Our Clients J+M were getting ready to move up North to a quieter, more relaxing location and called us to help them sell their home. We started the process of selling their home by suggesting improvements that would give them the highest return on investment while also staying within their expected budget. We suggested painting the interior and exterior, replacing the front porch, replacing the existing flooring in the kitchen with hardwood, landscaping the backyard (see front photos!), and swapping out the light fixtures throughout the house. Because we have great relationships with our contractors we were able to start work on their property the day J+M moved out.
Painting the exterior of the house a deep charcoal color was a well thought out decision. Majority of the houses on the street were lighter, brighter colors and we really wanted this home to stand out and look unique with a modern darker color. We initially wanted to paint the front door a light pink, but our clients fell in love with this bright orange. After a few back and forths we settled on this Tangelo color from Benjamin Moore. The body of the house is Mysterious and the details are Black Berry, both by Benjamin Moore.
When deciding what colors to paint the interior we had to be strategic because the entryway, living room, and dining room have coved ceilings with no definite break between the walls and the ceiling. Sometimes these older homes will have a picture railing that distinguishes the line between the two. So, we decided to paint the entryway and living room all White for a clean, simple atmosphere. But with the dining room we played it up and painted from floor to ceiling Benjamin Moore’s 2021 color of the year Aegean Teal. The remaining rooms had picture rails so we painted the walls Classic Gray and the ceilings Simply White. Originally the home had natural wood trim and baseboards, we decided to paint this Simply White, this creates a more modern, clean look.
In the kitchen there was oversized vinyl square flooring, which the homeowners loved, but paired with the brown cabinets the combination created a very dark space. We priced out what it would cost to replace the flooring with tile and with wood, and although it was more expensive to install hardwood flooring the difference between the two was only a couple thousand and inevitably the hardwood flooring would yield a higher ROI. We have our flooring installer match the finish of the new flooring with the existing flooring for a seamless flow throughout the house.
The landscaping underwent a huge transformation. The front was basically a pile of dead grass with a massive tree blocking the entire facade while the backyard was basically all weeds with no real design and little privacy from the backside neighbors. We wanted to create a backyard that felt well thought out and potential buyers could envision themselves hanging out in. We created a decomposed granite sitting area off the back porch, filled the yard with grass, and created a mulch border adorned with planters (this backyard got so much sunlight!) and string lights.
