Popcorn Ceilings, Polybutylene Plumbing, and Masonite Siding are three things that most Cary home buyers DO NOT like

Popcorn Ceiling

to see when looking at homes to purchase. They like smooth natural surfaces, reduced risk of water leaks, and reduced maintenance. Because all three were present in the Cary home we purchased, we decided to remove them in the rebuilding process.

 The popcorn ceilings are the sprayed on ceilings that leave little bumps. They are common in homes that were built during 1980-1996. This is not a popular feature with most buyers.

 Polybutylene is a form of plastic resin that was used extensively in the manufacture of water

Polybutylene Piping

supply piping from 1978 until 1995. Due to the low cost and ease of installation it was viewed as the “pipe of the future”. They were installed in over 6,000,000 homes. Because of the failure rate of these pipes, it is now believed that oxidants in public water cause them to be brittle and break or leak. The biggest problem these pipes present is in the joints. The failure rate is much less if the joints are copper fittings.  We are finding that most Cary Homes are built today with PEX pipe,

Masonite Siding

Masonite siding was used by most builders until 1998. It is a wood product that needs to be carefully maintained by checking for nail pops and wood rot. The exterior is wood but the interior of the boards are wood filler. That is why wood rot and nail pops are so prevalent. Today most homes are built with fiber cement products. They typically have a 25-40 year guarantee. This makes home exterior maintenance almost foolproof.

 Our ultimate goal is to replace everything in our Cary home so that it will require little or no maintenance for the next several years. It is costly, but in the long run it will pay for itself in time, dollars, and peace of mind.

We are Rebuilding this Home in Cary NC

                                            The Great Room, Den, and Guest Bedroom

Here’s the Ranch Home we purchased in the Preston subdivision in Cary, North Carolina. Preston is a beautiful golf course community in Cary with 54 holes of golf and over 2400 homes. We are in the process of totally rebuilding this home to fit our comfort and lifestyle. We would like to share our experience and progress with you via our blog. This post describes and illustrates our redesign of theThe Great Room, Den, and Guest Bedroom:

The Great Room 

This picture shows the original floorplan looking from the front entry to the great room. Notice the 8 ft wall angling out into the great room from the kitchen.

This view after the demo shows the kitchen wall removed for a more expansive, cleaner look and feel.

Here’s a look at the expanded great room from the kitchen area. There will be six canned lights and a ceiling fan to illuminate and cool this space.

Den

This picture shows the original den or study located in the front middle section of the house. There was no closet so this room could not be counted as a bedroom for resale purposes.

Here’s a picture from the same angle showing the closet we have added to the room. For resale, this home is now a 3 bedroom home and not a 2 bedroom home.

The Guest Bedroom

The guest bedroom is located in the front corner of the home and measures 12 x 11. Assuming we utilize a queen sized bed here, there is not adequate room for 2 nightstands with lamps. So we added 4 canned lights and will probably use just one night stand.

The closet in the guest bedroom is one of the larger closets in the home. We will section this closet off with long and short hanging spaces, cubby holes for sweaters, and a space dedicated for our guests.

The Great Room, Den and Guest Bedroom

In deciding how to best utilize these rooms, we needed to figure out what was most important for our new CaryNC lifestyle.

The Great Room will be our main living area. I view this room and the kitchen as a team. They need to blend and work well together. That is why we decided to change the position of some of the windows and the French door that is our entry to the home from the garage. We also extended the far wall of the living room to give a more private entrance to the master bedroom. The TV will be placed above the newly designed fireplace area. It is amazing what a few tweaks have done to this area.

The Den was used as a study in the past, but now with the addition of a closet, it can officially be a third bedroom. A second TV will be put in this room along with some workout equipment. I consider this room Dave’s “man cave”. He can watch all of the football and basketball to his heart content as long as he keeps the door shut. It will be set up in such a way that this room can easily transform as a third bedroom when needed.

The guest bedroom needed few changes. The carpet was removed and replaced with wood floors like the rest of the home. We added canned lighting and the closet will be built to accommodate our seasonal hanging clothes. This is the one room where we actually do not need to buy any new furniture.

Stay tuned for our next edition, “The AGA vs The La Cornue“.

Here’s the Ranch Home we purchased in the  Preston subdivision in Cary, North Carolina.   Preston is a beautiful golf course community in Cary with 54 holes of golf and over 2400 homes. We are in the process of totally rebuilding this home to fit our comfort and lifestyle.  We would like to share our experience and progress with you via our blog.  This post describes and illustrates our redesign of the dining room and 2nd bath:

The Dining Room / Office

 Here’s the original dining room which is located in the left front section of the home as you enter from the front door.  We are definitely keeping the nice plantation shutters. Do we need a dining room??

 Here’s another view of the original dining room.  Notice the half wall and the
large framed mirror which backs up to the kitchen wall.

