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Ventura, California SIX bedroom, THREE bathroom house.
OK, the last time I was in Ventura was awhile ago, but in my diving days this was a pretty nice neighbourhood of up and comers.
!) Car for rebuild will not happen in your driveway; in fact, it usually never happens; whose project is this?
2) dead orchard trees make either great firewood or craft projects; surprised Calif. doesn't make you remove them
3) old building outside should go; there's a SECOND building? eyesore time
4) paint outside - siding is?? If it's cedar, remove the paint, which is mainly elbow grease and time
5) fence, doors and garage doors all need repair/paint
Honestly, folks, but what does this sound like to you? Too me w/o a photo is sounds like an eyesore in what might be a nice neighborhood. Three adults left in the house equals a crew in my book. Been there.
First of all, as everyone else has mentioned: Get rid of the clutter. Don't know how? Well, it's easy for us to say, "Away with it all!", but YOU are the one having to do it -- and let's face it, if you weren't naturally clutter-bugs, this wouldn't have happened in the first place.
You need a system. I would strongly recommend that you check out a website: FlyLady.net This website has developed organically over the last 15-20 years, and is a treasure house of HOW to declutter. It even gives you a system on how to declutter, and starts you off with baby steps that you can build on, and a schedule on how to maintain it. It won't happen overnight -- it didn't get that way overnight, either. But if there's three people in the house, adults and of sound mind and body, it shouldn't take THAT long. If worst comes to worst, hire a professional organizer to help you with particularly troublesome areas -- kitchen, office, bedroom closet, etc. But it's hard to paint, carpet, decorate, etc. if you are constantly moving piles of junk.
Garage sales are a good declutterer and might earn you a few bucks, but ONLY if you resolve that NOTHING comes back into the house after it goes out into the yard. EVERYTHING goes, even if you have to throw it in a car and take it to Goodwill.
Consider having a home inspector come through and check out things from a safety and structural standpoint. A crack in the garage may be nothing -- or it may be a problem.
Then, I'd fix and finish the bathrooms. Hire someone, if you have to, but finish SOMETHING. You'll feel better, you'll have a nice, new bathroom, and it will give you the impetus for other projects. The bathroom is something that you use every day -- having to maneuver around half-finished projects like that is depressing and a constant reminder of things that need to be done.
After that -- make a list. 1 to 50. I'd say that new furniture and carpet comes last, after everything else has been cleaned up and polished. Then just methodically go down the list, one by one. Don't go to #2 until #1 is done. If you all want to work together on each project, then fine. If you feel better about splitting the list up among each other, that's fine, too. Hold regular meetings and see who is "stuck", and what can be done to help "unstick" them.
I hear you about the books -- we recently pared our collection down by giving away about 200 books -- but there's still over 2000 left in the library. HOWEVER, we have a library, and it's fairly organized thanks to paying one of our kids to organize it one summer. Maybe there's a closet that can repurposed for your books with shelves (even have one of those pantry shelves that can slide in and out), or maybe you just need to set aside a wall somewhere and build shallow cabinets for your books and make it a part of your decorating.
And invite your neighbors for BBQ -- that way, they can't complain about the smoke. :-)
Make a list by room of things that need to be fixed/adjusted. Then make a side list of bigger things. For instance I had things like adjust the cabinets and tighten the knobs under Kitchen but on the side for a whole house project I put vacuum and clean baseboard elements. Then you fix the things that are either in dire need or can be done cheaply at that moment while prioritizing and saving for the bigger projects.
FIRST for you should be the de-cluttering. Organizing and seriously throwing away or donating what you don't want or need. It may be worthwhile to get a dumpster and start filling but again go room by room and make the piles. This is for the garage, this is trash, this needs to be saved in the attic, etc. Once done you can easily put things back and ensure you have the correct storage for them.
Here is an example for you, I took all of our soda, juice, party beverages and re-stacked them all in some order. We are not big soda drinkers but when we have company or gatherings it's nice to have variety. I'm a little more OCD in that I actually taped some of the boxes that were not opened right or have broken open to keep them functional, and put it in some kind of order.
I will admit I have OCD do a certain degree and it drives my wife nuts sometimes but when it comes to organizing and cleaning stuff she never argues with the end result, more in the time it takes me to do it.
Your case of Sierra Mist needs to be pushed back slightly to line-up exactly with the other cases of drinks...
Start with the bbq smoke complaining neighbor and tell him you like to bbq and it causes smoke so he should stay inside when he sees smoke coming from your bbq.
Next have a family meeting and set your priorities and put it all in writing.
Start with the list you posted here and go through it one by one with the family to determine which order things should be done.
Then start the list and do all the task from start to finish until they are all completed.
Personally I would start with the clutter since getting rid of that will clear space in the home (in theory).
Okay, I'm confused. Are you the wife, affectionately calling your husband "Dad," or the child?
Either way, the Dad issue regarding not finishing projects, sounds like a relationship issue to me. If the house is owned by mom and dad, it's between them to work out how/when they do projects. If they never do them, and they become senile and go into a nursing home - then let the kids duke it out. It's creepy for kids to butt in to their parents' home projects, anticipating selling the house down the road....when they get sick....etc., etc.
