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[http://users.livejournal.com/_holly/]

You all are such super-duper craft divas and all around smarties, that I was sure you could help me with my current...


I graduated from college last May and will be finally moving out of my parent's house this May. A friend and I will be renting a house (actually my old house from my grade school years) from my parents (they have 2 rental properties). My parents are very encouraging and are giving us a great deal on the house. I have no qualms with renting from my parents and look at it as a great opportunity to be on my own, yet not in a commpletely unforgiving environment. Did I mention I won't be living with me parents..... And it's a whole house??? *grin* I am excited about it.

Anyway, the people that have lived in the house for the last 5 years are... trashy to say the least. I did a walk through with my future housemate to show her the house this past week and I was so shocked and saddened by the state of the house (I hadn't been there in a while.). I have such fond memories of the house and these people have just tortured it. It looks horrid. I wanted to cry. I almost did. I couldn't believe what they have done to the place.

Anyway, the whole place needs to be scrubbed cleaned and much needs to be painted. There are at least two rooms with marked up/scratched up walls that need to be repainted. In one of the front rooms the current tenents painted over wall paper with an ugly, glossy, blue paint. Well, that looks like crap because you can see the unevenness of the wallpaper under the paint. That rooms needs to be repainted. I think we're going to choose two matte neutral colors that are within a couple shades of each other and paint one on as the base coat and then ragroll the other on top of it. I am hoping that the matte finish, the understated color, and the texture from the ragrolling will effectively hide the unevenness of the wallpaper that has been painted over. Ripping the wallpaper off isn't really an option because the house is old so it plaster and lathe underneath. The stairway and upstairs hallway is the same ugly blue color and also need to be repainted. (Did I mention that they painted sloppily and there is blue spots all over the white trim?) They also ripped up perfectly good carpet in these areas and laid down thin, nappy, dark blue carpeting. That needs to get ripped up. There is wood under the carpet in the front room, so we plan on baring that and getting an area rug. The stairs can be carpetless and painted. I'm not sure about the upstairs hallway flooring. The bathrooms and kitchen are okay for now, as are a couple of the other rooms. Meaning I don't want to delay moving in even more by painting the entire house, only those rooms that really needs it urgently. The lawn where they have laid down random flagstones and pen in a small area for their dogs (which is grassless and smelly) needs some work, mostly just tilling and grass seed in the appropriate areas. I'm not too concerned about the outward appearance of the house at the moment (aside fram the lawn) because I know the trim needs a new coat of paint desperately. (Oh, and why the hell would you decide to paint the railings on a deck a pinkish/red color when the siding on your house is green and the trim is blue? I don't know what to do about that.)

So... yeah, that is my situation. I was wondering if you all had some cleaning tips and painting tips that you could share, as well as any advice/comments that you have concerning my above description of the house. We'd basically be painting just walls and trim. Nothing too out of the ordinary. I don't think we're going to do anything outrageous (like crazy colors or stripes, just something classy and clean and nice looking) since we are renting and I would like the house to be marketable for my parents when we leave. Anything that you have done in the past that has worked well and that you would recommend would be great. Or even tips on what to avoid. I've never done anything like this so full-scale, and especially not to my own place. I am hoping that your recommendations on what to do/what not to do will help me and my housemate decide on how to proceed with this undertaking. I want to get the cleaning and painting over as quickly as possible so that we can move in and get settled as early in May as we can. (We're getting May free of rent for doing the cleaning and painting.)

I am also hoping to add personality to the house with our other decorating (because of classic paint job I am hoping for, I want to add personality and pizazz with our other decorations) as well and was wondering if you might offer your advice there. We're not coming to this a whole ton of money to spend, so I am trying to find cheap decorating ideas. We're bringing a motley assortment of dishes and furniture, a great deal of it from the 70s. *laughs* I also know that there are various old doors and (huge) mirrors around the house that I could probably take for my own and use for a project. It's going to be very ecclectic, yet I would somehow like to find a way to tie it all together, so that there is some kind of flow from room to room at least. I am very crafty. I can sew, crochet, paint, bead... you name it. If I can get instructions on it (or figure it out myself), I can probably pull it off. I am also a photographer. So again, I am asking, if there is anything recommendations/suggestions that you could make in this area, it would be so appreciated.

Any and all ideas and comments are welcome. I am definitely excited about this and enjoy talking about it with anyone who listens. *grin* Better yet if that person has great/helpful/fun/charming painting and decorating ideas or advice. Thanks again. I know that was probably a lot to wade through.

Oh, the house is 4 bedrooms (though one is storage) and a laundry room. Two bathrooms (one upstairs and one downstairs), 3 rooms downstairs plus a mudroom and kitchen. A front and back porch and a deck.