I’m not fond of grey, but of the two I prefer Snowbound.

Lars I think you can get too much of a good thing. It's fine as is--move on and focus on what 'has to' be done. It will sell quickly no doubt.

Lars, I am so glad you are working with a different agent! It definitely sounds like this one has a better grasp on what should done, and what is in YOUR best interest, not her own.

And I like your Gossamer Veil paint for the bottom half, it will complement the teal. A stark white would be, I don't know what word, too startling? Shocking? Off-putting, IMHO. The white you have on the trim is very attractive with the teal, but would be way 'too much' for the whole bottom half.

Rusty

I started a rough rendering to get some color on the bottom, and this is what I came up with to start. I did not want to spend a lot of time on the exact shape - I just wanted to see a different color on the bottom. This is supposed to be SW Snowbound. I think it looks better than what I have now and better than white, but this rendering is not completely accurate. I will probably have to buy some paint sample in order to make a decision.

Incidentally, the bush in front of the steps is no longer there.

Be careful, Snowbound can pull pink/purple. I love taupe, but most people avoid pink undertones.

It is also quite white for an exterior.

Do you know the original color that you had? I might go lighter than that, but not so white that it is blinding next to the teal. Let the teal be the show and the other color the supporting actress/actor.

Make sure to look at the samples at different times of the day and on all 4 sides of the house.

I picked a color for my garage door that looked perfect when I painted it in the morning (color match to my Pella Cranberry storm door. I went away for the day, came back when the sun was just starting to set and it was screaming purple. We doctored the formula and got one that didn't scream purple and stayed dark red all day long.

The Snowbound looks slightly peachy on my screen. I really like the teal, and I suggest you run with it. It would look just fine in back, too- better than white IMO. If you really feel you need a contrasting color with the teal, what about a dark forest green? I’m not loving the whites with the teal.

I'd go darker gray so the white trim pops. All of the dark teal houses online have bright white trim that is really prominent because they're mostly traditional homes with wide trim and porch columns and railing.

I am going to make my decision based on paint samples that I will paint on the house in order to see how the colors look in person. It really doesn't matter that much how they look on a computer screen.

I happen to like the whites with teal and will not be going darker than what is already on the house, but I haven't decided how much lighter I want to go.

Snowbound is quite a bit darker than what people are currently painting the exterior of their houses in my neighborhood, but I do have a concern that going too light could be blinding in the back yard.

I do not see pink in Snowbound, but I do see green in Eider White, which is why I have to see actual paint samples on the house. I do not want green, and I want a very light warm gray for the bottom color.

I'm assuming you agree that the exterior paint condition merits new paint. If not, the lighter color looks nice, but I don't think it will make one bit of difference in the sale of the house. If I were going to paint, I'd take the teal down below the windows and create a new line a cinder block or two below the windows. If trim was needed, I'd paint it to match the lower color, but keep your white windows. I know it is the age of the house, but that cropped top is the one thing that bothers me most about the curb appeal. I don't think I would do it just for sale if it fits the neighborhood, but I'd probably do it if I bought the house.

I've been away this past week and am glad to hear you found a realtor you are more comfortable with and that you have been convinced not to paint the cabinets. I tend to gravitate towards white kitchens, but I love maple and cherry and would not paint over either if in good or recoverable condition.

As for the first realtor -- I'm kind of thinking she wanted you to paint because it would go with her PB furniture (dark wood, perhaps?). Not your problem.....

The bottom half of the house has very textured stucco, whereas the upper portion is wood, and so there is a natural division there, like many houses in this neighborhood. The houses on both sides of us are white or off-white, top and bottom, but across the street they are different.

I'm going to take another look at the neighborhood and see what I think will look the best with what is already there.

There is one house on the street behind us that is very dark, top and bottom, which you can see in the photos I posted three days ago, and I don't think I want to do that myself. I just don't think that I want to put a very dark color on heavily textured stucco.

Anyway, we have a lot of time because we're going to do the landscaping first. However, I do want to book the painters pretty far ahead of time because their schedules get booked up.

I do prefer the white with the teal vs what's there now. Two colors vs the three but still I would imagine a home owner will have their idea of color and just paint over whatever you do. No one can guess what the next owner will prefer other than it won't be what the current owner chooses!!! This is such a waste of money, time and paint. Go with what you've got. You won't get your money out of it and it will be redone next year more than likely.