 No, we do not need a dining room.  We are building a small dining / breakfast
nook area in the rear corner of the home adjacent to the kitchen.  The dining
room is being converted into an office.  The half wall  is gone, replaced by a
full wall with a pocket door and a transom window above the door. The framed mirror is also gone.

 The 2nd Bath

This picture shows the original 2nd bath.  The
bathroom was very narrow and you entered the room from an odd angle in the
hallway.

Here the back wall of the 2nd bath has been removed.  We expanded the original space by moving the cold air return, which initially was located in a space directly behind the toilet

This is a picture of the newly framed and expanded 2nd bath. The tub is a
standard size, yet it is equipped with 6 whirlpool jets so it functions as a
small (saves a lot of hot water) spa tub.  Notice the space saving pocket door
again.

When considering the space (lack of) that our Cary home offered, we decided that an office would fit our lifestyle better than a formal dining room. This was really an easy choice. I would prefer to host a meal in our open kitchen/living area with our quaint Italian dishes rather than dig out our gold rimmed china.

This space works perfectly as a nice office setting.  After having the mirrors pulled, we also removed the half wall from the entry and added a full wall with a transom window and pocket door.  The mirrored wall will now have built in cherry cabinets and lateral file drawers.  The cabinets will be the same style and cherry wood as the kitchen and bathrooms.  In a small home, you do not want to mix too many different products and styles.  Carroll Cope, our designer, taught me that point and it may be the most important thing I have learned so far.

When we bought our first home a bazillion years ago, I wanted to decorate each room with a different color and theme. If we could have afforded new carpet at the time, every room would have had a different color. The kitchen had periwinkle blue cabinets and red tile countertops that the previous owner had selected. It was way beyond our budget and imagination to find a solution for that room. I spent my time and dollars decorating the bedrooms. I wish I had kept pictures to compare my tastes fromwhen I was 21 to now almost forty years later.

The second bath was gutted with space added. We got very creative redesigning this space. It now has a spa bath and a linen closet. Stay tuned, next week we’ll talk about the Great Room, Den, and Guest Bedroom.

Here’s the Ranch Home we purchased in the  Preston subdivision in Cary, North Carolina.   Preston is a beautiful golf course community in Cary with 54 holes of golf and over 2400 homes. We are in the process of totally rebuilding this home to fit our comfort and lifestyle.  We would like to share our experience and progress with you via our blog.  This post describes and illustrates our challenge with redesigning the master bedroom:

Here’s the original master bedroom as seen from the master bath. Note the half wall between the master bedroom and master bath.

 Looking at the master bedroom from the hall, the original carpet has been removed. The outside master bedroom wall with the single window will be removed and extended. 

The back deck extends from the detached 2 car garage to the back door of the home.  Our remodel will extend the current master bedroom 10 feet and attach it to the garage.

Here is another view from the deck of the corner of the current master bedroom before the extension.

Our carpenters are hard at work here building the foundation for the master bedroom extension.

This picture shows the framing of the extension with the high ceilings. The extension measures 10 x 13 and adds 130 square feet to the existing master bedroom. 

This opening will house a 3 wide double hung Pella window.  We are replacing all the windows in the home with Pella double hung windows. 

I realized that this room had possibilities when I saw the cathedral ceiling and the light streaming in from the windows.  In our previous Cary area home,the master bedroom was the room I liked the least because it had too many angles and not enough light. 

The most important piece in doing our remodel was to make sure we could get the HOA to approve the master bedroom being extended to the garage.  From what we could tell with the exception of screened in porches, no homeowners had done what we planned to do in our section of Preston.  When we got the approval from the local Preston HOA, we then knew we could purchase the home and make the changes we needed.

The addition will now make the new master bedroom 19′X13′.  It will also have nine feet of windows with built in window seats overlooking our patio area.  The window seats will add much needed storage, plus it will add some pizzazz to the area.

The hall entrance to the bedroom was also extended to give more privacy to this room.  With this design change the room is no longer directly visable from the living area.

The final decision on this area was the lighting.  We have added sconces for each side of the bed, 4 overhead canned lights, and a solar tube.  This will be the third and final solar tube that will be installed.  The other two are in the bath area.

Of course we now realize that our current furniture will no longer work in this room.  So this lets me do what I enjoy the most — shop.  Now even on a knee scooter (due to a recent foot surgery), I can keep the economy healthy in the Triangle.

Here’s the original master bath of the home we purchased in Cary.  Notice the half wall and complete openness (and lack of privacy) of the bathroom. 

  Here’s another view of the original master bath.  The small master closet is located at the far end of the bathroom. A Spa Tub is located directly across from the shower.

Here’s a view of the Spa Tub after the half wall was removed. 

                   Carroll Cope, our designer, and Dan Martin, our contractor, are laying out the floorplan for the new master bath.

