Friday, September 17, 2010

On the Market

It's official! Our house is for sale! Tal and I might be a little crazy to sell our house in the down housing market. At the same time, however, with the low interest rates and discounted housing prices, it's a great opportunity for us to buy a bigger house in a neighborhood that would have been out of our price range a few years ago. We hope someone falls in love with our house soon!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Curb Appeal

Last week, Tal and I had the exterior of our house repainted. It was simpler and cheaper to stick with yellow and green hues. With the new paint job, however, the siding is a darker shade, which makes our house appear more yellow than cream. Also, now the shutters are greenish-black, whereas before they were forest green.

After our house was painted and the new gutters were installed, Tal spent the weekend increasing our curb appeal. He added mulch and pruned the bushes, as well as planted mums and two shrubs.

Tal and I hope potential buyers will view our house exterior as fresh, inviting, and well-maintained!



Before


After



Backyard

Staged to Sell

On September 3, our realtor arranged for a professional stager to come to our house. She gave us tips on how to declutter, create more space, and appeal to more buyers--all in a effort to sell our house faster and at a higher price!

Tal and I spent the last two weekends implementing the stager's recommendations:

1. Tal and I rearranged the living room. We put the entry table behind the sofa to add more lighting and to float the couch away from the wall. We removed the area rug to showcase our hardwood floors to potential buyers. We pushed the storage ottomans together to create a coffee table. We also added new pillows and accessories.



2. Tal and I moved the rocking chair from Savannah's room to the living room. The stager said this would unify the dark furniture in our living room. (I miss rocking Savannah in her bedroom at bedtime and during the night. We're still adjusting to rocking in the living room.)


3. In our master bedroom, the stager commented that Tal and I have large furniture (and a lot of it!). For that reason, Tal and I removed the linen cabinet and donated it to Goodwill. We also moved our dresser and bed to create more walking space. Surprisingly, our room seems more spacious!



4. Much to our dismay, the stager said we had to paint our master bathroom. Apparently, the light green color won't appeal to everyone. Thankfully, we had some leftover fireplace paint, which Tal used to repaint the bathroom.


5. We rearranged the office/guest room, so that you see a nicely made bed instead of computer wires when you enter the room. The new arrangement makes a better first impression and defines the room as a bedroom instead of a crowded office/guest room. We also removed a tall bookcase and donated it to Goodwill.



6. Our walls seemed bare after we removed our family photos and college degrees. For that reason, the stager suggested that we add some generic wall art in the entry way and dining room. Admittedly, some of the art doesn't fit our personal taste, but it was hard to find inexpensive wall art that we liked. :-)


Entry

Entry

7. I used baskets to organize our laundry room.

19 Months Old!

I am 19 months old!

I love eating anything with ketchup or ranch dressing.

I can hold onto the railing and climb the stairs.


I weigh 25 lbs.
I'm in the 50th percentile for my weight.

I am 31.5 inches tall.
I've grown 1.5 inches in the last 6 months.
I'm in the 50th percentile for my height.


I can hold a sippy cup without handles.

I am learning how to feed myself with a spoon.

I can say about 25 words.
Over the last few weeks, I've started saying these words clearly:
duck
beep
eye
hot
on
off
book
Eat! Eat!
boo boo
moo
roar
paci



Monday, September 6, 2010

Flower Child






Savannah's 18-months photos were taken by Patricia Alder.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010