designed to sell

i watch a ridiculous number of home improvement shows.

i enjoy DIY shows like "weekend warriors", where homeowners tackle demolition and construction projects themselves. it was this show (along with the confidence of friends and family) that convinced me i could renovate my bathroom myself.

i also really like decorating shows. "design on a dime" is one of my favorites... a team of designers redecorate a room for $1000. though this show works within the same budget as "trading spaces", "design on a dime" isn't at all concerned with being a soap-opera... they just get right down to business. (i can barely tolerate "trading spaces" anymore. i'm not even going to link to it.)

lately i've been watching a show called "designed to sell". real estate experts and designers help get a house ready to go on the market, and have a budget of $2000 for the improvements. this show is big on design elements too, but there is often a small amount of construction (or deconstruction) going on in order to get a house to appear more updated.

the thing i find most fascinating about "designed to sell" is the portion of the show --at the beginning-- when the real estate expert walks through the house and talks about everything that is wrong with the property... the things that will scare away potential home-buyers. this walk-through happens outside of the homeowners' presence (though they're watching via closed circuit tv), and the real estate expert is always very blunt. it's not the harsh critique itself that intrigues me, but rather the moment when the critique causes the homeowners to realize "oh my god, our house is such a sty! how did that happen?!?"

this is what is interests me: the idea that we get so accustomed to our surroundings that we stop noticing the moldy grout, the rotting baseboards, the overgrown hedges. maybe on some subconscious level we're aware of these things, but we never let it never bother us enough to take action. there are more important things for us to worry about: cooking dinner for our families, getting the car fixed, doing laundry. getting through life. the house can wait.

"designed to sell" doesn't make a big deal of that light-bulb moment when the homeowners realize how far they've let their home degrade. it's not glorified in any way, but it's there in every episode. and more often than not during course of the renovations, as their house is being spruced up, the homeowners express some reservation about selling the home. "i forgot it could look this good," they'll say.

the changes are often small. a fresh coat of paint. removing a too-large couch from the living room and replacing it with two properly sized chairs. getting rid of the clutter. planting some flowers by the front door. changing the curtains. sometimes these improvements actually correct the flaws that instigated the selling of the house. (homeowners that thought the house was too small for their family are surprised to find that with correct furniture placement their home is really larger than they thought.)

anyway, now that i've decided to have a party (the 26th!) this show is causing me to look at my house with a more critical eye. i want to spot the things that aren't working before my guests do.

so yesterday i did a little bit of thrift shopping with "designed to sell" in mind. at the habitat hand-me-up store i found a light fixture for $5 that, with a coat of paint, will work pretty well over the kitchen table. the minute i moved into the house --almost two years ago-- i knew i needed to get rid of the existing 1970s-era basket-topped fixture, but over the course of time i just stopped seeing it. until the light bulb burned out last week, i actually forgot it was there, still ugly as ever.

i am also seeing how the furniture configuration in the den is not working. i picked up a small cube table for $5 at habitat that will go the den after a cute paint treatment. i'm going to get another chair for that room as well, and create a more comfortable conversation area.

ray and i had hoped to be able to afford a new couch by now, but mimo screwed up our budget. that'll have to wait for a while. but at least i know that the living room furniture is crappy!

there are a couple of other light fixtures i want to swap out, but i haven't found anything that excites me yet. i'll have to keep my eyes open and do more thrift shopping. i also need to get my butt moving on the construction of the kitchen window seat. as you may recall, i was hoping to tackle that last fall, but then tivo entered my life and i've allowed it to keep me from getting things accomplished. (what's ironic is that the glut of home improvement shows themselves that has likely slowed my progress!)

past experience has taught me that i'm happiest when i'm focused on a home improvement project. i need to keep reminding myself of that, and find little things to do each month to keep up the quality of my surroundings.

Posted by xta at February 18, 2005 11:17 AM | TrackBack