#164: How We are Getting The House Ready To Sell

With our big move only a few months away, what do we need to do to get our house ready to sell? This week we are outlining some of the projects we are taking on – both big and small – including the fast-tracked makeover of our hall bathroom. John also outlines a shopping challenge of his quite own for 2020 that’ll push us to look more locally when we seek certain items. Plus, can a plain pen and paper save you money? We are looking into an ancient budgeting method that promises to do so. Oh, and there is an unintended rant about The Bachelor.

You can also find this episode on your go-to podcast listening app, like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, and Spotify.

What is new

• If you missed our big news about moving last week, you can listen to it in Episode #163 or read about it in this journal post (where we brought in a bit more info and answered some common FAQs).
• We referenced our “veranda” project from a few years ago. We wrapped up it in 2014 so it has been nearly 6 years since it got its last paint job (apart from that one wall of brick painted in 2018). I took the photo below last fall before the trees turned, and it luckily does not show the wear quite closely – but trust us that some of the wood trim was flaking and worn down from being exposed to the elements. But a few hours spent priming & repainting it made all the difference.

• Here is what our hall bathroom looked like when we picked up the house. Apart from the wood vanity, it was a cream-colored wonderland: walls, trim, counters, even the yellow floors looked creamy in this context.

• We did a refresh for our second book, Lovable Livable Home (you can find it locally here), that largely involved painting the walls, trim, and vanity white. At that point we realized the yellow tile could look kind of vintage and charming – assuming we could clean it up sufficient to make it feel fresh and not worn down.

• We referenced how we worked with the old yellow tile in our last home’s guest bathroom and were able to make it look fairly darn sweet with simply $51 (I cannot believe Sherry remembered that number precisely on the podcast!)

• We are likely the most excited to share the counter and cabinet updates with you (they are looking so good already! progress is being made! so follow along on Instagram to see that sooner – although of course it’ll hit the journal eventually with even more details/a budget breakdown/etc). We referenced our friends Teresa and Andrew’s kitchen that got a major facelift thanks to new custom cabinet doors that were installed by a local craftsman named Billy (here is his website). If you missed the post about it last fall, here was the before:

• And this is the after. Again, these are all the original cabinet boxes – Billy simply brought in new inset doors and hardware (and drawer boxes) – and it looks like a million bucks! This was the kitchen that inspired us to hire him for our hall bathroom doors.

• Billy has also done some projects for our friends Carey & Jordan (including their home’s kitchen). But one of our go-tos is the transformation of this kitchen in a rental home they renovated. This was the before…

• And this is the after! Again, these are the SAME cabinet boxes and the quite same layout – they simply got new doors and drawer boxes, new hardware, and obviously paint.

• Of course our hall bathroom is a lot smaller than a full kitchen, but to get new inset fronts doors, new drawer boxes, soft-close everything, and to have it all painted and installed was under $750. Which felt truly worth it to end up with a custom eight foot long double sink that fits perfectly from wall to wall – especially since we did not have to demo out the old vanity.

Can We Simply Talk About Kakeibo?

• Here is the CNBC article that I stumbled across that talks about the author’s experience trying this Japanese budgeting method. (And yes, I am fairly sure I am still not saying it correctly).
• The article links to a few of the studies about the benefits of journaling and writing things down, but I found this one especially interesting.
• It ties into some of the things we talked about in Episode #148 about how we still keep our schedules organized in a quite analog way (not to mention our discussion of planners and bullet journaling with Emily Ley in Episode #162)
• It appears there are some Kakeibo (I also see spelled Kakebo) planners or printables for sale online (like these on Etsy) in case you want to get began with the method.

We are Digging

• I am trying to dig up an old photo of me in my “library parade” in high school, but for now you will have to simply enjoy this photo above from one of the cutest independent bookstores we have ever been in. We did a whole post about it!
• I also referenced the website Indiebound, which is a strong place to search for a book online and then find local stores where you can order it or pick it up in person.
• Also, here is a trailer for the series Enjoy Is Blind on Netflix, which swiftly became our new go-to guilty pleasure after watching The Circle.

If you are looking for something we have dug in a past episode, but do not remember which show notes to click into, here is a master list of everything we have been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we have recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Universal Furniture for sponsoring this episode. Now through April 1st, they are giving away this excellent Shannon Chair (lately featured in Traditional Home magazine!) to one of our listeners. Simply head over to UniversalFurniture.com/YHL to enter.

*This post contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.