More drama leading to Open House

It has been pretty hectic trying to get the house ready for Open House - I'm not going to lie.  Now it's a matter of trying to hide/declutter anything and everything.  And there's only so much space until everything ends up in the garage!

We were finally able to get that Ping Pong table opened up again and staged.  Although, I guess it's not really staging if the boys are actually playing with it :-)

And this back area looks so much better without that bar/half wall.  I have a few potted plants in there and they seem to be pretty happy:

I should have thought about buying a replacement rather than trying to sew up that old umbrella top.  The red color adds a nice pop to the backyard, especially considering how patchy and brown some of that yard is:

I really wanted to get folding doors for the laundry area but that didn't happen.  So those shower curtains will have to do!

And now inside... boys couldn't recognize the place because it was so neat and tidy.  LOL!!

Managed to find a couple of cheap IKEA rugs to replace our cow hide/moo-moo rug. I think it looks better.

And we can definitely see more floor here in the dining area:

I was going to paint over the artwork on the island, but it actually looks pretty good in the photo!

Look at all that counterspace!  On a normal day, I'm guessing 90% of the countertop is filled up with something.  Ha ha!

Looking pretty good!  Ah, I keep forgetting to get that dead bug out of the kitchen light fixture.  Oh well, I don't think anyone actually commented on it.  Otherwise I would have taken care of it sooner:

The front living room looks so bare after taking away the big desk and also decluttering all of our hats, school bags, jackets, and other "stuff" off those racks.  Boys' toys were also put away neatly:

It's so strange to see it so clean :-)

Charlie's room has been pretty neat.  He has actually been sleeping on the couch leading up to Open House so he doesn't have to make his bed.  Ha!  There's actually a nice little $25 perk from our realtor/friend if the boys keep their rooms clean until it gets sold.  Charlie is definitely motivated to earn it all!

Here's Graham's room.  Graham, on the other hand, has been sleeping in his own bed and not making his bed.  Sooooo... perhaps I should take some of that $25??!

I'm so glad the boys' bathroom is small but it's amazing how quickly it can get dirty.  The mirror, glass doors, countertop - all need constant cleaning!  Oh, floor too - especially now that they both have long hairs:

Probably should have turned on the lights when I took this photo of our master bathroom:

I'm so glad I left the online photos to the professional.  See what I mean? Looks how good this photo is!

And I took off the blue painter's tape for our one little step-down into the sunken living room.  Well, Charlie tripped twice when the tape was gone and I believe that Bobby almost tripped once.  So I had to get some new tape on it.

These washi tapes are soooooo cute!!!

You can barely see Graham in the dark there.  My little telephone chair is finally coming in handy as that's the only spot where the boys are allowed to eat while watching TV in the front room:

While cleaning the night before Open House, the latch or spring for our fridge's door-within-the-door broke.  Can you believe that??! I literally put my forehead on the fridge and said to the fridge, "Seriously??!"

So the only way to keep it closed that I could think of at that moment (which I believe was around 11:30pm) was to tie the handles up with a bungee cord: 

Not such a great look for Open House!  So, I try some blue tape instead on the top and bottom parts.  Hmmm.... don't think this will work either??!

Finally figured it out after the 3rd attempt.  I taped it around the seam.  Yay!!!

The poor fridge was sweating a bit since the door didn't close properly but taping up the entire seam worked so much better.  And no one will know either unless they open the fridge. Yay!

$380 and about a week later, the fridge door is finally fixed.  Not quite the same click but at least it stays closed.  What else can go wrong you ask?  Well, how about an entire broken jar of maple syrup on the kitchen floor during the morning of the Open House??!  CHECK!! Yup, we got that!

Well, despite all that drama - we had about 20 people walk through the house within the weekend of Open House.  I'd call that as a successful one!  We did receive 2 offers (YAY!) but crazy enough, we managed to actually mess both of them up (BOO!).  With a quicker closing time, we decided to go with the first offer even though the offer price was less.  So we counter-offered and the buyer decided to pull out.  Wait, what??! And so we tried to save the 2nd offer as we were a bit off with the timing in accepting it.  The buyer's agent seemed positive and then, yet a couple days later (how it is an agent doesn't work during a public holiday is beyond me?!)... more bad news.  The 2nd buyer decided to pull out too!  WHAT??!  I just couldn't believe it.

Well, nothing to do but to "mop up that spilled milk"! So it's back to the drawing board.  We were actually on an extended Memorial holiday when our realtor was able to clean up our house and provide a couple of showings to potential buyers.  It's a good thing she is a good friend.  She already knows our messy side. Haha!  Well, it was well worth it because we have another 2 offers and have accepted one of them.  And you wouldn't believe it, but it was even more than what the first two buyers were offering.  This rollercoaster of emotions is definitely pretty intense.  Well, inspection is this Monday.  Fingers (and toes) crossed that all goes well!!