Freshened Up

 

“Freshened Up.”  You have no idea how much those words have bothered me in the last week since I saw our MLS listing.  Freshened Up.  Other houses say “Pristine Condition” or “Beautifully Elegant.”  Ours just says “Freshened Up.”

There is no way to describe the amount of time, energy, and money that have gone into getting our home ready to sell, and it is discouraging to me that this is the best way it can be described.

The reality is, though, that for 10 years we have lived in this house FULL TIME.  We are not a family who gets up in the morning, eats, dresses, and leaves for the day while our pristine house sits empty and untouched during the day.  We are a family who lives here, 24/7.  We have cleaned and painted and repaired and cleaned and painted some more, but there is no way to change the fact that this house has been lived in, and then some.  It is almost 30 years old.  It wasn’t new or pristine when we moved in, and it certainly isn’t now!

Understanding that has helped me have peace about this process.  Our house is not the right house for someone looking for pristine.  Our house is not the right place for someone looking for new.

But it will be the right place for someone, and I just have to keep trusting that at the right time, that someone will come along.  Someone who will want the huge kitchen and enormous rooms.  Someone who will be so lucky to inherit our great neighbors.  Someone who will be able to appreciate that we have, indeed, “Freshened Up.”