Hi Melanie
I don't see a problem with white tiles.
When I build or renovate I choose my colour schemes in the hope that people will walk in, look at the property and say "that looks great", walk out and then five minutes later ask themselves "what colour were the tiles/carpets/walls?". That is, I choose colour schemes so bland and inoffensive that they all just blend in.
Smallish 150mm x 150mm white tiles won't offend anyone and will certainly make the kitchen look crisp, which is the look you are going for with a white kitchen anyway. As soon as you choose colours then you will polarise people. I am a big fan of the mint green tiles that appear in lots of white kitchens these days but would never put them in a house that I am just selling because I am sure some people would hate them.
I am currently 6 days into a planned 4 week $20,000 reno. So far I am under budget but I think that the time will blow out. I was in the house within two hours of settlement to pull out carpets, but with two young kids (4 and 2) my energy flagged a little after that. I have got the floorboard sander and polisher booked in for 17 Feb in the hope that a deadline will force me to get things done but I may have been a little enthusiastic.
Keep up the good work
K
K
Hi Linar (K), Appreciate the advice. I think you are right – white it is. Can always add a bit of colour with a plant or some such.
What are you planning with yr reno – similar budget to us be we have 12 weeks to get it back on the market. Renovating with young kids certainly makes things a lot trickier. I would love to go finish painting my fence today but not a hope with 4 young kids…… I don’t even like them in the house now walls newly painted.
Good luck with yr reno – would love to hear more as you go.
Melanie
Hopefully towards home straight. Looking like maybe go 2 weeks over, but considering hb working own business full time too, will be OK. Budget is looking being ~$1000 under so will even out.
Paving under verandah should be finished tomorrow. Is coming up great.
I repainted the garage doors yesterday, mending gutters and repainting. Is also looking great.
Front fence finished painting, plus extra ‘bits’ ie front steps. The ‘little bits’ of paving have actually taken a long time!!! but have also discovered that a little can of paint can make a HUGE difference.Sorry keep forgetting to take camera.
Melanie
Still going. Definitely on home straight.
Last week we had a go at tiling the front sunroom. I layed the tiles and my hb was chief cutter. It came out GREAT. Really enjoyed it but have to grout yet…
Waterproofed the bathroom. Will get tiles layed in kitchen (only a few metres) and bathroom tomorrow.
Paving out under the verandah finished. Looks awesome. A friend commented that he thought we should have removed the old verandah but is amazed how good it all looks.
Previous photo further up blog.Went plant shopping for around patio area today.
Got a laundry/broom cupboard from Bunnings yesterday (house has no storage at all at present). Went to put together today to find instructions were for wrong unit, as were all other boxes. The guy at Bunnings ended up having to get the manufacturer to fax a copy.
We are just starting overtime now but are learning at an amazing rate. It’s the little jobs that add up to take more time. Still confident figures look ok.
Melanie
Getting so close. Excited/terrified about getting market appraisals shortly. I have been monitoring market carefully and still feel confident of goal price.
Floors were all polished today but not allowed to see until Thurs (apparently make sure no dust blown in).
Spent Sunday grouting the front sunroom with my 8 yo dau. We both enjoyed it and, although first attempt, the room is looking really inviting.
Put in a garden bed along front of piclet fence today. Digging out all that grass in black soil took a lot of energy but no cost as neighbour over the road offered the plants from her garden. I only have some the some minor paintwork and the eaves and gutters of shed left to paint, plus a small portion of bathroom to tile. I had never done this before, but talked to a number of helpful tradesmen (tilers mostly), bunnings guys and read up the how to section in my diy book before starting. We waterproofed everything carefully first, then tiles and grouted. Floor is newly polished, so it is off-white walls, white tiles and appliances and the rich brown of the wooden floor. Just need to get my chief tile cutter onsite as no matter how I try I cannot get the neat, clean edges he can and I don’t want anything to be second rate. Then we can do the cuts for last wall (shower and bath taps).
We are also busy borrowing and stealing friends and families bits and pieces to dress it.
A nice find today was an old shed on the property my hb currently working at that owner has offered to pay him to demolish and remove, including contents. Is apparently all nice tongue and groove floorboards, plus there are a small dining table, outdoor setting and 50m new kwila (spelling?) decking. I only hope we can get the profit we are aimimg at from this one and do another.
Cheers, Melanie
Hey Melanie,
You have probably put this somewhere in this thread but I'm too tired to read through it all. When you first bought the property, what market value were you aiming at and what do you think the market value is now that you are nearly finished?
