Nosoccermom, I probably will have to show them without valances at this point bc I don't have any to put up at the moment. My Realtor doesn't want to take down the old ones until I have new pictures. And I can't wait to change them out.
The room is not done yet, however. Painting in there was held up as the painter had another appointment in the middle of the afternoon. But he did get the bedroom painted at least one coat and I LOVE the sage green color in there. Very soothing, light and airy. It still needs a second coat and so does the ceiling and then I hope to clean everything up in there when he is done. I may borrow his ladder to clean all my windows and the ceiling fan.

As soon as I can I will take some pics of both rooms. He claims he will be finished with them tomorrow afternoon, but he will be losing his helper tomorrow. So we shall see. He will be moving into the yellow duck wallpaper room and our downstairs half bath after that.

I am not looking forward to his being in my DR and Kitchen bc that will make the whole downstairs a mess. I have a feeling this job will continue to be ongoing through next week at the rate he is going.

I am almost hoping noone comes through for a showing now... I just dismantled the half bath and the duckie room and with them still painting in two other rooms, it would almost be pointless to show the house with all those rooms torn up and dusty. I have stuff stashed in other bedrooms and the exercise room now until they finish the upstairs.

On the flip side it is giving me a chance to go through some of the dresser drawers that I didn't get to before.

Ok I found this valance on line. It is mostly beige. And I like the design. It is reasonably priced and will fit on my rods. So what do you think of it for the bathroom?

I just bought two of them for that room. Sand with gold.

Here is a link that might be useful: Beige valance

This post was edited by zoe52 on Mon, May 20, 13 at 21:04

If you're considering that for the bathroom with the diamond small tiles, I think you'll have too many competing diamonds going on even though that's more up to date than the florals, especially a valence that's scalloped at the bottom.

Since blinds aren't likely to be a selling point, have you considering removing the ones that are outside mount? You could replace those two with fairly inexpensive regular bottom up shades from HD or Lowes that they'll cut to fit right in the store if you feel you must have them for your own privacy. Then just omit a valence altogether, or put up a neutral tailored Roman shade instead of a valence.

We sold about a year ago in another part of the country and think the suggestion you received to remove anything that screams country decor was good advice. While some may like that, it's definitely a limited audience, and you want to have much broader appeal. Those current puffy valences (with or without stuffing) would be one of those things.

We also replaced an older washer/dryer and frig with new ones because the brokers' open had such negative reaction to the old ones, even though they were still working great. We we felt it was stopping prospective buyers. We also happened to find some good buys on those things.

I know our realtor used some wide angle shots of our home, like the ones you took, but we vetoed any that really distorted the rooms or made them look strangely out of proportion to reality. You might want to have some that just show part of a room but with the a normal lens. Notice that when magazines show warm inviting shots of a room, they usually don't use wide angle for that reason. Good luck!

I would not purchase any window treatments for your house - it will look fine with no valences. You're just used to seeing the big puffy floral ones up there so it looks empty to you. Remember - just keep saying "not decorating for ME, but for a generic buyer".

I remember reading about a survey on what men and women found attractive in a face of the opposite sex. They took all the data and tried to figure out which appeals to the most people, and ended up with the most generic, average-looking faces... because generic or average is less polarizing. You don't want "love it or hate it" decorating choices in your home when selling it.

If in doubt, remove it and don't replace it!

I think the issue was that the OP thought that the top part of the blinds looks strange because of the outside mount.
Zoe, can you post pictures as soon as the painter is done?

Outside mount blinds are not all the uncommon, I still think it would show better with nothing than with a fussy, puffy or floral valance.

Or, remove the blinds altogether!

Cats? You have cats in the house? Some people are allergic. And not everyone is an animal lover, especially animals in the house.

Can people smell cat when they walk in?

littlebug5, relax - most people in the USA have pets, and homes are sold every day with pets. A clean litter box does not smell, and yes some people are allergic, but what can she do about that?

When we sold our condo we did not take our cats out when it was shown. They are clean and do not smell, and our condo sold quickly - it was neutral, decorated in a very uncluttered way, and priced right.

I think soft gold or greige are universal neutrals, depending upon current colors in a home. White or cream are too safe and boring in most situations and do nothing for a room. Finding the right interior paint color to enhance this lovely home is critical. Buy a few well placed inexpensive accents for the younger buyer. Changing out dated light fixtures from Lowes or HD are also cheap fixes with a huge impact. Put a few plants for color by the front entrance. These suggestions are coming from someone who took these steps and had two great offers in two days. I also had an agent who had my house priced at exactly the right price point. Plus, it was good advice to leave the expensive updating, such as formica counters and dated appliances, for the new owners to remodel to their taste. Just my two cents from a happy seller's perspective.

