"They" being the hypothetical buyers of my house and "it" being all the work I'm doing!
Sometimes I look at the wonderful, beautiful improvements we are making to the house (like the bathroom tile) and I think: why didn't we do this years ago, when we could have reaped the enjoyment of this feature, instead of the next people to move in.
The answer, of course, is that I'm just not willing to put that much work into aesthetics or even minor conveniences. I never did care that much about looks! But selling my house is important enough that I am willing to do it to improve its marketability. But oh man, while I'm down on my knees with the trowel in hand for hours, I'm sure wishing I'd done it 2 or 6 or 12 years ago.
The great irony is that I'm just perfectionistic enough to do the job to a quality level the hypothetical new owners will never know about. They will never know that I ripped out plywood to put in cement backboard because it will last 10 times longer. They will never know that I carefully cleaned grout off every tile, even those that will be forever hidden by the (new!) vanity.
I think I just don't want "previous owner" karma haunting me for the rest of my life.
Comments (1)
They will never know that I ripped out plywood to put in cement backboard because it will last 10 times longer. They will never know that I carefully cleaned grout off every tile, even those that will be forever hidden by the (new!) vanity.
They will if you tell them! Which you should. It's not that they need or perhaps even want beautiful tile behind the vanity, it's that they should know about the careful and high-quality work involved, which will help sell your house (maybe even at a higher price!).
Note that the care you put into a good floor is care in building, which everyone should care about, rather than care poured into an aesthic that only you care about. (A certain friend of mine spent an inordinate amount of time picking out granite tiles without much color, something she liked. She was greviously disappointed when prospective buyers didn't really care about that bit of work.)
Posted by Harimad | April 3, 2008 10:28 AM
Posted on April 3, 2008 10:28