If they're smart, they'll surprise all the kids by selling the place, buying an RV and spending all their own money, anyway.
Regarding the fruit trees...don't replant them! Lots of maintenance and messy!
Declutter down to necessities and legitimate keeps first via
ebay, craigslist, yard sales, goodwill/charity and the city dump
have something exit your house daily, even if just shredded paper for the recycle center
call grown kiddos to come get their share of things out of the attic, garage or basement..call them now so they have plenty of time before your remodel phase
hardwood or tile floors only...use throw ans large oriental rugs if you like cover but WW carpet is gross
if you know you are staying put then get a freebie kitchen and bath consultation from Home Depot or Lowes, follow that up with a professional designer quote... sit with the ideas and vow to do nothing until all is decluttered
weatherize before you remodel and research other great energy efficient update before you begin making adjustment and purchases
reassess personal style vs home biz functionality
HARBOR DAY foundation mails out FREE trees a couple of time a year check them out
Start composting so you can have some great soil inputs for future tress and shrubs
Add a fast growing tall bush line where your property meets up with the smoker so you can filter the air a bit... crepe myrtles are inexpensive and may do the trick
This is a hard, almost difficult task to take on and is next to impossible with three people still living in the house who will have differing opinions on where to start and what needs to be thrown out.
My advice is to bring an outside party in to lay a reasonable plan of attack out that is agreeable to all those involved and follow it to a tee.
My mom passed several years ago and while her house was immaculate it was extremely worn, carpets, interior and exterior painting etc. I have the skill set for many of the projects but I was also able to negotiate with those things I could not do. In the year before we sold the house I spent over 30K in paint, tile, siding, carpet, and upgrades to make the house more marketable. I am a wheeler dealer (frugal) and not negotiating or hiring everything out would have brought the total to 50K easily. We sold the house with not a problem but there was no way my mom would have agreed to some of the repairs I did and there was no way we could have cleaned the house and do the repairs with her in there.
My advise if you have the money.....again bring a third party in like a realtor and make a list follow it strictly and if you can rent a place for six months to get out of the house, do so and go for it. Remember a third party has hopefully no emotional ties to any of you and will have the ability to look at things constructively.
If your in a great selling area forgo any kitchen or bath upgrades.
Neighbors are something that you will have to endure....prioritize for privacy and go from there.....with the amount of work you are talking about you don't want to give them reason to turn back on you, such as reporting you every time they see work going going on at your house to see if you are getting required permits.
Good luck, I really enjoy taking on light renovations....the before and after is wicked rewarding.
So we've owned this big 6 bedroom 3 bath house for 21 years now. We are a family of four and now we (the kids) are all grown. 3 of us still live in the house (mom, pop, child.)
The house had "projects" when we moved in, but after 21 years things have deteriorated so now we need:
exterior paint
interior paint
new fence
brick wall repair/replace
fix patio settling/rising
big 1-2" crack in garage floor
electrical sockets
clean the grout in the tile
two 50% complete bathroom remodels
one bathroom needs remodeling
kitchen needs remodeling
repair holes in wall/ceiling from natural gas installation
replace carpet
new windows
new garage door
LOT's of clutter and stuff (furniture, gym equipment, computers, stereos, antiques, bicycles, woodshop tools and saws)
one classic car to restore in the driveway
all the fruit trees died (they were old) need to plant new fruit trees
repair sprinkler system
need to new furniture in the whole house
lot's and lot's of books, hundreds (that we all want to keep)
need to replace interior and exterior doors
fix or replace or just tear down the shed outside
paint the 2nd (smaller fence)
fix the brick masonry on the driveway entrance
Our bathroom remodel is getting old before it's even completed and the other one is stalled at 50% and unusable.
On top of all this we have 3 new neighbors who are "new" so we have all the issues with that. (see other post about planting hedges) One of the new neighbors likes to smoke cigarettes on his patio and the smoke fills the WHOLE AREA so it's like being in a bar when you come home and get out of your car. The other neighbor just came to our front door to complain about us having a BBQ (about the smoke.)
So I feel like we are in a transition phase as a family and maybe we need to "resettle" or re-arrange.
Any tips on what to do? Especially with all of the projects that "Dad" thinks he can do all himself.
Everyone is retired who is living in the house and have their own "hobby-businesses" that they operate out of bedrooms converted to offices as well.
The house is nice but we are feeling a little overwhelmed and confused with all the issues. I've seen the positive people on this board so I thought I'd post this.
Any tips/advice?
Are you the child?
Are you retired?
Who owns the house?
Who in particular feels things have changed?
Why the mad rush to fix it up? And all at once? Is there a sale planned? Downsizing decision?
The place is not as horrible as I might make it seem, but the new neighbors are a huge drag. It's worth a ton of money and we aren't worried about money really. It's more about the clutter and state of upkeep and the fact that there are soooo many projects and Dad wants to do them all himself or deny that they need to be done at all, and he's never finished a house project 100% in his life. He always leaves them 90% done.
Oh -- that's easy! Ask your father to teach you how to ... what ever it is to finish the project. You get to learn, you get to bond with dad even more (I loved working with my dad, that's what opened him up to really talking) and the project gets done...
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