We have lived in our fixer upper for 8 months now. I thought it would be a good time to share some of the good and the bad of buying a home that needs a lot of work, time and money. Here are a few things we have learned so far.
Lesson no. 1- Renters are hard on houses.
I have been surprised how long it has taken us to get to some things. Honestly, its because there is so much to do! Renters had been in the house for over a decade before we bought it. They did things like GLUE shutters to the house and THEN paint them. It took us a long time to figure out the best way to get adhesive off of brick. I get frustrated with things that have been done that I would never have. I have to remind myself of how amazing it will be in the end. Here is what she looked like the day we closed…
Here she is while in the process of staining the brick…
(which brings me to our next lesson)…
Lesson no. 2 – Stain is healthier for brick than paint.
This one surprised me. I had never thought about staining brick before. I didn’t even know they had white stain. The more we researched painting brick, the more we realized its not a wise long term choice. Paint does not allow the brick to breathe. I was super sad because I thought my white cottage dreams were over. We stumbled across a professional painter who recommended staining as an alternative and explained how this keeps the brick in good shape by allowing it to breathe. Shaun sprayed the brick with white stain 3 times. I then did one coat by hand with a brush to fill in all the spaces. It takes longer to complete but is the best way to change the color of your brick.
Lesson no. 3 – Save energy anywhere you can.
If there is something you don’t want, instead of throwing it away yourself, offer it for free or discounted online (with the caveat that they need to remove it). Free labor!
We had an old basement kitchen we didn’t need, BUT we did need another bedroom. We posted the kitchen online for a good price with the disclaimer they would need to do the work to remove it. This allowed us to use our energy elsewhere, while making a little money along the way.
Same thing with this breezeway between the garages. Shaun wants concrete here instead of pavers. We posted them for free online with the caveat that they would need to remove them. Here it is on the day we closed…
After 6 months (not much improvement)…
And after the pavers were removed by someone else for free…
Lesson no 4. – Some things are cheap to fix.
This one shocked me as well. We assumed everything would be expensive to fix. We’ve realized that some things just need time instead of money. Here is our window well cover on the day we moved in…
And now after a little spray paint and weeding…
The bad:
We still have a long way to go! Here is the side of our shed that is literally falling apart. This needs to be moved up on the priority list of things to fix. Shaun has been scouring Facebook marketplace for leftover shingles to re-do the exterior and roof.
The good:
Shaun and his friends put in a new fence for us over the last couple of weeks. We went with a high-end wood looking vinyl fence that will last a really long time. We have been saving in so many areas and that allowed us to splurge on this purchase. It looks great next to the mature landscaping. We didn’t even know we had a cherry blossom tree until Spring arrived. New builds rarely come with the mature landscaping which really makes a home look so established.
We will keep you posted on other lessons we learn along our journey!
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