Happy Holidays !

Boy do I hear you ;)

We've downsized from a 3300 sqft house (with all the perks)to a a 2500(new construction with all the perks, BUT....) with an unfinished bonus room, a couple of years ago. I know it doesn't sound a like a downsize, but we have over 2000 sqft on the first floor, which includes a Master bedroom and another bedroom which we use a den. This suits us well, but I'm getting tired of cleaning even this size. We don't need all that space.....so it wasn't a bright move ;)

It was very expensive to build and I don't need to tell you about RE now.I'm not in the 55 plus range, YET....but it's a comin soon.

My point is that this house is an interim downsize and in 5-6 years we'll be looking to downsize to a manageable size 1400-1500sqft, forever home. The problem is that I am afraid of older homes as I get older. I do a lot of little stuff myself (painting, hanging drapes, shelves, minor repairs. You get the picture. DH is not handy), and when one gets older, one cannot do it themselves, and I hate to rely on others and their "inferior" work.

I would love to downsize into NEW CONSTRUCTION. I saw a couple of great floorplans next town over- 2 bed/2 ba, all on the ground floor. Unfortunately it's near a busy area. It is awful where I live (the NE). Builders refuse to build what people need (2bd/2ba all on the first floor)because it's costly. They certainly don't build it in MY town, where I want to stay FOREVER. They build the master bed on the ground floor, but the rest upstairs in the 55 plus communities, and charge 650k plus. When one truly downsizes, who needs an "upstairs", and to pay THAT kind of money?

Anywhoo, I agree with you about an older Ranch and all the updating. I know we'll be in the same boat soon. As you see, we downsized but the house cost us MORE than the previous one, because it was new construction with 2 bedrooms downstairs. I will NOT make the same move, again.
I agree with you that downsizing should mean less work and cost all around. Are you in a hurry to move? Is there any new construction coming to town? You know the big things are the heater, AC, Roof. Is the house insulated well? IF you truly think that this will be your forever home, and you really love the bones, go for it. If you're not sure, hang in there, ask the town hall if ther is any new construction is on the horizon.

Hi Dabunch!

On the upside, the ranch is only 15 years old-the grandma part is the decor. I would have loved a 1920's ranch, in fact, we looked at one with gorgeous 8+ foot ceilings, fabulous, to die for, old hardwood floors, stacked moldings, etc., but the location was lousy. I would have loved to work some magic on that house!!!

The ranch we're purchasing is just so vanilla and blah. I'm just not sure if it's possible to add charm and character to this house. It seems to be a custom home, and well built, but honestly, I can't find one redeeming wow feature, lol

I totally know what you mean about new construction though-they just arn't building ranches and if they do, they're wicked expensive. I think there's alot of us out there who'd jump at the chance to purchase a new, affordable ranch with some pizazz.

Perhaps you can use your skill and put minimal $$$ into it for an eventual flip and keep looking for something else that you could transform into your dream home. There are lots of bargains out there now. Maybe just keep your eyes open for that possibility? And maybe you'll just grow to LOVE your new home after you start working your magic!!

After looking for eight months I am guessing that this house has the most important features in place. The location is probablly great and it is a ranch. (Very important as we get older) I personally have never lived in a WOW house.(Although we did won a country house with a WOW water view.) But what I have learned in a modest home is, decorating is everything! Take your time and I am sure you will soon be very happy in this house.

I can sympathize, also being in a northeast region with expensive real estate. Any new construction in single-family houses seems to be McMansions. Even the ones designed for over 55 have stupid features, like WAY more living space than we'd ever need. We toured one that didn't even have minimal universal design--it had a step on the deck, step up from the garage to the kitchen, narrow doorways into the bathroom. How stupid is that for an over-55 community?! There are plenty of small ranches around, starter houses built in the 50's, but they're typically pretty tired. They can certainly be updated, but you need to plan carefully. We just toured a ranch house that a neighbor completely updated for her mother, who moved here from another state. It was absolutely gorgeous, but the husband was grumping about how far over budget she went by doing things like vaulting ceilings, which required new wiring. They'll probably never get back the money they spent. If it's a forever house and you can afford it, it may not make any difference, but there are probably ways to do it cheaper. Paulines, I don't know what to suggest. As Ellen said, if you spent 8 months looking there just may not be any better choices. All the same, if your heart is really not in this house it may be better to keep looking before putting a lot of money into this. You can obviously change some things, like floor tile, fairly cheaply but 7' ceilings are never going to be higher unless you open up to the rafters.

