How to Eat an Elephant
Q: How do you eat an elephant? A: One bite at a time. Getting our parents’ house ready for sale
My mother died in 2016 and my father lived out his final years in the 1950s three-bedroom ranch they bought in 1962. In early December of 2023 he passed away surrounded by his four children. Once the memorial service was over, we four began the months-long process of dealing with the contents of the house and getting it ready for sale.
With advice from our real estate agent and much discussion, my siblings and I made a plan. We each brought our individual talents and experience to the table: my brother, the executor, managed the legal, financial, and administrative duties, found tradespeople, and helped clear the basement and garage; my other brother and nephew, who live in our home town, kept watch on and maintained the property, helped clear the basement and garage, and met movers and tradespeople who came to the house; my sister found us a real estate agent, lent her design and renovation savvy to choosing fixtures, cleaned, and, along with her husband and children, helped with the estate auction (more on that in the weeks to come), and clearing the basement and garage; and I, professional organizer and interior designer wannabe, cleared the contents of the house and researched the many decisions that are going into making the house ready.
The work is still in progress as I write these words. Our texts ping all day as we decide who will manage what, with whom, when, and how. The multiple chat threads get tangled and I accidentally text the handyman with questions about the plumbing. My siblings are balancing their responsibilities with full-time jobs but I run my own business and can take time as I need it (or as it needs me).
My desk is stacked with paint chips and the trunk of my car is full of flooring samples, plus a mirror that turned out to be too big. The 160-page notebook that I bought to keep track of my tasks has only three empty pages left. I would have started this blog back in December but I’ve been too busy living it to write about it.
I spent yesterday afternoon stumbling around DIY stores looking for tongue and groove nickel-gap panelling. Nobody had heard of it. Will regular shiplap do? Can we use it in a bathroom? MDF needs a moisture barrier. Individual planks or 4 x 8 foot sheets? Should we run it vertically or horizontally? Does the local Rona have it in stock?
As I research building material for the new bathroom, I realize that I haven’t cleaned my own bathroom in weeks. But these details matter because we are not “flipping a house,” as some people have described it, we are selling our family home and, with any luck, another family will live there for the next 62 years.
Over the next weeks and months I’ll describe this elephantine enterprise in a series of posts. How do you clear the family home and get it ready for sale? One bite at a time.
Before the new porch and railing were added last summer.