Trading City Life for the Farm

Trading City Life for the Farm

From: HGTV.COM

A couple gets help selling their city home so they can move to the country.

Before:

 

There is beautiful hardwood flooring in the attic, but they are terribly scuffed up. The homeowner tried to cover it with a new area rug, but that also looks shabby.

Homeowners Jill Patton and husband John Bean are ready for a change in lifestyle. They are selling their home in suburban Washington, D.C., and moving to the country to live on a farm. The home's location should make it an easy sale; the neighborhood offers suburban living in the heart of the city. The 2,500-square-foot house would be perfect for a couple or small family. There is a large addition off the kitchen, a spacious master suite and a finished attic.

 

Real estate expert Shirley Mattam-Male pays a visit to give the homeowners her candid advice. She finds the outside beautiful and very inviting. Once inside, the addition off the kitchen has her confused. She feels it would make more sense as a breakfast room then a sitting room. In the master bedroom, she loves the hardwood floors, but hates the cheap blinds. She also thinks that the room needs a fresh coat of paint and some sprucing up. Mattam-Male climbs the stairs to the attic and finds the extra square footage absolute bliss, it brings a lot of value to the house. But the floors are in bad shape, and the unfinished trim work looks shabby.

Designer Taniya Nayak agrees with Mattam-Male's assessment and lays out a plan to make the interior of this home as wonderful as the exterior.

Step 1: Refinish the attic floors, and add some wall color in an effort to convert the space into an additional bedroom.

Step 2: Repurpose the addition off the kitchen into a breakfast room.

Step 3: Add some romance to the master bedroom with new paint, window treatments and bedding.

Contractors John Allen and Matt Steele know the design plan and are ready to get the job done. The large skylights bring in lots of natural light, so it's too bad the trim and molding around them is not finished. The light fixture on the ceiling is in sorry shape - a bare bulb is the room's sole source of artificial light. The brightness of the space emphasizes the drabness of the wall color. A fresh coat of paint is sorely needed. The master bedroom (not shown), looks rather worn out and poorly maintained. The closet doors are off their rails, a chest of drawers is blocking the artwork on the wall, and the window treatments look ragged.

 

Before, this attic was partially finished with piecemeal skylights, a pitiful light fixture and scratched floors. Now, this attic is a cozy bedroom with newly stained hardwood floors.

By finishing the trim around the skylights, painting the walls and adding a smart light fixture, this room's appeal shot straight up. Bedrooms sell houses, so converting this attic will add extra value to the home. In the master bedroom (not shown), new pleated drapes and bedding are added. A fresh coat of olive-green paint gives the room an air of sophistication and romance. The homeowner's antique furniture gets refinished. Nice-looking furniture helps show off nice-looking houses.

 

This bright and airy room off the kitchen is an addition to the original home.

The overcrowded bookshelves and stained Berber carpet take away from the room's positive features. There is nothing cozy about fluorescent lights, and the large fixture in this room does nothing to bring in ambiance.

 

 

The dingy sitting room is now a cozy breakfast room.

The closet and bookshelves got a facelift with a new coat of paint and some trim molding. The austere fluorescent light is replaced with a classy wrought-iron-style chandelier. The stained carpet gets ingeniously revamped by cutting a large rectangle out of the middle section and inserting a darker remnant piece to look like an area rug within the carpet. Seaming tape and seam sealer are used to prevent the remnant from fraying. The inexpensive carpet fix not only got rid of the stains, but it also added interest and color to the room.

 

 

Cost breakdown:
dining set and lighting $420
bookcase upgrade $160
carpet and supplies $98
attic materials $200
bedding and drapes $536
paint and supplies $180
accessories $398
Total: $1,992
Breakfast nook products:
red toss pillows, 450-70437056, Burlington Coat Factory
bronze flower five-light chandelier, 153528 and chandelier lampshades, 235436, Lowe's
drapery panels, Radiance, 732/1030, JCPenney Outlet
curtain rods, 04243729022, Wal-Mart
Champagne Red remnant, City Carpet
Attic products:
vase, 759236; toss pillows, 160010, 149359 and 723810; drapes, 725737, T.J. Maxx
track bar lighting, Sparta, 119255, Lowe's
paint, Desert Tan, eggshell, 2153-50, Pineapple Paint Co. (Benjamin Moore Paints)
Master bedroom products:
Tree of Life wall hanging, 706-70079265, Burlington Coat Factory
comforter set, 004180841607; toss pillows, 088530800802; curtain rods, 004429410089, Wal-Mart
wall paint, Providence Olive, HC-98; closet door paint, Abington Putty, HC-99, Pineapple Paint Co. (Benjamin Moore Paints)

 

From: HGTV.com