When we looked at the bathroom in its original state, we knew immediately the room needed major changes.  We had no interest in keeping the open bedroom with partial walls into the bath area.

After having the master bath and master closet gutted, we considered several different floor plans.  Finally, we decided on the plan our designer originally had drawn.  This design utilizes all the space for maximum use and storage. It includes a large open vanity and four closets in the bath area.

To accomplish what was important for our everyday life, we eliminated the bathtub and made a larger shower.  We added a small spa tub to the second bathroom to make up for this loss.   A solar tube is also going to be installed in the bathroom to bring in more daylight.

The large vanity will have two counter recessed sinks.  After growing up with nine siblings, I have become less willing to share.  That is why we will both have our own space with drawers and cabinets to call our own.  On my side, I will also have a built in makeup mirror.

I have to admit I was in a state of shock when I saw the reality of how small our main closet will be.  It could be a wonderful display area for my shoe collection, but instead we had to get creative.  That is why we now have four separate closet areas designed into the bath area.   It is a great layout for us and we will be able to make it work.  (This may require a wardrobe change for me to limit my clothes to just a few designer pieces per season.)  The closets will have hanging space, built in shoe racks, plus room for a clothes hamper and linens.

So unlike our previous Cary home, all the space is well planned and will be utilized.  We are really excited with this design.

We sold this home 

3400 Square Feet

 We Bought This Home

1500 Square Feet 

Both of these homes are located in the Preston subdivision in Cary, North Carolina.   Preston is a beautiful golf course community in Cary with 54 holes of golf and over 2400 homes.We are in the process of totally rebuilding this home to fit our comfort and lifestyle.  We would like to share our experience and progress with you via our blog.  Let’s start with the kitchen:

Here is the original kitchen.  Notice the wall on the left side is an 8 foot wall (ceiling is 15 ft), which currently angles out into the great room.

 Here is another view of the kitchen showing the cabinets, appliances, and pergo flooring.   

One of the features of the original kitchen we do like is the transom windows above the cabinet space.  We have 9 transom windows located throughout the house and we are adding one more.

Here is how the kitchen looks now.  Notice the entire left side wall has been removed.

 

 As you can see from the extent of the demo,we are basically starting from scratch with the new kitchen design.   Our largest challege here is simply one of space planning.  How to maximize the efficiency of the  area so we end up with adequate counter, cabinet, and pantry space. 

It seems as if our moves have come full circle.  We arrived here in Cary, NC from California in 1994 and were amazed at the difference in the style of living.  We embraced it in full and have enjoyed the past 12 years in our 3400 square foot home.  In the entire time we have lived there we have never really utilized much more than the living space on the first floor.

 We purchased a ranch home in Preston

 When we made the decision to downsize, we never thought it would be to the extent we have now chosen.  After several months of looking for the perfect Cary home we have purchased a ranch home in Preston.  It is certainly small by Cary standards but not by California standards.  We now refer to it as going back to our roots.

 Major changes on the inside

 Our project will start in a few weeks.  With a few changes to the exterior, the home will see major changes on the inside.  Every decision made around our living space will be based on our personal priorities.   The focal point for us will be a large integrated kitchen that will open into our great room.  This is where we will spend most of our time and it will also be a good portion of our budget.

 Follow our Progress

 We have a great team helping us make the changes and I invite you to follow our progress.  I will be blogging regularly on the joys and frustrations of this process.  All of this will be explained to you in my blog which I hope you will visit often.

 How would you like to save 10-15 minutes cooking time, have no grates to clean, and find that your kitchen does not heat up when cooking in the summertime?  We are talking about Induction cooking which is a household reality now with new technology and lower prices.

 In the past, the two basic choices for generating heat to cook in the kitchen were gas and electrical.  Induction is a third method that is completely different than the other two.  Rather than applying heat to the cooking pan, it makes the pan itself the generator of the heat. 

Induction cooking relies on electromagnetism to generate the heat.  An element in the cooktop creates an electromagnetic field and the field induces or transfers heat into the metal pan.  By controlling the strength of the field, the amount of heat being generated in the pan can be controlled precisely. And once the pan is removed from the cooktop or the element turned off, the heat stops instantaneously.

 Matt Goulding, our son and co-author of “Cook This, Not That”, was somewhat skeptical of this new technology.  Like most professional cooks, he preferred cooking on gas cooktops.  Recently, we installed an induction cooktop at our lake house and here are some of Matt’s comments about his induction cooking experience:

 “The efficiency level is unparalleled and you can go from cold to hot in 50 seconds.  Cooking is incredibly more precise with 20 heat settings and a well defined distinction between each setting.  After cooking a few meals, you know exactly which setting to choose for which dish or recipe you are cooking.  If you are cooking along and forget to boil a pot of water for pasta – no problem.  The water boils in 90 seconds with induction cooking and your mealtime is still right on target.”

