Sell This House

You know those HGTV shows where they walk through your house that needs to sell and point out all the things you need to fix and then a crew of highly competent, witty people come through and do 8 weekends worth or projects in 2 days? Well, as much as they tout it as reality TV, it sure ain't our reality!

We have had a steady stream of highly skilled and witty friends come to our house and help with numerous projects as well as child care. Thank you thank you! Our list has been shrinking steadily because of their generous sacrifice. We would still be mired in how to repair drywall books from the library otherwise. But the reality is there are not enough hours in the day or week to get our house "ready" by next week, which was our original goal.

So we're taking a step back, shooting for the first week of September and taking a slightly more sane approach to the rest of our list, mostly just paint and curb appeal at this point. And the curb appeal is the "funnest" part in my book. : )

Today I spent a marathon 1 hr and 15 min at Lowe's with my 2 children in one of those extra long 3-kid-seater carts. (This was after a 30 min Costco trip) My mission: match my pretty little gold-with-red-center 'mum blossoms to a red paint shade for the front door. Check. (Valspar 'Posh Red') Follow up on counter top side splash order. Check. (won't be in til tonight, so project pushed back) Make appt for storm door estimate. Check. (hopefully under $300 incl installation) Other than the shoe throwing and graham cracker dropping and high pitched scream sessions for their own amusement, my little dears behaved surprisingly well. We even managed a bathroom break (I had to ignore the "No Merchandise in Restroom" sign so I could keep Henry corralled). Evalyn LOVES the door and window display. She calls it her little house. She and Henry ran circles in and out of the doors for 10 minutes at least while the friendly "door man" was pulling up the info for me.

Let me just say how much I love Lowe's over Home Depot. Lowe's is clean, bright, easy to find what I need. 90% of the time I can find someone to help me. The checkout people are friendly and they give you free "paint keys" with each paint purchase. Their aisles are clearly labeled and contain helpful information for choosing products. Contrast this with Home Depot: crowded, tall metal stairs in the way, warehouse feel, labels and supplies not consistent, horrid check-out procedure (ie "self-checking"). Just yucky.

Of course I'm spoiled having both stores within easy driving distance. Although Lowe's is a bit further, my mood is always better when I finish a trip there rather than at Home Depot. Yes, Lowe's is marketed to women. And boy am I glad it is! If big box is the only option for some things, I'll choose Lowe's any day!!