The point is that we have not painted the house in 15 years, except for the small part in the front that is teal, and all real estate agents have said that it has to be painted, even if we paint the same colors. Most houses in this neighborhood do not get repainted on the exterior after they have been sold, providing they have fresh paint on them.

I want to paint colors that will not require a coat of prime.

Do not paint as long as everthing is fresh, clean and no wall damage and woodwork is good. One instance when we were listing a plain ranch house for sale the realtor said paint it white. Wehad just painted a beautiful light sage green. We said no. As it turns out the buyers loved the sage green. Any house we’ve sold and also viewed to buy, the critical decision making element was clean and in good repair. I think the real estate rep is looking for a quick $ale. With current housing shortage, should not be a problem.

The problem is that the interior of the house is not fresh and clean - it has not been painted in the 15 years we have been here - except for the dining room area, which we will no be touching.

Right now, the kitchen is a very pale sage green, which I have always liked, but we might as well paint it white, since that might help sell. Before it was green, it was a pale orange that matched the orange in the tile floor, and I would not have liked that.

This shows the kitchen walls

Two photos combined. You can see the nice wood in the cabinets, which I do like.

Did you say you were going to landscape first and then paint the exterior? I would not trust work crews with new landscaping if it were me.

There is concrete all around the house except a small part of the front, and the front does not need landscaping - only a small amount of editing. The landscaping will not be anywhere that is very close to the house.

We mainly need new sod, in addition to a lot of pruning, and the real estate agent told us that we need to put the sod in as soon as possible in order for it to get established.

Is there a reason why the back of the house can't be painted the same teal color as the upper part of the front?

@terezosa / terriks

Lars has said:

"The bottom half of the house has very textured stucco", and

"I just don't think that I want to put a very dark color on heavily textured stucco."

How barren is the yard? If you have some grass you may want to reseed vs laying sod. Talk to your landscaper - Real Estate agents are not lawn experts.

The yard is not barren at all - it has become extremely overgrown with invasive weeds over the winter, when we had lots of rain and were at our other house for weeks at a time. The weeds have choked out what grass we did have, and they are going to be difficult to remove.

Here's a photo of the back of the house from 2015, nine years ago

This shows the copper/brown gutters we installed. This photo was taken late in the day, and the light makes the house look yellow even though it is beige, as in the photo above it. I'm not sure teal in the back would look appeal to buyers, most of whom would want white, from what I can tell, even though it would create quite a glare late in the day.

Here's a photo of our pergola from November 2016

We plan to leave the teak dining table and chairs for the buyers, if they want them. If not, we will take them, although we do not need them in Cathedral City, although there is an area outdoors that we do not use where we could put them. That area used to be a pet area for the previous owners and is quite barren and has a dirt surface that would need tiles.

Here's how the pergola looked in 2013, before we got the teak dining table and chairs

We have removed the bamboo shade because the creeping fig on the walls is now high enough to block afternoon sun.

We used to spend a lot of time in the pergola, to have lunch or dinner - we have plenty of outdoor lights for dining after dark, but lunch was my favorite time there - or late afternoon after work. I lived close enough to work (4 to 5 minute commute) that I could come home for lunch and sometimes bring coworkers with me.

Sooo, in case I missed another possible thread about your move Lars, how is everything going? House painted or not? Sold? Did you and Kevin make the move yet? We have had a very trying several months so I feel like I may have missed some goings on here. Hope everything is working out for you and Kevin.

Things are going slowly - we have moved a few things in our pickup, have gotten rid of a lot of plants (given free to neighbors), and have just had the landscaping finished for both front and back yards. That was expensive, but we needed new sod and tons of pruning and removal of unwanted plants.

We have picked colors for the exterior of the house - the teal will remain and the bottom part and back of the house will be a few shades lighter than it is now, but not white. We have bids for painting inside and out, and the total came to slightly over $6,000.

We are going to Cruel World at the Rose Bowl on May 11 and had always planned to wait until after that to move. I had sort of hoped to stay in L.A. long enough for the 2028 Olympics, which will be happening before Kevin retires, but he wants to try to work remotely from Palm Springs and is anxious to leave L.A. - I am not.