Induction cooking is “Kid Safe”

 Dorothy, a client of ours at LG Real Estate, recently installed a 4 burner Bosch induction cooktop in her Preston home kitchen.  Dorothy loves the precision and says she has never boiled rice over nor does the cooktop heat up the kitchen.  She pointed out that induction is “kid safe” since no heat is generated when a switch is turned on unless there is a pot on the cooking element.

 In Summary, when remodeling your Cary NC kitchen, make sure you check out all the advantages of installing an induction cooktop.  Matt and Dorothy say, “Try it, you’ll love it”.

One of the things I am most proud of is that our LG Real Estate listings have the reputation of showing in top condition. In today’s highly competitive market, agents can typically present a buyer with as many as 30 to 50 homes that fit their price point and location. That’s why I place a priority on ensuring our homes stand out; when they do, they get the showings and ultimately the offer and contract. As an agent, I work very hard educating and guiding my new clients about the expectations of their homes as resales in a heavily saturated market.

 HGTV has done wonders to educate and inspire homeowners to be creative and tackle many projects to make their homes special, comfortable and personal. Yet, when a home is on the market and needs to appeal to a broadcross-section of potential buyers, neutral is actually best. To give the best advice to our clients, my supporting staff-Lee Ann Crowder and Jennifer Grinter-are specially trained and equipped to help our sellers. Once I have all of the paperwork signed to market a home, Jennifer Grinter makes an appointment with our new clients for the SWAT Team visit.

Swat Team Visit

 Jennifer and Lee Ann arrive at your Cary home with notebook and pad in hand and a very keen eye for all of those things we each overlook as we are busy just living our lives. Not even a spider web is too small to be

Jennifer & Lee Ann

overlooked, but don’t worry: we don’t suggest more than is necessary. Our goal is to ensure the home’s exterior and interior is as clean as possible and all the features show in their best light. This may mean anything from suggesting that you repaint a bath to “pop,” trim those shrubs blocking the front of the house or move the sofa from upstairs in the bonus to downstairs in the family room to enhance the scale of the room.

Helpful Suggestions

 Both team members are very detailed and have experience and training in design placement and style. Jennifer takes the lead on documenting all of the home’s features and creating our executive home brochures. Lee Ann focuses on placing the furniture and ensuring the client’s home looks as neat and as peaceful as possible for potential buyers. It helps for clients to have somewhere they can store personal belongings until they move. Friends’ homes, donation locations and even recycling sites can be of assistance.

 Our SWAT team takes this job seriously, and we are always sensitive to each seller. As we say, no one really lives the way you need to while you are selling your home. You may have to live lightly for a while, but it will get YOUR HOME SOLD. If you are serious about selling your home, call us at 919-653-2647.

Controlling Cost When Preparing Your Cary Home for the Market?

So I spent some time online looking for cheaper door knobs.  I figure I had a few weeks before the house is on the market, so I wanted to shop around for something less than $24-$50/knob.  After a good amount of time searching, the best we could find online was $15 for each closet door, $16 for each bathroom/bedroom door, etc.

Apex Hardware Store Saves the Day!

Before I had a chance to order them, I happen to be in Ace Hardware in Apex (for wall paper remover…) and had the kids just check the prices on their door knobs.  I have to admit I have not been a frequent shopper at Ace, but now things have changed!  For the same prices, I bought ACE brand door knobs and hinges, (Colonial style, brushed nickel).   They were friendly and a great help!  They ordered the 3 closet knobs, 1 bathroom knob, 1 front door handle with deadbolt, 1 key entry knob for the door to the garage, another key entry knob for the door to the deck, and one deadbolt for the deck door as well.  They were all in in less than 1 week and they re-keyed them all to match (keeping track of one key per person is enough!).

A Little Cary DIY can Save You Some Bucks

So this weekend my husband and my son got to work.  They started with the hinges.  My son watched my husband do the first one and off he went to the next door.  While still on the hinges, they started by removing the center brass hinge and putting in the brushed nickel one.  Then on to the top and then to the bottom.  For the 4 inside doors (1 bathroom and 3 closets),  they finished in less than one hour (just in time for hockey practice).  And this was using a regular philips head screwdriver since the battery on the cordless was dead!

Making More Progress

On Sunday they did the door knobs on the same doors.  I wasn’t home for this one, so I am not sure how long it took or if there were a few bumps in the road.  My son simply said that after the first one, it went smoothly and quickly (and what home improvement project does this not apply to?).

I have done my best to try to give you a before and after shot. Please excuse my photography, still life photography is not my forte!

Your Feedback!

As you can see, we are moving right along in preparing our home for the Cary real estate market. What tips did you use when prepping your Cary property to be “show ready” for your home’s debut?