Think of all the money you'll save on heating and AC with 7 foot ceilings:)

You can make a world of difference just with paint. We just bought this 1950 rancher 2 years ago. Our real estate agent was happy to point out the neutral paint- we could move right in. Of course, we painted everything before moving in LOL!

What was it about this house that induced you to buy it (or have you bought it yet?)?

I've come to like low ceilings, actually. Frank Lloyd Wright liked them too.

This house is my DH's five generation 1850 family home,with incredible lake views. Three stories, private wooded lane, nice molding features etc. So what's not to love you wonder?

For starter's there was 20 years worth of deferred maintenance,and 100 years of junk that had accumulated. (all silver and antiques had previously been sold to pay for a nursing home bill that had a lien against the grandfather's estate) Add to that the entire interior was a MCM time warp. I am not opposed to MCM but in this grand lady it was just wrong and it was original MCM so it was old and worn. The promise was "we" would take one room at a time (13 rooms, plus a full 4 room attic) and re-do them. Uh-huh that was the promise! Well fast forward 10 years, and "I" am now finishing up by getting ready to do the kitchen. He pooped out long ago!

You do have some blessings though. You can do lot's of great things with a smaller home...less materials = nicer materials! Color adds personality and a fresh canvas immediately. Solid built, means good bones and that will afford many possibilities down the road.

I know how overwhelming and dismal the prospects seem now. I don't know how I did it looking back. I had a baby and a kindergartner. But I do know I couldn't even bear to look at my surroundings, so I grabbed a paint brush and got to work-FAST. Paint changed everything and started the process that spurred me to go on. Each baby step looked so good and gave me hope. Some rooms got gutted, some got new floors, molding and paint. Some got done over again as time went on and I developed and refined my vision.

Get Grandma's color or lack of color gone ASAP! You will be surprised at how much better you'll feel by owning your environment and how quickly you'll be inspired to find a coordinating color to go with the hall, which will make you want to paint Grandma's oak bathroom sink vanity a dark espresso brown and add in a fabulous glass tile wall. Basically you'll be starting a chain of events that will set forth the beginning a great home and a vision that will come with it. Good luck!

I moved from a "wow" house to a plain vanilla ranch 4 years ago. The plan was to give it personality and extend the main level, vault some ceilings, and make it "wow" our way. In the 4 years since we moved in, I have doubted the decision daily.
We got bigger property (from 70 x 100 to approx 80 x 120), a garage, an extra half bath, a quieter street and "better" location with the boring ranch. What we gave up is a large kitchen (25 x 16), an open floor plan, high ceilings, skylights, younger cabs, roof, bathrooms, color of any sort on the walls (true white vanilla, lol), younger appliances, and a mtg with only 13 years left (at the time). Our "new" house cost a bunch more than we sold for and we are putting over $150k in just with this reno (and that does not include our family bathroom, solar, or landscaping/fencing).
When all is said an done, we will have a ranch with an open floor plan, skylights in higher ceilings, a new spacious kitchen, larger master bedroom and master half bath (rather than the cramped previous full bath), a main level den, a screened in porch and color on the walls! I figured that in our later years (mid-40s now), a ranch would come in handy if either of us have health issues. When it comes time for resale, it will be halfway to handicap accessible with fewer walls and larger doorways than before. We are using Marmoleum for the kitchen floor because that will be kinder if the pinched nerves in my feet ever act up again. It is also easier on the joints and back. We also moved the washer and dryer up to the main level. We will still have a full bsmt with its own full bath, so when our kids are adults, they can stay here with privacy longer (side entrance to go downstairs) and save for their own houses. We could even rent out downstairs someday if it were just the 2 of us (not legally, but tons of people do it around here).
I have tried to help buyers find handicapped accessible homes in the past and every time, they had to buy a "normal" house and retro-fit it. I currently am trying to find a one level set up for an elderly couple who are in a split and where the husband can't do stairs any more. We are looking at ranches for them, but also for capes. The capes have 2 bedrooms on the main level along with the kitchen, living space and bath. They basically would ignore the upstairs and/or potentially have a live in caretaker stay up there out of their way and vice versa.
I am in NY and the only adult communities are condos anywhere near here. They are usually expensive to buy and have high carrying costs. We figure we can stay in our house as long as we want since everything we need is on one level now. If it is too big for us later on, we can always sell. Since good sized ranches are a rare commodity around here, we should be able to sell easily and for decent money because if someone likes our house, there are not others like it coming on the market very often.

