Mom's house for sale

So, as I mentioned yesterday, mom is selling her house.

The house I spent my teenage years in, the home we've had for 14 years.

If I were a sentimental person I might be sad at this, but I think that she's making a good move.

Can't say it isn't weird, though, that this was probably my last time entering this house.

If you want to see the actual listing, go here (the MLS # is 1095455)

On the off chance that you know someone that is looking for a home in this area, feel free to share.  It's a really nicely kept neighborhood with a park and tennis court just down the street.

No rowdy neighbors :)

 

I took some pictures though, so prepare for a little walk down project memory lane.

The trim on the house has had several iterations.  When we moved in it was faded green, I painted it navy blue about 10 years ago, and then Lane and David painted it the current brown color just a little bit ago.  I think this version looks the best.

I changed the exterior light fixtures from an outdated brassy gross thing to black craftsman style ones when I was changing stuff to blue.

You can see a swamp cooler peeking just over the roof line, and it still works, but mom had an AC and 96% efficienct furnace installed like 2 years ago.  She recently had all the old windows torn out and new vinyl low-e ones installed throughout, so for an older home it actually has lower heating and cooling bills than my 3 1/2 year old one.

Way to go mom on shelling out for the good updates.

The guy who built this house put a whole lot of moolah down on landscaping.  That's probably the biggest thing I'm going to miss...mature trees are so pretty and give so much privacy.

Front entry into the formal living room.  I painted that blue suede looking wall as a teenager.  It was the first accent wall I ever did.

I picked out that window treatment when I worked in the drapery department at Sears.  Those trees were bought and used for my reception.

The kitchen.

This room was fun.  Last year I did the paint treatment on the cabinets to cover the ho-hum oak and the boys and I got the faucet I think for mom's last birthday.

I ordered the black cabinet hinges and handles online in April and I think David installed them.

This trip I put up the white subway tile back splash.

Here's a messy, mid-project look from last year.  You can see the oak still on the uppers and the antiquing glaze hasn't been used on the bottom cabinets yet.  When I was like 16 Lane and I put up that cabin-y wallpaper border to replace the ripped up ugly floral one that was there before, but it was definitely due for an upgrade.

Much better and cleaner looking.

You see that huge expanse of tile?

Curt and I laid that.  Hugest project ever.  Except for maybe my current finishing of our basement.

I also did the ragging paint treatment in the dining and living room about 5 years ago.

The art on the walls was a mother's day or birthday gift.  More trees from my reception.  Living room lamps were a Christmas gift.  Picked out that corner entertainment center.  Basically my mom lets me have free reign in her house and I love it.

As I understand it, the upstairs bathroom overhaul (new vanity, tile, toilet, wall colors, decor, etc) that happened a couple years ago was all a mom financed, Lane labor, Melynda and Lane finish choosing venture.  It looks awesome.

Shane's room.  

Curt and I painted the blue accent walls and I got the curtains for Tony's birthday maybe 5 or 6 years ago when this was his room.

Mom's replaced pretty much all of the carpet since the teenage boys have moved out.

Smart lady for waiting til then...it was pretty hashed.

Office.

Master bedroom.  I think mom picked out and painted the wall colors in here.  The home improvement bug bit her :)

Master bathroom.

The den downstairs.

We pretty much didn't do anything to this room while we lived here, just stashed extra items that needed storing.

It's so huge cleared out of most of that stuff.

And that's the end of the pictures I took.  The two huge bedrooms downstairs I didn't ever really do any projects in (which is weird because one of them was mine my whole teenagehood).

You can see the projects I did in the third basement bedroom here back when Brielle was born.  It's cleared out now of everything and Brielle's name is taken off of the walls.

I also want to mention that I say "I" a lot in reference to these projects, but mom allowed the creative latitude and a good portion of the money to play, and siblings were always fairly willing (perhaps with some good natured groaning) to be pressed into service as assistants.  I've mentioned it before, but Lane was (and still is) my partner in house project related crime, and Curt is ever willing to help in all the craziness (and live in it, thankfully).

Congratulations if you made it through this bohemoth of a post.

I really do love this house though, for it is where I discovered and developed a love for home improvement.