13 Ways to Get That New House Feeling
After a long weekend of prepping our house for an appraisal (hello, refinance!) one of my neighbors, best friends, and clients asked what to do as her house hits its ten year birthday. Besides cleaning like demons and putting some toys into the witness protection program Stephanie and I have been making real improvements. So here is a list for her and for you!
Back doors after 3 years of weather! 
After a fresh coat of stain!
- Walk around the outside of the house. Sometimes we just walk to our car or mailbox and we never see the obvious stuff in plain view. While you’re walking power-wash the foundation, porches, walkways, and fence. Hire a professional if you’ve never done it before.
- Stain the fence and any previously stained wood like your front door. Hire a pro if you don’t feel comfortable taking it on.
- Paint the interior and exterior. So often people are ready to move when their paint feels worn. Painting is expensive but less expensive than selling and buying. It really will make your house feel and look new again. Plus, moving all your furniture will help you declutter and clean.
- Clean up all the edges on your yard and add fresh mulch to your beds. Then trim up all your trees and bushes. This will take a day but have you read about curb appeal?
- Steam all the grout and/or re-grout kitchen and bath tile. Carpet cleaning companies can steam clean. While they’re there have them clean any carpets.
- Have your gutters cleaned out and make sure all your downspouts flow well (use a hose to test). I should have taken a picture of the handful of tiny sticks I threw out of a clogged downspout last week. Make sure they extend 6-10 feet away from your foundation. More about downspouts: Nashville’s Rainy Season.
- Get your heating and air serviced. While it’s getting serviced go into your crawl space. Crawl if you have to but look around and sniff the air. You want it to be dry, airy, and sealed from animals. While you’re waiting for the hvac technicians to finish make sure all your crawl space vents are open if it’s not winter and closed if it’s winter.
- Get someone to trim away any tree branches hanging over your roof, that are growing low to the ground (make your trees look like lollipops) or that look diseased.
- Take the accumulated stuff off every countertop, desktop, and dresser and burn it. No, pile it in the middle of your bed or kitchen island and don’t go to sleep until it’s put away or thrown out. Where’s my coffee?
- Look at the floor in every room and hallway. Remove anything that’s unnecessary. Create larger open spaces; center or align furniture; widen sight lines. Your home will feel larger right away.
- Look up. Replace any missing light bulbs. Clean bathroom fans and vent hoods. Wash windows.
- Get the house deep-cleaned. Look for a housecleaner who does clean outs for rental properties and have them attack your house.
- Arrange your outside space into hang-out space. We rarely sit down and relax so it hit us recently that we don’t have front porch seating. Then I felt really smart for realizing porch furniture is a thing. Anyway, if you can make an outside space feel more like a room with seating, tables, rugs, etc., then you’ve just made your house another room worth of fun.
Guess what, once you’ve done all this your house is now ready to sell. But don’t sell it. Go enjoy that new porch furniture and clean countertop life!
Message me if you’d like a personalized walk through of your house to get that new house and/or ready to sell look going. Who do you know who will be the next person in your life who needs to sell or buy? I would love an introduction!