Of course, I had been cursing this house until we started demo because it seemed like Charlie Brown's football, always getting yanked further into the future. It is hard to come to plain jane ordinary when you had something nice before. The bones here were not good either, so it is taking a fairly big overhaul. If someone just needs to de-grandma a house, it should not be such a big hassle, although costs do add up as you go.

If you treat your current house like a flip and even lose money, you would be out there buying something that also lost money in the downturn. It can't hurt to keep an eye out to see if anything hits you... I have seen a few houses over the years that I would have loved to have a crack at if the timing had been right. If you see something that makes you fall in love, then you make your move. Otherwise, work the decor to your own tastes and do it gradually.

We moved in to our current house about 3 years ago. I am just now getting comfortable and putting my touches on it and I have resigned myself to not moving again and I am learning to love this house.

it was a big adjustment to move from a 5500 sqft house with 5 wonderful marble fireplaces, crown molding in every room, a wonderful DR and two staircases. It was a house built in the 1800's but had been rebuilt by people in the construction business. It had its down sides too, but boy was that easy to decorate. :)

Our house now is in a good neighborhood for kids and is a standard early 90's colonial with about 2400 sqft. The half bath on the first floor had red and white tile, a peach sink and toilet, and pink and blue tiny flowered wall paper when we moved in. It made my eyes hurt to walk in to it!

It does get better. :)

oh boop - I had to read your description of your bathroom several times because I was sure I was reading it wrong, lol.
Our master bath had a fake mustard yellow onyx formica on both the vanity and large cab over the toilet but at least it matched the ugly mustard yellow tile that was all over the rest of it!

Meghane, very cool-I love the pieces on your mantle!

"What was it about this house that induced you to buy it (or have you bought it yet?)?"

Thank you for asking, awm!

The location works for our family, the neighborhood is fabulous (much larger and more expensive homes on the street), the yard is beautiful, town sewer (which is very limited around here), the size and fact that the home is one level.

Auntie Ellen, Ellendi, lovesummer, neverending, dianalo and Boop (crazy bathroom, huh?) - your words were so helpful and encouraging, thank you so much!

The home sounds like a blank slate on the interior. Is your furniture primarily modern? Can your adapt the interior to work with your furniture? Does the exterior of the house dictate a traditional style so that you feel you need to upgrade the interior to match?

I lived in two fabulous homes -- custom designed contemporaries -- prior to my current 60s tract house. We were in a hurry to settle the kids, so we bought this good-enough home in an excellent school district. We thought with our experience restoring the first two homes, we could make this one nice too. Wrong! The house needed a lot of money to elevate it above tract house blandness & to make it more functional, but the money wasn't there for many years. Also, the layout of windows, doors, closets, baseboard heaters & electrical outlets strictly limits furniture placement. There are other flaws too. For many years, I just couldn't get happy about the house.