I just had my annual physical on Tuesday, and my doctor put me on new medication that he needs to check in a month, and so I have a follow-up visit May 16. I plan to start the major part of the move on May 20, and then the painters can come inside May 27 or 28, but they can start the exterior before then. Anyway, we will be out before Memorial Day. Our agent has said that we do not need to stage the house because it is not that large (1535 square feet), and we do not need that expense. The first agent (whom I fired) wanted us to spend thousands on staging, and she wanted the inside and outside of the house all white, but that won't be happening, unless we cannot sell the house with the teal on the front. A lot of people like the teal, and it is in keeping with the character of the neighborhood, where people have a lot of houses painted dark or deep colors.

Hope it goes well for you! I think painting and landscaping will put the house in the best light, but agree not to stage.

I hope it goes well. I thought this was all precipitated because Kevin lost his job? Did they change their minds about keeping him or is he at another company? Maybe I overlooked an update?

Kevin was working in the DVD/Bluray department at Sony, and sales for discs have dropped so much recently that they are laying off a large number of people. However, Disney is no longer producing its own discs and is having Sony manufacture them instead, as Disney does not want to be bothered with them.

There will still be people who want to buy discs - just not as many as there used to be. I prefer discs to streaming, and I find streaming unreliable, as titles come and go and are not always available. I have a ton of discs for movies that are not available to stream, and I have a Bluray drive on my laptop, in addition to the Bluray and HD players that we have.

Kevin has over 20 years of experience at Sony, and he thinks he will be able to get a new job that is 100% remote, but we will see. Palm Springs is a terrible place to look for work otherwise, since it has no industry other than tourism. Kevin's last day was April 5. We'll need to see a financial advisor before the house sells, or soon afterwards, so that we will know how to invest the money. I don't want to invest in real estate again - that did not work out for me.

Thanks for the update, Lars. I found it confusing because it sounded like he didn't leave his job. Hopefully, he'll find something he likes until retirement age.

Appreciate the update Lars. Our lake house goes on the market next week so I have some understanding of what you’re going through - no painting for us though. And I imagine you’ll be dealing with what we are in SC - finding a doctor, dentist, etc. I’ll be thinking of you and wish you and Kevin well with this transition.

I hope all goes well with the sale of the house and the move, Lars.

I have doctors' appointments in L.A. for July, and so it looks like we are going to have to return here for a while until I get to a comfortable place for switching physicians. I've not had good luck in finding dentists in the Palm Springs area, and Kevin has started looking for PCPs, but the ones he has found so far in his network had received terrible reviews from their patients - mostly for being rushed and not spending enough time listening to their patients. I have not had this issue with my search, however, although I have not found a dentist that I like.

How often do you have to come back? When you sell your house, could you just get a hotel room?

Yes, I will have to get a hotel room when I come back for doctors' appointments. So far, I will only have to come back once, but that might change.

Wishing you a good buyer and a good price! I think your market is still strong.

Ask me why we didn't wait out Covid to list our Maui condo! No, don't. The condo association is still sending us news, including listings and sales. Nearly identical units have sold for nearly twice what we got. (Dropping a little now from 2023.)

I am a little leery of online reviews of MD's. My primary care MD joined a bigger practice that had a few vocal people unhappy with them on Nextdoor. I had my first appt with them and was very pleased with everyone I met. Staff knew I was new to the practice and came in and introduced themselves to me, told me what they could do for me, etc. Biggest bonus is that they appeared to be keeping the MD fairly on schedule which she never was before!

I wonder if they people that complain can't advocate for themselves in the office or do not now how to use EMRs to help them solve their problems. The one person online said she had called several times to get a script refilled. Ask your pharmacist to do that. Others suggested maybe she had not seen the MD to get the script.

You just don't know both sides of the stories.

I don't trust reviews on NextDoor, and I almost never post there. However, it is good for when I want to get rid of something - easy to find someone to take stuff away for free.

When I check reviews for doctors, I look at several different sites, including Healthgrades and WebMD, plus Yelp, if available.

I have a dermatologist appointment in July, but I have also put myself on a waiting list for an earlier appointment. I want to get checked for carcinoma, but if I have to wait until I have doctors in Palm Springs or Palm Desert, that would probably be okay. I'm really going to miss the doctor who has been doing my surgeries so far, as I like him a lot and he does excellent work.

