I mentioned in an earlier blog that Lenny and I are in the process of downsizing. In the last blog, I wrote about getting the house ready to put on the market. Five and ½ months later, our house has sold. Here’s a free tip: Your house sells much more quickly when you give it away.
Keeping the house clean and in show condition for that length of time was challenging. It was more than challenging. It was a real pain in the neck and other places. (Lenny added the last two lines.)
We endured thirty plus showings with feedback such as “House is too big”, “House is too small”, “House isn’t open enough” (if it were more open, you’d be outside!), “We can’t see the back yard from the kitchen window” and my favorites – “The yard is too small (it’s the size of a football field) and “The downstairs family room isn’t big enough for us to gather with our teen-aged boys.” We have a huge playroom upstairs and as my wise daughter pointed out, how often do teen-aged boys want to hang out with their parents anyway? We learned if someone doesn’t want your house, they will come up with any number of reasons. Of course, from our perspective, none of them were valid.
We found a great smaller house in a very nice neighborhood, so we’re excited. As we wait for all the details to be settled, I’m trying to figure out what furniture an
d art we can fit into the new house and which pieces will have to go. I’m not so emotionally attached to the furniture, but the art is a different story. The art makes the house MY home. The thought of getting rid of any of the pieces makes me very sad – like saying goodbye to a dear friend.
On one of our trips to the new house, I measured all the walls in each room and drew them to scale. Yes, I know there are apps for this, but after trying to figure them out, I decided it would be faster for me to just do it the old-fashioned way. I measured all the furniture and cut out pieces to scale. That allowed me to arrange the furniture in the new rooms and figure out what would have to go. I measured our art as well and figured out which pieces will go where.
Where there is a choice between a non-essential piece of furniture and a piece of art, the art wins. Maybe it would be a different story if I owned a furniture store. I’m curious – look at the art on your walls and let me know what you think. Would your art win?
Stay tuned as my downsizing saga continues…