We've done some nice things to it, so it's much more pleasant to live in now. We've enjoyed the neighborhood & the yard very much. But we've sunk a pile into this place, and still need some costly upgrades. And I'm still a bit frustrated with the house.

Have you or would you post some pictures of your home, awm? I'd really be interested in seeing it! You know, I didn't even consider baseboard heaters, the old home had fha, new one has fhw. On the upside, fhw is suppose to be less dusty and dry?

I think it was you that use to comment on our old home and I really appreciate your candor now.

Our furniture and artwork is a mish mash of sorts. Artwork runs from 4' embonized wood statues from Haiti to my grandad's oil paintings from his travels in Europe (another ouch moment-we spent a fortune in the old house putting a smooth plaster ceiling and specialized eyeball lighting in the huge family room to display this artwork. In fact, the buyer of our home was an artist).

Furniture also runs the gamut from heirloom pieces to Pier One metal bedside table.

Here's a link of our new home. If it works, I'll post some pictures of the interior. The listing has gone from active to u/a, so I'm trying to pull pictures from an archive of sorts.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Here's another, this room actually has a cathedral ceiling...goody.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Here's the kitchen, nice large space!

Here is a link that might be useful:

Wow I can so relate to this topic. We keep trying to figure out where we will move to and come up with nothing. I totally agree about the lack of thought with the "senior" housing. We did actually see a few houses we loved the layout of near Wilmington NC(it wasn't a senior community per se, and the living spaces were large and gracious but did have fewer rooms... there was teh optional bonus room upstairs but it really was an extra. not like here in nj where half the house is up a flight of steps).
But I digress. Paulines, I think that house is way better than what I pictured. I would venture to say that once the owner's furniture is removed, the potential will really jump at you. Yes it does need work but to me it looks like no more than any resale you know where you want your imprint and your taste and maybe your updating but really the rooms seem nice size and well laid out. The exterior shot too looks lovely. Paint is your friend.:

Sheilaaus122 (Sheila?),

There seems to be so many looking for one floor living. They say the housing market is bad, but we found that nice sized, gracious (perfect word) ranch homes in good areas, not only sold very, very quickly, but for a premium price. DH and I would look at a ranch and say to each othr, "they'll never get that for that house", but they did...and more! It's crazy!

We wound up stepping outside the 'A towns' (so to speak), to a 'B town', for better affordability and also town septic (which was important to DH after putting in 2 septic systems in our old home and burying over $30,000). Kiddos are no longer in public schools, so it wasn't a huge issue for us.

LOL about the house being way better, and thanks. I guess it does have possibilities. Beefing up those columns and hardwood in the LR and FR is first on the agenda.

Anyone have suggestions on hardwood type and color?

Smart to go for a ranch. I wish I had thought of that when we were looking.

I found a pic of the before bath. :) Just one of the lovely rooms. :)

My mistake, the floor was cream and red, not white. :) You can just see the edge of the peach sink.

that kitchen does have nice space Paulines! Flooring was one of the first things we did. the masterbedroom was orange with hunter green nasty pee'd on carpet. Funny thing is they were painting it orange when we came to see it. What were they thinking????

the family room had blood red indoor/outdoor carpet. We waited almost a year, but it was great to get rid of all the nasty flooring in this house.

Just for giggles....

masterbedroom:

Basement bath - I havent even touched this one yet. :)

How nice Boop, they even painted the baseboard heater to match. I'm starting to feel much better ;)

Do you have an 'after' of the pink sinked bath?

paulines, I think the house is actually very nice. Smaller house = less energy use overall and less cost for materials. There seems to be decent curb appeal, and I think the kitchen layout is nice with the eat-in feature. All you really need to make it even nicer is painting the cabinets and updating hardware (lots of work but worth it), new counters, maybe backsplash, getting some new appliances, and maybe adding some beadboard to the island and get new barstools. You do not have to spend a lot of money here. I know because that's what we did. There are tons of kitchens like this on the kitchens forum.

