40 Home Improvements in 11.5 Years

August 9, 2011 by Heather Lucier Stanley Comments Off

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Today is the closing day for our buyer and our current home will no longer be our current home shortly. Exciting!

Alan and I have enjoyed improving our current home over the past 11.5 years. When we purchased our home, it was a newly finished spec home owned by Newmark Homes, the builder. Below is the list of home improvements as best as I can recall:

Exterior

01. Extended the back patio from a small concrete pad to a larger area
02. Added flagstone to the front walkway, front entryway, front porch, and back patio
03. Added 1 additional flower bed in the center front of the property where one sidewalk is adjacent to the other and extended the flower bed closest to the front porch to wrap around the street side of the house
04. Created stone and mortar borders around all 3 flower beds and 3 trees in the front yard
05. Planted at least 11 trees and shrubs for shade covering
06. Added front yard lighting to light up the flower beds and trees at night
07. Added a sprinkler system in the front and back yard
08. Repainted the Hardiplank siding, outdoor trim and outdoor patio railings and columns
09. Replaced the garage door with an insulated garage door (This improvement was necessary when the garage door permanently broke one day)
10. Added a storm door
11. On the street side, moved up the backyard fence several feet to extend the backyard and provide a discrete place in the backyard for an outdoor shed
12. On the neighbor’s side, added another gate for additional access to the backyard
13. Added a back shed and a slate pad on which the shed and the outdoor garbage container rest
14. Added a fountain in the front yard
15. Revised most of the original landscaping

Interior

01. Replaced all the carpet downstairs, upstairs, and on the stairs with Quik-Step wood laminate flooring
02. Added custom wood plantation shutters to all the common rooms downstairs
03. Added real wood blinds in all 4 bedrooms, in the master bathroom, and in the stairway landing window
04. Repainted most of the rooms a neutral color
05. Added Crate and Barrel curtain rods and curtains to the 4 bedrooms
06. Created under the stairs storage room and finished out the floor and walls
07. Replaced all the bathroom faucets
08. Replaced all the gold tone ceiling fans with modern brushed nickel ceiling fans
09. Replaced all the gold tone door knobs with brushed nickel knobs
10. Replaced all the white plastic downstairs face plates with brushed nickel face plates
11. Replaced the sliding glass door with an all glass door and 2 full sidelight panels
12. Replaced the white stove and white dishwasher with a stainless steel stove and dishwasher
13. Removed the built in desk in the kitchen and increased the height of the side bar to accommodate a beverage cooler
14. Bought a beverage cooler that is staying with the current house
15. Routed out the doors and added glass to all the upper kitchen cabinet doors
16. Remodeled the kitchen: 3 x 5 white subway tile backsplash, undermount accent lighting, black honed granite counter top, brushed nickel hardware, deep stainless steel sink, new faucet and built in soap dispenser, new brushed nickel pulls and handles, and painted the kitchen cabinets white
17. Painted the front door, back door and stair railings
18. Removed the original hanging light fixtures in the kitchen, breakfast nook, back living room downstairs and all the hallways and replaced them with recessed lighting
19. Replaced the gold tone front hall lighting fixture with a wrought iron finish hall lighting fixture
20. Added surround sound wiring to the Front Living/Dining room
21. Added built in ceiling speakers to the Back Living room
22. Added a full floor to ceiling wall mirror in the workout room
23. Added built in cabinets to the garage
24. Added additional built in cabinetry in the laundry room
25. Painted all the bathroom vanities white

suburbia

About Heather Lucier Stanley

Heather Lucier Stanley grew up in Central Massachusetts and lived in New England until she started studying at the University of Michigan where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and Literature. In her early 20s, she moved to San Antonio, Texas and started studying business and accounting. In her late 20s, she became a Certified Public Accountant. She has held many varied and interesting business and volunteer positions: public accountant, internal auditor, systems implementer, project manager, business analyst, tax preparer and Austin Skiers board member. While traveling 35% for a position she held, she earned her Master of Information Systems (MIS) at the University of Phoenix. She is enthusiastic about learning and trying new things. A few of her passions are personal development, fitness, snow skiing, and travel. She is outgoing and real. She feels that success is easy to attain if the individual defines what success means to her and then has a plan to achieve her individual success. No two definitions of success are the same because each of us is unique and has something original to share with the world.
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