Cheers
K
PS. Our reno is coming along very slowly but very inexpensively. We have done a lot of the work ourselves but have struggled to find the time. So far we are VERY under budget but our 1 month timeframe expired the other day and we haven't had any tradies in yet!
Hi K,
Purchase price:$230,000
Budget: $23,000
Sell price: $305,000 optimal, but $295,000 would still provide satisfactory outcome ($5,000 per week of physical work). Confident achievable.
Went with the white tiles thru the kitchen and bathroom and does look really nice against the polished floors.
Not ging post any more photos but here is the link to them for anyone interested.
http://photobucket.com/bzmum04
Ta, MelaneMelanie,
found your post inspiring. I am behind in the planning and execution of my reno which is 700km away. Found your post good with its real costs as helps to get comparisons. Keep up the post and good luck
RichardHi Melanie – I have just read through the whole story – thanks for sharing – can't wait to find out how it ends – I'd love to do reno's a bit further down the track – right now with a 4 yr and a 1 yr old we are sticking to buy n'holds and potential subdivides.
keep up the good work!!!
KathSorry for lack of input. The final cleaning/decorating/mowing etc has taken longe than expected (as expected!!) and the need for my hb to get back to his full time job has really effected the time frame. We have gone 4 weeks over our time frame, but realise in hind sight that it was unrealistic with our other committments (4 young children, our own business with no holiday pay..).
We have had the agents through to appraise the property with mixed results. All felt the standard of the reno was very high and that it would be an easy property to move. As to price – one agent felt we might be able to achieve our goal price but I felt he was doubtful. The properties he was using as a comparison were definitely not as good. The agent we signed with came across as being very confident of achieving a good sale and had recent sales that we felt were comparable with sale prices equal to or above what we are looking for. We had the prof photos done yesterday am so will be online very soon hopefully.
My only concern at present is that the agent has put the house online with just a nonprofessional front view. It looks OK but the strength in this house is the interior finishes and I hope people will come back and have a second look once photos go up.Cheers, Melanie
Here it is: the finished product. Any comments appreciated. Link to RE.com.au. Have just emailed agent to ask if can reorder the photos as I think the interior shots are the ones that will attract.http://
Thats all folks for now.
Well done Melanie,
All the best for a good sale
bzmum04 wrote:Here it is: the finished product. Any comments appreciated. Link to RE.com.au. Have just emailed agent to ask if can reorder the photos as I think the interior shots are the ones that will attract.http:// http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=105615700&f=0&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&cc=&c=41656779&s=qld&tm=1237458354 Thats all folks for now.hi bzmum, well done, looks great how is the feedback on the property so far?? keep on at the agent to push to fhogs as we don;t know if the grant will be exteneded…… probably will but who;s knows.
also have some suggestions. the garage doors would look better as 1 colour white or cream whatever, at the mo it draws your eyes to them and u don't want garage doos as a feature….. imho.
also have you read "wealth for life" tony melvin and ed chan, very good and easy read. it would be better to hold onto your asset get depreciation report done before end of tax year and re-finance either 80% of $3150000 and get $252000 back or borrow 95% pay mortgage insurance and gett all your money back and rent, if you sell you lose most of your profits to tax man, cgt. and have now asset appreciating. if you want sell sell after 12 months and live on the equity you just added and then you feduce your capital gain by 50%…. anyway try and read the book, it will throw a new light on what you done.
well done, it looks great.
watch out for agents as they will try and convince you not to sell…. they only mak e money on selling…… let me know how you go.
great read.
wayneThe good news is that the house is under contract for a very nice price. It goes unconditional later this week and the agent assures us that all seems to be going fine. If it goes through we will make enough to cover the equivalent of the 5 weeks of wages plus an extra 10,000 to put into another. It also meets the 12% profit criterion.
The buyer saw the property on the internet and had already virtually decided to put in an offer from there.
Thanks Yorkie,
We are selling the house as we are trying to provide an income stream now. Even with full CGT we will earn more than equivalent of my hb normal job, with less physical stress. Have read the buy and hold lit and agree it is a great stategy but different strategies for different situations. We hope to move in that direction later, probably when the youngest starts school in 18mo and I return to work.
Thanks all for your support.
Melanie
thats great news, just wanted to make sure that u;d done your homework, sound like you have.
good luck with the next one.
wayne
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