It looks like a bright house with windows on at least 3 sides. Are you going to live there or are you fixing it up to flip it? "Modern" means different things to different people so hard to say what you envision. You don't have any inspiration pictures in your profile which would help.

What's your budget? What's your time line?

Personally my second house was way way worse than this and we just moved right in after having the carpets cleaned. The only major thing we did was paint the kitchen cupboards white. In time we changed some things but this house is not a disaster.

Yes, it can be bright and beautiful. What are your favorite and least favorite aspects of the house? Partim has asked good questions for you.

It depends on what modern means to you. Start making a list of items to be addressed and then adjust the order to get the timing right.

• Do you want to take up the carpet and refinish the floors under the carpet?
• Replace kitchen cabinets and appliances
• Open wall to connect kitchen with dining area
• etc

https://theplumednest.com/cape-cod-kitchen/

It’s cute! I’ve bought and renovated three homes (still very much working through #3!). It’s TOTALLY doable, and can even be fun. My best advice is to live with it a little before you make drastic changes. In our first house and our current home, we fixed just what was necessary and moved right in, then slowly worked on things once we had time to feel out how we live in the spaces. For our second home, we did a massive renovation and addition before ever moving in. NO QUESTION which has been more successful. I never loved that second house, even though it was very nice. I still just adore our first little home. And even though there are so many things I want to do on our current house, I’m just thrilled with the changes we’ve made, and SO GRATEFUL I waited on doing a few things, which I now realize would have been huge mistakes. So, just take your time and enjoy the adventure!

Is your kitchen a real linoleum floor? If so, cool. So retro.

Thanks everyone !

Great spaces. I think it’s definitely workable. Really anything is workable with the right budget. But this one doesn’t seem to need a ton of work. I’d remove carpet. Are there hardwoods Under? Maybe paint. Some wallpaper. Lighting. The kitchen will be a bigger project but that excites me. Personally!

In the kitchen, you could start by painting the wainscoting paneling white.... or remove it and paint the walls. You can move on to the pricier changes later. The other rooms look nice. I'd remove the carpeting and other flooring in all the rooms that open to each other. It looks like changes for flooring and paint are on the top of the list for now.

Personally, I like ease and flow in my life. So I try to avoid making things more difficult for myself than they have to be. There are no major problems in this house. If you want brighter, paint all the walls a warm white. If there is wood under the carpeting, you could have it refinished and bring in area rugs. The carpet that is there looks to be in good condition, if that is more in accordance with your lifestyle.

As far as the kitchen, wood is very much 'in' right now for kitchen cabinetry, etc. + is classic. I would bring in a stainless stove. Probably install a new ceiling light fixture on a dimmer. Under cabinet lighting. I would probably add some hardware to the cabinets, most likely black. And that would be all for me, for the moment, from what I can see.

Furnishings and decor will dictate a lot of the 'modern' vibe. From my perspective, this house is not a fixer upper. It has good bones and looks to be in nice condition. Personally, I would not tear It up. But I have an advantage of being able to see the potential and understand the style of the house + I like to keep it simple.

Thank you so much you are right. We have hardwood floors under these rugs!!!! Just removing wallpaper and painting first. I do prefer a home with old charm but this home has potential, the outside is cute

Very cute house! Definitely live in it for a while before you start major renovations. Of course it can be freshened up and could look gorgeous. Just read some of the articles here on Houzz and the shows on HGTV. All you need is money, talent, and resources!

It's adorable. Pull up the downstairs carpeting anyway and refinish the floors keeping with the trim and cabinet stain you have. As suggested, paint everything a warm white that complements wood trim. Then move in and see how it goes. Houzz and Pinterest is full of oak kitchens that have been refreshed. Beverly shows some good ones upthread. We can't tell much about the kitchen from your photos, but live with it to see what you might want to change in the future.

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A house doesn't get cuter than a 1/4 cape and the brickwork is wonderful.

I would move out, find an architect or designer and do a full renovation if you can afford it. Doing it piece-meal adds to the cost and stress. If you can't afford to do the work now, I would still hire an architect/designer to create a design so you will know what to save and what to throw out and have a phased work plan. Don't try to do it by yourself.

You are on the right track. It is what a good friend of mine calls addition by subtraction- start by removing all the things added over the years (carpet, wallpaper, that weird high cutout in the wall, the crown bit over one door) When money allows a new white kitchen will finish the transformation.

That house is adorable! The exterior is cute, the windows are big enough to be a good feature, and the rooms are large. Start with painting those green walls with a light color. If you know what color you want, do a final coat or just start with a flat white primer coat and wait for inspiration before doing the final coat.

Remove the carpet on the main floor and use the hardwood floors. You could get them refinished before you move in if you know what color you want. Unless the floors are in awful shape, you are probably better just using them as is for a while so you can get an overall plan going. Then if you later choose to remove walls or widen openings (my preference) you can take care of flooring issues at that point.

Don't get discouraged too soon! A fixer upper house is a series of ups and downs and sometimes you go backwards quite a few steps every time you try to move. You will experience lots of excitement when you start coming up with ideas then gloom and doom when you start seeing mechanical and structural issues deflating your happiness and destroying your bank account. But, it will be yours and it will be unique and a great opportunity to be creative and acquire some skills and tools.

If you plan on painting, you would need to consider what is the best color to work with any existing furniture, art or accessories that you will continue to use. If buying new furniture, choose that first. It is the first choice to choose before your wall paint. Furniture is the most difficult to find, color, comfort, cost and size that works in the space. Paint is the least expensive update and so easy to choose, once you know what direction you are working toward.