<p>Our old house had one room where they painted over the hideous wallpaper. It was very very difficult to remove. </p>
<p>Dark wainscoting in the dining room or library might be nice…but the other rooms…um no. And if you get folks who want that Pottery Barn look. (White moldings and trim ) they will walk right out.</p>
<p>How large is the print on this wallpaper. The larger the print, the more I would say…take it down.</p>
<p>Stagers will tell you, prospective buyers are looking for a neutral canvas where they can picture what they will want to do. Anything very strong makes that harder to do…plus more work involved for those buyers.</p>
<p>Of course, you could price it as mid- century modern…that’s “in” right now! </p>
<p>Ask a few of the best real estate agents in your area to come by and do a market analysis and give their opinions about what should be done… Everyone here can give advice but what matters most is what is going on in your own real estate market. </p>
<p>It’s not an upscale neighborhood. More middleclass area, so I doubt that people want to buy in this neighborhood is looking for Pottery Barn look. I think the prints are vertical dark brown bamboo plants from bottom to top, give the house a vertical space . Reasonably neutral, no big flowers or anything. One of these days, I will get a picture of the inside when I have more time to see. My sister has at least 6months to prep it.</p>
<p>When I want to see current, stylish interiors, I don’t look at the multi million dollars homes in Dallas, I look at the moderately priced homes of young professionals. Those homes are up to date and follow current trends in interior design. The pricey homes are usually owned by older people who may have invested so much money in their furniture, art, etc., that they tend to hold onto it for a long time.</p>
<p>In other words, Pottery Barn look might be more likely amongst middle class.</p>
<p>In any case, I think it would still sell easier with a clean, neutral look like you’d see in a Pottery Barn or West Elm or Crate and Barrel.</p>
<p>I think this neighborhood is full or older retirees from low to middle class income. Not young professionals. For example, one of her neighbors is a Seven Up delivery guy. The area is in a good school district, i.e. lots of Asians are snapping up newer homes not too far from her neighborhood but not in this particular neighborhood.
I don’t think my sister wants to spend lots of money, just enough that it’s not going at a fire sale price. One of her neighbors spent close to $200K but that’s almost half of the price she wants to fetch.</p>
<p>Vertical bamboo wallpaper can range from an Arts&Crafts treasure to a textured vinyl horror show. I think you should get some good realtors in to look at it. </p>
<p>Sometimes it is better to leave something alone and let the buyer do what they would prefer. As a person who prefers old houses, it is usually nice to find that things have been left alone, rather than wood floors covered with linoleum or carpeting, old moldings cut, rooms hacked up, and the like. </p>
<p>I looked at an 18th century post and beam house here where the current owners had ripped out the central chimney and fireplaces off of it, and put in a modern staircase. It was tragic.</p>
<p>Wall cover only in the living room and the part of the hallway that’s exposed to the living room. So I think I might leave the wood wall alone, it’s not vinyl horror show but as with everything, taste varies, some might like it but some might find it horrible. But I think buyers can redo it and get value out of it. I’ll probably paint everywhere else with a nice bright color because brown goes with everything and change the whole carpet. Still debating whether to do the kitchen or not. I still have to see the kitchen. Honestly I have not been in this house for years, so I don’t know what stage it’s in.</p>
<p>Do you know what’s under the carpet? If it’s a wood floor, you might be better off ripping up the carpet and refinishing the floor. If I were to look at a house with carpeting, I would plan on doing so, or installing a wood or tile floor, depending on the room.</p>
<p>I don’t think there is wood floor underneath the carpet. Again it’s a very small bungalow, about 1200-1300 sq. ft… Not a big area for carpet either. Just the living room and 3 bedrooms plus small hallway. I think nice neutral carpet might brighten the house, make it more appealing as in bigger.</p>
<p>I checked on redfin and it’s 1955, nice size lot. I don’t know what it has plaster or sheetrock. But I think now that my brain is a little bit awake, it’s more like decorative paper more than wall cover paper. Only cover 2 small vertical area next vertical to a mirror. </p>
<p>It sounds like my parents’ house. A 50’s bungalow. They actually had a wall that was tongue and groove paneling. That was painted a nice neutral cream color years ago. The walls and carpet are a nice neutral color…not all beiges, but neutral. The kitchen used to have wainscoting in it. That was taken out years ago. Carpet is a neutral but clean looking tan.</p>
<p>I would not spend a lot of money on the kitchen. That might be the place where you actually give a reduction on prices to do the room. Kitchens are expensive…and folks definitely have preferences. I would make sure it is clean and bright. That is a room I would repaint, and get new lighting for. If the counters are damaged, maybe get them replaced. But if you start doing the whole kitchen…floors, appliances, lighting, cabinets, counters, faucet you will be spending a LOT of money. I would only do that so that your sister can enjoy it for several years!</p>
<p>She is thinking of selling it not for enjoyment. I’m getting some ideas from the nearby houses, next to her house on redfin. One painted all light neutral color, she will not redo the whole kitchen. Thanks everyone. I think I get some ideas from this thread on how to approach remodeling her house. </p>
<p>We were lucky with our current house. It was on the market multiple times because no one could see past the horrible pink color scheme. Dirty pink carpets, fussy pink drapes, pink walls (except where there was cheesy 1960s paneling) and even a bubble gum pink bathroom. We refinished the wood floors, painted the entire house, tossed the drapes and eventually redid the bathroom. It looks a lot better. Funny to hear of a 1950s house as “old” around here that’s new, most of our neighborhood was built in the 1920s.</p>
<p>I just sold a couple of properties. Little things can make a huge difference if your house isn’t extremely dated and worn looking. For example, in an older oak kitchen, I changed out the backsplash to something really cool that included stainless tiles, changed the hardware to stainless, and all fixtures to retro stainless look (house built in 60’s). Every surface was painted or changed out if it was worn, and left if it looked good. I re-stained wood that looked uneven with that instant stain. Changing out quarter round on old wood floors really makes a difference. Every room should be freshly painted, unless it is currently perfect. Just a few hundred in changes makes a huge difference. </p>
<p>Of course you need to minimize furnishings. </p>
<p>Multiple offers in days here as well. (I did change out the ugliest kitchen in history in another, but using Lowe’s cabinets and countertops. Just a few thousand and it sold in a few weeks). </p>
<p>We fixed many things in our old, Jimmy-Carter era house. We know that following items are expensive:</p>
<p>Windows - including the frames. We ended up replacing only 60% of windows because they are too expensive.
Gutters.
Sprinkler system.
Ovens (expensive) and cooktop (not very expensive)</p>
<p>carpet is NOT expensive. (we bought cheaper ones because it is a rental property.)</p>
<p>There are wood panels in the living room. It makes it look darker especially when the window in that room is relatively small because of the fireplace.</p>
<p>We lease out that house now. Consider movng back there for 2 or 3 years before selling it. </p>
<p>I was able to “redo” a large kitchen for a very reasonable amount of money by putting in granite countertops, a tile backsplash, New stainless steel appliances, and changing the handles on the cabinets. If you can do any updates without replacing the cabinetry you can give a fresh look without a ridiculous expenditure. I don’t love my cabinets, but the kitchen definitely seems current. </p>
<p>Sometimes you can get away with changing out just the cabinet doors if they look really dated and replace with a more current design. This is easiest to do with painted vs. stained cabinets and save lots of money.</p>