The Rauch Motel

Feb 20, 2009

And… it's official

My house has sold. PHEW. Thank goodness. I was really worried my house would linger on the market long after we took possession of the new house.
But as of the beginning of April we’ll be moving from here:

to here:

Now someone else gets to live here, mischievous ghost and all.

But it’s a little weird. I bought this house right after I started working. It was my first place, other than residence at school, that I lived in other than my parents’ house. And the idea that someone else is going to be living here, calling this place that has been my sanctuary for over nine years home, is a little freaky.

While there’s a few bad memories, and I sure as heck am not gonna miss the floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall mirrors in my living/dining room, I met T when I lived here. We brought Oscar home here. Wow. it’s gonna be odd.

I’m excited, though, for the new house. It’s a fair bit bigger, which gives us a bit more room to spread out in. I’m looking forward to being able to lie all over the couch while I work without having to listen to sports or narrative history shows. And T’s pretty darn excited about the video game room (or, er, basement. lol). And Oscar’s so gonna love the giant backyard to play around in.

But it’s still gonna be weird.

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Jan 19, 2009

Making a little white box

When I moved into my little house, my decorating style was a little…. well, it was weird. I could blame the woman I bought the house from, with her leopard-print toilet seat (which, she actually made part of our sales contract that she got to take with her. lol.), and animals sponge-painted into the downstairs bathroom, but really, I just liked bright colours and slightly odd designs. (Which, considering I’m slightly odd, kinda fits. )

So, I painted Cinderalla’s castle on the walls of my spare room, my upstairs bathroom is an aquarium, and every room is a different colour – from my green and silver kitchen, to my red, black and white living/dining room, to my bright pink office and my dark purple bedroom.

The thing is, I’m trying to sell this house. And the slightly odd colours that made me happy 8 or 9 years ago don’t really appeal to the average home buyer. But, with all of my design ideas (not to mention my budget) saved for the new house, I really don’t have the inclination to repaint this house.

But that’s the thing. When I bought the new house, we didn’t look at the colours. In fact, I think I’d have a hard time telling you what colours they used in that house. Because once I knew it was going to be mine, all I can think of is the new colours I’m going to put in there (even if they will be slightly less in your face as my current house, tho not less odd. ). So, why is it that people come into my house and are scared of some paint? The house is clean, there’s no real “we have to fix that” ares, so there isn’t a lot of work that they’d need to do, except slap a few coats of paint up in a couple of rooms.

My realtor doesn’t think I should go out of my way to repaint, but I’m worried. I love the “sell your house” shows on TV and they *always* repaint in these blah neutral colours.

What do you think? If the house was perfect in every way, except for bright colours on the wall, would you still buy it? Or would you be scared off by pink, purple and red?

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