We move in at the end of this week after what seems like the longest month of my life. No blood, but lots of sweat and tears were shed just working on these cosmetic updates.
The upstairs has undergone a significant facelift. The only spaces we didn't touch were the bathrooms, as those are going to get gutted and renovated, hopefully within the next year.
- We had recessed lighting installed in three of the bedrooms (one already had recessed lighting) and updated all of the bulbs to "daylight" LEDs. This has made a huge difference in how much brighter and airier the space feels. Cost: $955, including the installation for 4 recessed lights downstairs.
- We painted pretty much every surface upstairs with two coats, including all the trim, the doors, and the interiors of the closets. Cost: $1040 for all paint and supplies covering 2200+ square feet.
- Two of the bedrooms had these weird hanging closet doors that we removed and plan to replace. We removed all the existing blinds because they were in desperate need of a cleaning. I might clean and reinstall some of them as a temporary solutions, but I plan on eventually ordering custom roman shades for each of the rooms.
- We had new Stainmaster Pet Protect carpet installed. The carpet feels so soft and looks so pretty and warm with the subtle pattern. I'm so happy to have a beautiful and safe floor for the boys to run around on. The only thing I'm concerned about is that in some places, the carpet isn't flush against the baseboard. I don't think that is normal, so we are going to talk with Lowe's. Cost for 1200 square feet: $3700, with our 10% moving discount.
The boys' room in BM Sea Foam.
Baby Judah just soaking in some rays.
We're down to the last few details: touching up paint, replacing and reinstalling outlet and light covers, and caulking some spots in the wall that the carpet didn't cover.
Would I do anything differently?
In retrospect, I would hire a painter. Painting really brought out the anal-retentiveness in me and took forever. I mean, we haven't even touched the downstairs, and we've had the keys for a month! However, David is convinced that they wouldn't meet my standards and we would have to repaint anyway. I might also have the paint strength cut in certain rooms. The Nelson Blue in the master is so beautiful and really the perfect shade of blue-gray but I might have experimented with having it cut down to 75% strength.
As far as flooring goes, I am super happy with our carpet choice. The color, feel and pattern are all beautiful, and I 100% believe that this is the safest option with two tiny boys. I know that I'll probably be spending extra time vacuuming (even with our no-shoes-upstairs policy), but I'm ok with that.
We move in on Friday. Final countdown has begun!