So I’m hoping we can sell our house in a year or two but it needs a lot of work. I’m wondering what I should be thinking of as far as colors. I’m clueless where to start so help! Things we’ll need to do are:
1: New tub in 2nd bath. The current one is broken and is one of those all in one fiberglass tubs (being) - will replace with a white tub and tiled walls and floor (floor is carpet now). Leaning toward light tan or gray. Will probably replace the cabinet.
2: master bath large shower needs re tiling. Again leaning toward gray or tan.
(Shower and floors)
3: kitchen needs new cabinets. Will need to tile floor.
4: flooring throughout house. Current carpet is a little over 30 years. If I was planning to stay in place I’d lean towards wood look but not sure if carpet is better for selling.
Budget is limited. We don’t live in a high cost area so don’t want to spend a huge amount as I wouldn’t be able to afford to move.
Questions I have:
Cabinets
should they be consistent through the house - both color and design? I’ve seen some nice bath cabinets (saw a gray one today I liked). But they are just available as bath cabinets.
I’m thinking the stock cabinets places like Lowe’s and home Depot stock. Any experiences?
color - thinking white. Tempted by gray but thinking white for resale.
Tile - should I be consistent and have same through house? Like if I get light tan get the same for all baths and kitchen? Is light tan the way to go? I’ve read that gray is popular but I’m really concerned about reselling.
Other flooring - neutral beige carpet? Wood?
I know I’m pretty clueless - Any ideas out there? The house is unlikely to sell for more than $150-160k in the area I live so really have to watch the budget if I’m to be able to move.
Cabinets can be different in different rooms. What style really depends on your area. Personally, I like what interior designers call “transitional” - not too modern, not too fussy. Think Shaker style doors. For your price point stock cabinets are fine. If you are handy my SIL has had an Ikea kitchen that has held up very well. I like white cabinets. I dislike white countertops. Mine counters are a combo of butcherblock (definitely not for everyone, so don’t recommend for resale) and Vermont Soapstone which I love. If you have an island you could do it as a different color, gray or slate blue for example.
I keep reading in my NKAB magazine that white and gray are going out of style, but I’ve seen no sign of it.
Tile can be different in each bathroom. I think in a bathroom you can have a little fun. Mosaics are getting more popular, the wood look tiles are very popular around here, and 12x12 porcelain tiles that look like slate are also great looking in a small bath. I’ve got a dark cabinet, with a white quartz countertop in one bath, and a slight colored wood cabinet with a glass countertop with integral bowl in the other. Both rooms have white subway tiles on the wall, but that’s only because I like them. You can save a lot by only putting tile where you must. I have never seen tan tile on a floor except in the YMCA.
In my neck of the woods hardwood floors are the norm. Many of my Hispanic customers tile their entire groundfloor. No one has wall to wall carpeting except in bedrooms or maybe an office type room. Beige is okay for a bedroom.
We live about 10 Miles out of town (a town of about 25,000 and 100 miles from a a big city). Prices are lower out of town. Probably above average price for the subdivision.
House is about 2500 sq ft which is a little larger than most in the subdivision. I would actually be thrilled if we got as much as $150k. A couple have sold lately for a little under that but they are smaller but probably better condition
my H doesn’t like to pay people and tries to fix stuff himself and either never does or does s bad job. With the result that after 30 years the place is pretty run down and needs a lot of work. The tub has been broken for years. Now he is not physically able to even try.
We just finished house hunting within the last 6 months so I’ve been in and out of a lot of house. I’ve also heard that the color trend is moving back towards beiges with more grey undertones, but almost every house we went into was more in the grey/blue hues. Definitely the brass look was front and center (I hate that…reminds me too much of the 90s but that’s just me).
I would just try to stay as neutral as possible.
What style is your house? You definitely can’t go wrong with white shaker cabinets unless your house is super ornate or super contemporary.
As far as tile, I would also keep it simple.
Can you talk to a realtor in your area to see what would get the most bang for your buck?
Do you know any real estate agents who could tell you what’s “hot” in your area? They might know what colors/fixtures/floors are most appealing to their customers.
I’ve done some nice bathroom remodels using sinks, tubs, etc from Home Depot and Lowes. They carry brands most people are familiar with and, if you’re willing to dig on their websites, you can find all wood stock cabinetry.