Tomorrow the movers are coming to give an estimate. Our current plan is to start moving on May 20. I think it is going to take two trips - partly because it is going to take a lot of time just to load everything into a truck.

I would be surprised if it takes two trips. I’ve never had that happen. I suppose it depends on the size of the truck, though.

It took two trips when we moved from Venice to Westchester. Maybe the truck was too small or there were not enough workers. I'd like to do it in one trip.

That’s interesting. Mostly, I’ve moved cross-country so that’s always the big 18-wheel monster. I could see that they would use smaller trucks in Venice because of the size of the streets, but when I moved from Laguna last year, I was still able to move in one truck and that wasn’t a 18-wheeler, but I couldn’t tell you what size it was. Granted, I was downsizing, so I only moved half of my furniture and stuff.

@Fun2BHere did you stay in SoCal? I lost track.

We moved cross country every two-three years growing up. All our belongins--and there were 7 of us always fit on one truck. Often we found things that weren't ours upon the unpacking--because companies have more than one household in a truck....if you want it make it in one trip--find a big enough moving company. They are out there.

My last move was within the same town. From a townhouse to a single family. No more than 5-10 minutes apart. It was done in one trip.

I believe the moving company came and looked at belongings to know what size truck would be needed.

@1929Spanish-GW, I just moved a few miles north, pretty close to Fashion Island.

Just got through talking with the movers, and the agent told me that they would spend one day packing what we do not pack ourselves, come back the next day to load the truck(s), and on the third day take the stuff to Cathedral City.

Therefore, our move is going to take three days, and we will have the packers come on a Monday, so that we can be moved by Wednesday. The distance of our move is 130 miles, which is quite a bit longer than our six mile (14 minute) move from Venice to here. Considering traffic, it will probably take three hours for a truck to drive the 130 miles, unless they go in the middle of the day - or at least after 9 AM.

Since you have already been in Cathedral City for some time now, how much of the LA house has to move? The art, books, music, papers, yes, but the furniture, tools, housewares?

Until Kevin got laid off a few weeks ago, we kept both houses fully stocked with pretty much everything, and we are going to end up with lots of duplicates, especially for the kitchen.

The house in Cathedral City was fully furnished when we bought it, and we have been slowly replacing the old furniture and getting rid of some of it.

Here's what was left in the master bedroom:

I've only gotten rid of the small stuff, like the metal sculpture above the bed, the clock, and the fake plant in the corner. The lamps remain, as well as the nightstands, small vanity, dresser opposite the bed, the California King bed (It is huge) with pillows and bedspread, and the very large dresser on the right, which has a huge mirror (not photographed) on top of it. The furniture is very good quality, is a name brand (I forget which one) with metal labels still attached for ID, and so I want to put it in a consignment store - at least the four piece set of bed, nightstands and huge dresser with mirror. The small vanity is not in great shape, but I have been using it to hold my laptop. I do like the table lamps and will keep those, as well as the floor lamp. I will probably put the tall dresser in the garage.

Kevin will be keeping his bed in Cathedral City and getting rid of the one he has here. He has a queen sized bed there, and the one here is a full, but it does have a very nice headboard that I made for him that I upholstered with African mudcloth:

I also made valances for his windows, which I intend to keep:

I don't know what I'll use them for, but they won't take up my space in storage.

If an item is a duplication, why not get rid of it before you move which would save you packing time, materials and moving expense.

We learned growing up, that sometimes things disappear when you're moving. We called it "lost in transit".

As adults, we jokingly say it when we're trying to downsize. Oops! Sorry the full bed got "lost in transit", so we'll have to make do with the queen. Who knows, maybe you need to get rid of some ugly lamp the other person adores??? Oops! It got lost in transit.

Heh. Not that I would really do anything like that. But yes, it makes it easier to move when you downsize.

It will save me time packing not to worry about whether something is a duplicate or not, and the duplicates that I have for the kitchen will not take up that much space. I prefer to decide which of the duplicates to keep when I have both of them in hand, and in many cases, I will choose to keep both.

I’m like you Lars. It’s easier to decide in situ.