In late March, Ryan's family came visited for a few weeks to help us do a few renos and updates to our home to make it more marketable. His mom and dad came down from Orange Beach, AL and his Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Tom drove down from Ohio. I want to post the before and after shots of the changes that were made because they really made a huge difference. The week after we posted our new photos on Realtor.com, we got seven showing requests in five days (that was a very busy week for Logan and I . . .).
Everyone worked together on the master bath (although Steve, my father-in-law was definitely the foreman). We laid tile, painted the cabinets and the tile on the tub, replaced the shower door and painted the walls. Aunt Syl helped me pick out some beautiful staging items from Home Goods and Target that have really helped highlight the brightness of the space.
MASTER BATH -- BEFORE
View from our bedroom-- no, there is no door separating our bathroom from our bedroom! (We do have a bedroom door :)) Our carpet was a very old and shabby berber (sp?) that pre-dated Ryan buying the house back in 2002. Carpet in the bathroom is never a good idea, trust us.
Our lovely early 90's pink mauve tile tub and the his and hers vanity to match. Also from the early 90's (or earlier?), we had gold brass fixtures and a gold brass shower door.
MASTER BATH -- AFTER
We painted the walls the same sagey/mossy green color as the bedroom walls. Steve and Tom also laid beautiful whitish gray tiles (12x24" rectangular). Also, we applied a beautiful acrylic tile paint to get rid of the mauve tub, and also painted the cabinets of the vanity. Aunt Syl suggested removing the shower door and replacing it with a clean, crisp linen shower curtain. We were trying to create a spa-like feel. My favorite part are the accessories she picked out, for around the tub and the big vase on the countertop, as well as the towels and the framed art. She is a really talented designer and she didn't mind working within an extremely tight budget.
Steve and Tom spent one entire day standing waist deep in lake water, replacing the wood boards on our dock. The wood had begun to rot in places, making it look warped and wavy. We had a very cold spring this year, and that day the high was in the low sixties. By the time they finally finished, the temperature was well below 40 degrees. There are also a lot of critters in our water! Brave work, great result.
We didn't really have the funds to completely upgrade the kitchen, so we settled with painting the walls a wonderful soft antique gray/linen color (I LOVE this color so much). Aunt Sylvia's decorator's eye saw that this color would de-emphasize the mauve marble tile which is all over the house. It worked beautifully. Steve also installed a butcher block countertop on our center island to warm the area a bit and to cover over the ugly white tile and stained grout that used to form the countertop.
A lot more work was done, including painting the entire living room, cleaning out the garage and painting the garage floor, touching up the exterior paint and a few other things like fixing electrical problems. No real offers yet but we are extremely grateful to the Husmanns and the Rodbergs for traveling such a long way to help us update our home. Even if we have to stay in this house for another few months or years, we can really enjoy it and take pride in our home now.
