You may recall a short post a few weeks ago describing the situation with a client of mine and their need to sell their income property in Santa Monica California.  While the townhouse was in a great neighborhood, the Crosby family was ready to move on from the responsibility of being landlords and reclaim the capital in their house for their growing businesses.  They had a few weeks and a limited budget to clean up the property after the renter left.

Josh and Amy decided to test the waters on this project by working with a contractor to help them rapidly update the kitchen and bathrooms to make the place sparkle for prospective buyers.  Only catch – the contractor involved was a good friend of theirs.  They survived it swimmingly but check out the video below to see why their experience was so successful.

With a small budget and a super short timeline, I knew we needed to focus our efforts on their dated kitchen. With white countertop and black grout lines, it screamed 1980’s to potential home buyers.  Todd helped us demo the old tile countertop and backsplash, and install new butcher block countertops from Ikea to give the space a warm glow.  The best part is that these countertops were in stock and available immediately!

We repainted all the cabinetry in the kitchen – I’m a stickler for keeping existing cabinetry if they are in good shape and are efficiently laid out – major bonus in the budget department!  I chose to paint the upper cabinets and the walls and ceiling the same white, and add in a warm, light grey for the lower cabinets for a two-toned contemporary look.   Even though it might seem like a splurge, I knew Josh and Amy’s house would really benefit from a set of new, stainless steel appliances and sink.  It made all the difference in this space.

I pulled out another super affordable tradesperson for this job – my tub refinisher Henry Garcia. I knew we didn’t have the time or money to demo and install new tile in the bathrooms, but the grungy peach tile was really glaringly dated.  In a matter of hours, Henry refinished both bathrooms’ tile in a custom gray spray finish.  Shazam!!

Two weeks later, we sold the house, with a backup offer!