The FR could use some color, get rid of the teal/green drapes, and I'm not sure what the rug is, but you could even make that work if you had to. I like the FP and the exposed brick, and that could be painted if you so desire, though there is no turning back once you paint brick.

Good luck.

Now, boo, you really have some decorating challenges ahead, but even those probably aren't as bad as they look as it seems a lot of it may be cosmetic?

Boo...ouch on that basement bath. I had it's twin in blue in our townhouse. Spongepainting gone very very wrong!

Pauline despite the fact that I went the opposite direction house wise from you (2100 sq ft to 8000) I think I still feel exactly the same! We had just completed a gut remodel of three years when the docs told us to move for ds. The townhouse was a bland 1980s no personality (aside from the sponge blue bath lol) box. We gutted it and made it totally US. Eclectic, hopefully interesting, and it lived like a dream. I was just back there a few weeks ago and gad do I miss that house. The big thing...it's OUR house, every inch of it was made for us and the way we like to live. I miss that house so much. I feel at home, honestly at home there.

Here I have a great deal to work with, and it's a wonderful place (as is your future home....I love the outside) but I still feel like I'm living in someones hotel lol. Dh calls it camping out. We don't have a real closet, kitchen or comfy bathroom (they are a hotel style with little storage) and there are these crazy accent walls....colors I would never pick....pink, flowers, baby poop and aqua, blah blah. It's a gorgeous place despite the poop wall but it's not really mine. Heck the furniture came with it so even the guts don't feel like mine. I miss entering my master bedroom and sighing....ahhhhh sanctuary.

My favorite two rooms now are the dining room and parlor. Both I've painted and done a little decor change in. Flowers and bunnies are gone! So they are starting to feel like me a little bit. I would never under estimate the power of a paint brush to banish the old lady from a house :). That kitchen is going to need a gut job, but heck it could be worse....mine is on the back porch lol. You could quickly infuse some you with the introduction of color....any color would help lol.

I see great bones to play with there and I know you have the talent. It will take time but it's also fun. I won't tell you that you won't miss the home you made yours for some time. I still miss that simple place I called home more than I can say. I don't expect to feel differently until this big box is made into our big box and that will take a few years. Good luck on your journey. You will make it work :).

We bought our 1600 SF, 1952 ranch that was much like yours in decorating aspect. Hadn't been updated since 1972, I think. The kitchen was orange oak with white formica & vinyl floor...the main bath had fugly wallpaper and oak & maroon-ish brown formica, and the master bath...well, I can't even describe it without throwing up a little in my mouth. But I loved the beast the moment I walked in.

It's small..the kitchen tiny, but I managed to bring it up to my standards with paint & imagination and a little hard work. The bones were good, the plumbing, electrical, etc were in good shape. The house is the perfect size for DH and I, and it doesn't cost us a fortune to live here. It's a lot more work outside than a new build, since we're on a larger lot (most new build has less than 6,000 SF lot), but I would never want a large house.

The kitchen would be a fast, easy fix if you just updated with new cab doors, counter tops & flooring. You can paint the cabs & change out lighting and appliances, if that is your style. Of course, this house doesn't have a lot of that character, but you can bring it in with your decorating.

gsciencechick, thank you. "There are tons of kitchens like this on the kitchens forum." and LOL!!! In remodeling my old home kitchen 6 or 7 years ago, I was so into the experience, I decided to get back into design and freelance in KD consultation. It's part-time and I only take projects that really interest me, but I enjoy it.

Hey Igs, I hear you on the nesting type thing. I'm definately a nester and major change can be difficult - especially with my space. Hope all is going well with you and look forward to pictures as your new home evolves!

I hear you pesky. Do you have any pictures? Would love to see what you did to your ranch!

It is hard to take pics since it is so small! We painted it white. I think I was on color overload at the time. I have been thinking of painting it a color and swapping out the pics for something else lately.

DH also wants to stain the cabinet dark brown. We kept the one they had in there.