This post was edited by Texasgal47 on Thu, May 23, 13 at 8:45

As for the cats: No one has EVER smelled cats in my home. I clean their boxes daily and there are several in the home. I had a remodeller in my home on and off for the last several years. He never smelled cats and he is honest. One of the Realtors I interviewed before we placed our home on the market is allergic to cats. She was surprised to not develop any symptoms while in my kitchen at my table. And she was in my home for over an hour.. after walking through it. Now if she had sat on one of my couches she MAY have had an issue bc it is hard to keep all the cat hair cleaned up on upholstered furniture. But I try. My home is immaculate.....btw. I may not be a great cook but I clean like a demon! LOL and I will clean it on the way out the door after it is sold. My last sellers thanked me for how clean I left my last home.

Anyway, I tried to get pictures yesterday of the bathroom and the bedroom that are finished but my camera for some reason is not working correctly on focusing. So I took out the battery and will get my hubby to look at the settings and try again.

In the meantime, the duckie room just got finished and so is the downstairs 1/2 bath. Both were from the White Brochure from Benjamin Moore. The duckie BR will have a hint of yellow while the half bath will be a greyish white.

Our work people will be back on Monday to start in on the Dining Room and the Kitchen. I can't wait until they are finished. The house is so dusty now. I have all day tomorrow to clean up the last two rooms they just finished.

The bathroom looks clean and it is taking time for me to get used to the beige paint in there. The Muslin paint went on a bit golder than the paint sample, but I like it better everyday. My new valances came in and they look terrific. I don't care if I am repeating the diamonds. I even changed out the Bath towels to beige with an embossed diamond pattern at Marshall's ... I need to call around to the other local Marshalls try to find some hand towels to roll up near the tub and a few more washcloths. My local store only had one.

I am waiting for the new valances to come in .. should be here this afternoon.

In the meantime I had to trade out the blue shams in my bedroom for a neutral color and now have beige pillows in there, I put in a neutral beige mat in the master bath that matches the wall paint. I found a great looking toss pillow that is beige with a hint of green in it. It was on sale at Marshalls.

removed all items from above the sinks and after looking for just the right picture, I found one with a black frame that actually ties the room together that I already had. It has black, gold, burgundy and a touch of blue in the painting. I hung it over the tub. The other wall was too massively plain next to my toilet so I hung another picture there. Both seemed to help the room look more finished.

As for the wall-to-wall blue rug in the dressing area, I couldn't get my husband to go along with removing it. It is in very good shape, but we ALL know anyone who buys the home will remove a rug in the bathroom. And this one is in very good condition. So my husband was adamant he will not pay to replace or remove it and repair the wood flooring underneath (some just has plywood put there where the walls were moved). He doesn't want to lay out any more money. This is enough work after the Dining room and Kitchen are redone for us since we will be dropping our price when we are done to get more people in here to sell it fast.

So I will TRY to get some pictures up for you as soon as I can.

Oh yeah. There was no way to get new blinds to mount inside the windows bc when we put in the new Andersons a couple years ago to replace old storms with old single panes, there is not enough room to mount any blinds inside.

I went to look after someone mentioned it and realized I would have had to remove those blinds from my daughter's bedroom (blue room) and our master bathroom if we had them originally mounted them on the inside of the window.

So I guess my outer faux pas was a lucky break!

Just finished cleaning the house after the last of 2 of 6 rooms were finished. Here is a picture of our finished bathroom. I have some more that I will try to add, too.

The rug has to stay... fwiw.

Here is another angle

Wow! It looks much better. I like the valances, too.

And one last one for ya. I have completely downplayed all the burgundy in the room.

And thanks to ALL those who helped We are pleased with our finished product.

This post was edited by zoe52 on Thu, May 30, 13 at 20:40

Nice job. I hope the changes get you some lookers who turn into buyers, and soon!

Our Realtor is coming over tomorrow to see the new rooms. And I hope to have the new pictures up on our listing soon. I may need to retake a few of them. I didn't like the lighting when I took them. I need to get the kitchen in the morning when it it brighter back there and the upstairs bedroom.

In the meantime here is our bedroom in the light sage green.

And here is our Dining room without the wallpaper and new paint on the walls and below on the chair rail.

And one more picture of the Dining Room

The paint makes all the difference in the world. It looks so big and new now. Did you paint the burgundy tile or change it to black on the tub or is it the lighting? Now that I've seen the bathroom from the other angle, I wouldn't worry about the carpet either. A room that big doesn't have the ick factor of carpet in the bathroom. It's more like carpet in the dressing room.

Your bedroom looks great too. So pretty and refreshing. Love what you've done.

Didn't touch the tiles. It is the lighting I think that makes it look black. They are still burgundy diamonds. But I do have black zwizzles in the tile and black granite accents in the room.

And we ALWAYS considered the sink area a dressing area bc our closets are on the other wall across from the view in the pictures.

