Reality check
Posted
Saturday, March 29, 2008 3:08 PM
Jason and I were talking about the future and our next duty station. We’re due to PCS out of here early 2010. (2010 may seem like a long ways away, but when you’re in the military 2 and 3 years at a duty station pass in the blink of an eye!) When we were talking, Jason brought up an interesting point: if we want to move in March of 2010, we have to put our house on the market in June or July of 2009. That’s next summer!
Our little area is expecting a housing boom because they’re moving about 12,000 new troops to our base and hopefully we’ll be in the midst of that next year. The idea of having to put the house on the market in a little over a year really sobered me up! It made me look around and go, okay, how are we going to get this place ready? My first thought was to spruce up the kitchen. Every HGTV show says if you’re going to put any money into your house, let it be the kitchens and bathrooms because that’s where you see your best return.
We’re thinking about going with Silestone or Corian. I used Home Depot’s website to do a project estimator for the Silestone (where with my bad measuring skills and limited knowledge, I tried to overshoot a few of my measurements). They came back quoting me $1,539.94 for 22.52 square feet, professional measurements, removal of our old countertops, and installation. The girls on the D&R board have assured me this is a good estimate price. I’d still like to get one done for the Corian to compare.
(These were the two colors I was debating on for Silestone. I chose Coffee Brown because I thought it was warmer, plus it was cheaper than the Stellar Night.)
So while the counter tops aren’t the first things on our list, they are a major to-do. First things first: landscaping. I’m ashamed to say that with the way it looks right now, I don’t think I’d give the house a second glance! As soon as North Carolina’s frost season is over with, Jason and I will be out there with the dirt and the bugs!
We think the lone tree in our yard is dead (the former landscapers--not owners--did a bad job). We’d like to replace it with a native dogwood tree.
To fill in our flower beds with minimal work and upkeep (‘cause we have “brown” thumbs as opposed to green thumbs) we’re thinking of planting Mexican heather, which does well in the region and is a low growing shrub.
