Do You See What I See?

The first step in the cleaning up process was to get the house ready for the realtor to take pictures to post on the internet for home buyers all over the world to see. I walked around looking at the house through buyer's eyes. Where to start....outdoor projects. First, a problem that existed since before we moved in six years ago: the trim around the front door. I always hated it. As it turns out, it only took a short time to cut a few pieces of trim and hammer them up, and it only cost about $20. Then, I carpeted the worn looking deck with outdoor carpet. That made a huge difference and it wasn’t expensive either. The last thing was to paint the molding around the front door window that had yellowed with sun exposure. Why didn’t I do all that before?

The next step was the interior. Making beds, sweeping floors, dusting…the usual tasks aren’t so bad. Finding homes for all the school stuff was tricky. Books, papers and experiments were stuffed in drawers and closets. The realtor suggested moving things out of view of her camera lens as nobody would be able to see the whole room in a picture. As much as that goes against my grain, I admit that I did a bit if that. The boys’ bedroom needed a paint job so everything that didn’t have a home went into it, including the last dirty dishes that I couldn’t manage to wash up before she arrived. She took pictures of strategic locations and went back to her office. No sooner did she leave than all the clutter came back out.