Wow, those rooms look beautiful now. Definitely looks move in ready. Good luck on getting your house sold.

Zoe, you've done a fantastic job on those rooms. The bathroom looks so much bigger. I think the diamond pattern in the valance ties in with the tub without looking overpowering. Love the paint colors you have used in all the rooms. Your rooms look staged to sell, clean and uncluttered. Fingers crossed for you.

Looks so much better now. The arrangement of your vanities is very unique - and cool. And I love the word zwizzles. ;)

It looks great, and your new photos should bring in some buyers! I still would prefer the bathroom windows without valances, but these are much more subtle. Good luck!

Congrats, Zoe, it really looks fabulous. What a huge difference the paint makes. I also like the valances in the bathroom.

I wish you all the best in selling your home.

Nice! Good job!

Really impressed with all your changes. Looks fresh and in move-in condition. The light sage green in your bedroom is soft and soothing. Could you share color and brand info? Thanks.

Amazing differences the paint without the wallpaper and changing the valences made! They look like different rooms updated and no longer considered dated. Please keep us updated if you get more traffic and if you get a buyer soon!

WOW!! Looks so much better. Actually it looks like a different room and the blue carpet no longer stands out either.

I hope this pays off and you sell fast. You should update it on the Buying and selling homes forum too as I'm sure it could help other sellers to see the difference paint can make.

The light green sage in the bedroom is Benjamin Moore 506 Silver Sage. I didn't like it when we first put it on the wall and thought it was too dark so I took it back and they added more white to it. So it was changed. The guy said that was as light as they could get it. But I liked it alot better. I suppose it would have still looked alright but it was a couple shades lighter than the original sage.

My Realtor came through and we gave him new pictures for the listing. We used our own camera since we have a special lens for taking pictures in rooms. We also dropped our price to get more people to look. All the new pictures and the updated price will be done on Monday.

Hopefully,we should sell now.

Zoe52, I feel you should have no problems selling now as your house has nice big rooms, is now looking updated and neutral and will have a updated reduced price. Please keep us updated. I am glad we could give our input and you made changes that I feel really made a positive impact. Please share the new listing with us.

Looks fantastic. Really fantastic. I was just wondering when we would get to see the new pics. Thank you for taking the time to share them. Best of luck with selling.

Everything looks great! I hope you sell soon. How do you like the changes?

Very nice! And it looks so clean!!

You did a wonderful job! The house looks very inviting.

Looks marvelous. Hope it sells fast! It certainly should.

Looks really amazing. Please keep us updated as the other rooms are transformed. This could be a great lesson on before/after through, mainly, paint.

Wow! What a difference! It looks so nice, and you should be attracting new buyers very soon. I really like your dining room--it looks so fresh!

Here's to a quick sale!

The bathroom looks much more livable now. The changes have made a huge difference.

Any updates? I noticed that the listing has still the old photos.

When I checked the listings just RealEstate.AOL had the old pics.

www.realtor.com too, so I guess they'll update at one point???

I think I'd be pretty ticked at my realtor if he/she didn't up date pics for a month.

Nice changes the bathroom looks way more peaceful.

Maybe a new realtor is needed?! The house looks much better. Wishing you the best in a speedy sell.

Maybe a new realtor is needed?! The house looks much better. Wishing you the best in a speedy sell.

If the realtor was serious about selling the house and motivated, the new pictures would have been up immediately! Wishing you the best in finding a buyer real soon. Please keep us updated.

The listing has new photos of the new rooms and also the front of the home. I am surprised that the other sites have not picked up the photo changes but do have the price reflected correctly. We dropped our price 22k I would have thought they would have the new pictures by now. I am sure my Realtor doesn't update all the sites he told me that they will pick it up on their own. It has been two weeks since the new pictures went up, too.

Anyway my MLS listing is 201316269. If that helps.

After waiting a couple of weeks and two cancellations for showings we finally had some buyers come through this past Monday who loves the home but said it was their first day looking so they wanted to look around the area before making a final decision. Anyway I am hoping they come back with an offer in hand soon.

I am hoping that the Federal Reserve announcement that they will be raising rates in the near future will get people off their butts!

what a difference, thanks for the update and I do wish you the best of luck in this transaction.

Looks so great ! What a difference painting and stripping paper can do. We sold to the first buyer that walked thru and basically I read tips on internet of home staging . Moved clothes to spare closet upstairs so master closet wasn't crowded and hangers had room to move easily so everything looked spacious. Removed items from kitchen countertops to a minimum so you could see the granite counters better and make everything appear less cluttered or over decorated. Just pared down ......got baskets to store things in. These were my emergency baskets incase I had a showing and need to stick things somewhere fast. Lucky we sold fast so didn't have to go thru that. Good luck with your home and hope it sells quickly for you!