 5YO
DS -- 3YO
Since our house was (is) new construction, there wasn't anything we needed to do. DH has a list a mile long of things he "wants" to do.
The big thing we did get was a fence for the dogs. It's the first time I've ever been able to just let them outside without having to go out with them on a leash. LOVE it.
I think we've been here 4 years (you'd think I'd remember something like that, but I don't). We bought a short sale, so we bought it "as is," meaning they wouldn't fix anything. Fortunately, not much came up at inspection so there wasn't anything that needed to be done right away.
We have had a few issues come up. The first was the roof. On windy days, shingles would blow off left and right. It got really bad after a big hail storm. Fortunately, insurance covered this.
More recently, the main floor bathroom started leaking water into the basement. Fortunately, DH had some sort of sensor in the basement to detect water, and it beeped and let us know right away. It was a fairly easy fix by a plumber. The over-the-range microwave also broke, so we replaced that.
We really haven't done much inside. I painted the main level bathroom and upstairs I painted the guest room, office, guest bath, and master bedroom, closet, and bathroom. Then I re-painted the master bedroom, closet, and bathroom because I hated the paint I chose. We've bought some furniture too but not a lot.
I do have plans for the future though, if we can ever afford it. In the kitchen I want granite, new flooring, and new lighting. There are some other light fixtures I'd like to replace too. All bathrooms could use some nice tile instead of vinyl. It would be nice to be able to finish the basement someday.
Neither DH nor I want to spend our free time on home remodeling, and we're anxious to avoid a house that becomes a money pit. Our priority when real-estate shopping is to find something that's in good shape and basically fits our style. Our current house was only 1 year old at purchase. After closing, there were some handyman quick fixes and re-carpeting that needed to be done (the carpet was ugly). Otherwise, the decor was very neutral, which made it easier to personalize the place slowly.
Over ten years, we've made professional and do-it-yourself changes to the yard (extensive perennial plantings, a couple of evergreen trees, a flagstone walkway, etc). The exterior has been repainted once, and we repainted the interior to replace "builder white" with more updated and fun colors. We have also gradually gotten kitchen appliances, added slab granite counters in the kitchen, changed some bathroom hardware, and replaced the driveway.
If we stay here another 5 years, we'll finish/furnish the basement, replace the deck (and possibly add French doors), fence the yard and re-landscape the area around the new deck, put a granite counter top in the powder room, update some bathroom light fixtures, get a stainless-steel stove to match the other appliances, and replace the carpets again. Staying any longer than 5 years would mean we'd have to refinish the hardwood floors (I dread this!). Whether we move this summer or stay longer, we plan to repaint the exterior and touch up the interior paint. There are other things I'd like to do if we stay (e.g. add plantation shutters or some other kind of nicer window treatments), but these would be a lower priority.
Before we moved in we switched the bedroom lights for ceiling fans in the 3 main floor bedrooms, painted the master bedroom, living room, and dining room.
We have been here 2 and half years and we have also stained and put in a new front door, painted G's room, put new toilets in all 3 bathrooms, painted the main floor bath, painted the kitcehn, installed trim in the kitchen and main floor bathroom, rebuilt our front fence, took down these horrible metal window awnings, took out a bunch of bushes and small trees from the back yard, installed a new stair case spindle/enclosure, took out/put in new sprinkler lines in the front yard and pieces of the back, and got a new fridge.
We have plans to finish the remodel in all 3 baths (put in new sinks, paint 1, switch out old stand up shower, maybe backsplash in main floor, and tile floors,) tile the kitchen and dining room, rip up our carpet and redo the wood floors, re-paint all 3 main floor bedrooms, change some lighting fixtures master bath, add another driveway, paint and carpet the basement, paint the exterior, and a new stove and dishwasher.
Our plan was to have it all done in 6 years after moving in. We still have so much left to do and sometimes I do wish we spent more money for a newer house but I also really love our neighborhood and we got a smoking deal on our house because it isn't updated. Everything is comfortable and works for now so at this point we really hope to have half of it done in another 2 years.
Thanks for sharing everyone. It's crazy how a lot of us picked the "best" new-to-us house and still want to change things and some people built new houses and still have wish lists.
We're still in the waiting part of post-inspection to see what the sellers will fix, so I'm still writing long lists of to-dos and pinning crazy ideas of major changes.
Are you united with the CCOKCs?