I’m doing some updates to a vacation condo that we might sell and have found good information on kylieminteriors.ca and laurelberninteriors.com Their blogs have a lot of insight into choosing paint colors for walls and cabinets including colors for resale.
I agree with @sherpa - I would think about selling it as it is. I’ve looked at a ton of houses (we’ve been looking for the past 4.5 years). If you are not going for an all-out redo, then you are presenting the buyer with the opportunity to do that themselves.
The house is 30+ years old, and you don’t want to spend a lot of money on the updating, so you may not upgrade it to the standard that the buyer expects for the price. To me, particularly, tiling is a very long-term item. If I look at a house that has recently done tile everywhere, I would have to love it because it would be difficult to justify the expense of replacing it when there are other things needing $$. If the tile is ancient and crappy, it would be easier to justify the expense.
OTOH, taking off wallpaper and painting everything whites or off-whites allows for something the new owner can live with until they do their own decorating.
I agree with comments upthread. My best guess is you won’t get your money back for updating, and the best idea is to get it as cleaned up and clutter free as possible and put it on the market. If it doesn’t sell, you have the option of taking it back off the market and having work done then.
Since it doesn’t sound like you will be able to do the work yourself, do you have a sense of costs? If not, get some estimates. It may be eye opening and make the decision a whole lot easier.
Good luck!!
eta… looking at your list of upgrades in the OP… I’m wondering if anyone can ballpark the costs? Realistically, that sounds like more than $10,000 worth of work (hiring g it done) where I live. I’d need to budget double that to be comfortable.
I’ve been house shopping, too. What matters to me is condition of roof, HVAC, etc. I can deal with the cosmetic issues.
I’ll play devils advocate for the “don’t sell” comments - just to be different.
I would at least price out doing the things you want with a place like Lowe’s or Home Depot - assuming their prices are in their budget. You have a couple of years so some time to make it happen one room at a time. I would choose not make bargain choices nor would I make top of the line. Try to go middle of the road so that prospective buyers will see some nice choices but choices won’t be too outside the neighborhood norm.
(on CC many people spend A LOT of money on home reno - your more basic reno can be much more efficient if that’s what you’re looking for. Consider your audience here. )
So going with middle of the spectrum on choices here are a couple comments:
Wood floors are OVERWHELMINGLY the choice of home buyers here over carpet in the main living areas- PLEASE do not get that grey wood laminate stuff people are buying in droves - I think it is a trend that will be short lived.
You could do carpet in bedrooms if you like. I still prefer wood.
Re: tile and cabinets I would NOT do it the same throughout the house. That makes it feel very cookie cutter, contractor basic, 80’s/90’s suburbia to me. I want to find some variation from the kitchen to the bathrooms!
FINALLY, if there is a chance you might stay in the house…be sure you really like the choices you make.
Swimcatsmom is going to have to pay for labor. That’s going to be the cost here, not materials, imho.
Sometimes I feel like I’ve been renovating my whole life, but it’s only really been 25 years. There is seemingly no one local able to install bathroom tile straight, no matter what you’re willing to spend.
I think it depends on your housing market if you can really sell it “as is” without having to real undersell the property. Where I live, houses that are updated will sell within days where as those that need work will just sit. I think talking to a local realtor is a good idea.
At least consult an REA to see and quote, because the cost of labor and product for your list is going to be really significant unless you are doing in yourself and looking at scrap yards. Surely you are looking at least 20K for that list? Slap of paint and cleaning carpets is one thing, you need to see what you would get as is before you go all in IMO. If you are DIYers then you would have done it already, no?
Our house went on the market 21 days ago in New Jersey. New carpeting upstairs in bedrooms and hallway is beige-color, called Aberdeen I think. New paint in kitchen, living room and family room downstairs is a very light grey. Suggestions from realtor and contractor doing work on the house,
You should also look into whether you can just update your kitchen cabinets with new doors if the boxes are in good shape. I know my biggest regret in our first house was not renovating the kitchen sooner so I could actually enjoy it. We didn’t have a lot of money and it was very much a starter house. I put new laminate on the floor, plain white cabinets, a white laminate Formica with a wood bevel edge, and my one splurge was a handmade Italian tile for a backsplash. We also added a very badly needed powder room as we only had one bathroom in the house. I don’t think we recouped the expense, but we did sell the house quickly.
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