The local granite yard had a piece of rainforest green marble left over from something. it was more than I was planning to spend, but I had to have it.

We put the same walnut floors in the half bath as the rest of the floors we replaced.

What a magnificent piece of Rainforest! Those sepia photos(?) are great in that space (the frames really pop the colors in the Rainforest). What color were you thinking of painting?

Thank you for the pics!

You want to see really drab???

Here are few before and after photos of our current rental :)

My office before:

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and after:

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our bathroom before:

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and after:

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What I have found is that my furniture, my accessories, art, some new paint, do make a huge, huge difference.

Your creativity always amazes me punamytsike!

Great shower redo punamytsike, very inspiring!

Here is a thread from the kitchens forum where folks kept the same layout of their kitchen. Like I mentioned, there are many other kitchens like this.

I will try to get some pics tomorrow when DH goes back to work.

Here is a link that might be useful: Is your kitchen the same but BETTER?

I can imagine how you feel, but your new house is cute and cozy and has a lot of potential. It's really a blank slate and I think you can make it your own without too much trouble and expense, and I also think you will love it (in time because it won't all happen overnight). Can you live with the 7' ceilings? As a pp said, that sort of thing can't be changed easily; the decor can. In my opinion you will have a totally different take on your LR after you take out the carpet and put down some HW. Is there already HW underneath? If not -- well, our house is a little 1949 ranch with almost no distinguishing features except the HWs. Site-finished narrow plank oak, and I am completely ruined for any other kind of wood floor now. We put it in newer parts of our house to match the old. I just love the look. Only problem, and it's not a small one, is that living with the installation and finishing is awful, especially if you go with the harder-wearing oil-based finish (which I recommend since our newer floors with the water-based finish scratch and scuff much more easily than the old). You pretty much have to move out while the woods are going in, but I am so glad we used this. It adds so much character to the house.

Here's a pic of our floor: old floor to the right, new floor to the left. The new floor is slightly higher than the old because that room was originally a deck which became a screened porch which became a den (the wide trim molding you see was originally the exterior wall of the house). Anyway, when we ripped up the carpet in the den we found what may or may not have been asbestos tile, so we just had the HW laid over the top. See? Your house is only 15 yrs old so you are already way ahead of the curve. No asbestos, no lead, probably no scary homeowner-installed wiring either (we found an ancient extension cord INSIDE a wall; it had been used as "wiring" to another addition). And yes, that is probably Sharpie marker on the floor. Oh well.

And your kitchen -- oh gosh, you can TOTALLY work with that kitchen, how much depends on your budget (gut vs cosmetic) but seriously, you should see ours. Installed in the mid-80's by my dear husband long before I came along and his favorite color is tan. It's all white and tan laminate and melamine. And he chose it all himself (and we are now on a serious budget) so I have to be very circumspect about changing anything. You are, as I said, SO ahead of the curve there. haha. Floor, countertops, cab doors, and you would have a completely new look.

paulines,there are no perfect houses; you have to make it so. And for me that is FUN! We even designed and built our first house and as soon as it was finished, we thought of lots of things we wanted to change.

The way I go about changing things is room by room. Then at least I have one room that fits us. And I always wait a year to see how we live in the house and how to tackle the changes. I wait until I have a clear vision of what the room needs to be and then I go for it.

I think your home has great potential and nice architectual interest. We downsized too and I felt tremendous relief from getting rid of too much stuff. Not to mention how much easier it is to maintain.

Start planning and before you know it, you will be smiling when you walk through your house.
Diane

Perty floors NorthCarolina. Lol about being ahead of the curve-great point!

Thanks so much Diane for your kind words!

I also think the house has a lot of potential, and it is a blank slate. You are not undoing a strong personality of any sort, so you are actually at a good starting point--the house is completely inoffensive in every way and there are some decent bones behind the blandness.

ellendi, did you say you WON a house with a waterview?
i so wanna hear about that!