When my beloved grandmother suddenly fell ill and passed away within two weeks, my mother and I didn’t know how to cope. My grandmother was the most important woman in our family—always loving, exceedingly generous, incredibly smart, and forever encouraging. We felt an array of emotions: deep sadness, happiness when reflecting on her long life, anxiety about what’s to come, and even anger at the chain of events that led to her loss. Though we knew our emotions would fluctuate day by day, we weren’t prepared for one of the biggest tasks that followed her death: fulfilling her wish to sell the place she called home for 23 years.
Choosing to Sell
Two months after my grandmother’s passing, my mother and I listed the house on Zillow, as we wanted to try selling it ourselves. The home was exactly the way my grandma had left it and we didn’t change a thing for the listing photos. We kept all of her furniture and a bit of her chaotic mess that really gave insight into her fun personality. We settled on an open house date, bought snacks for potential buyers, and hoped for the best. To our surprise, no one showed up. While we received tons of calls from interested buyers, none were serious enough to make an offer even close to what the house was worth. Discouraged and still reeling from the loss, we decided to pause the sale of her home until after the holidays. It was too much for us to think about at that time.
After three more months of grief and mourning, we felt ready to revisit selling her home. However, we decided to tap a real estate agent for help this time around. We ended up working with Johnathan Grover, a realtor who was highly recommended by Zillow and listed by ChatGPT as a top agent in the Hampton Roads area (yes, we actually asked Chat). My grandmother’s house had not been renovated since it was built in the early 1970s. As you can imagine, there was a long list of renovations to complete. My mother and I were focused on changing the roof, dock, and HVAC; however, Grover redirected our focus to small projects like updating bathrooms, countertops, and installing new appliances to avoid overwhelming a new homeowner with these financial burdens.
Design Decisions
Throughout the process, it was difficult to make changes because we wanted to respect my grandmother’s decor style. I was 10 years old when she bought the house. I vividly remember falling in love with the place, especially the black-and-white checkerboard floors in the kitchen and dining room. To me, it has always been a signature trait of my grandma’s house. I insisted on keeping the checkerboard flooring in those spaces even though it’s a controversial design choice. We did end up replacing the old carpet in the living room and bedrooms with light hardwood floors. I’ll admit that this necessary change made me upset because I felt that the warmth and feeling of my grandmother had been stripped away.
We hand-painted all of the cream-colored kitchen cabinets to black (even though my grandmother would have preferred the lighter color) and added new gold hardware along with under-cabinet lights for a cleaner look. Our realtor also installed white marble patterned countertops and a black farmhouse kitchen sink with a curved faucet. We ordered black blinds for the window and purchased new appliances, including an Amana stove and a GE dishwasher. For each change we made, we kept asking ourselves whether my grandmother would have liked it. This perspective made it a bit difficult for us to focus on what would be best for selling the house. To tie in the new black kitchen with the rest of the house, we decided to paint the gray brick fireplace black (which turned out stunning and became the focal point of the room).
Next, we tackled the bathrooms. Our realtor was skilled and handy, so he was able to change the countertops, vanities, faucets, and toilets. We completely replaced the master bathroom vanity with a black vessel-sink vanity from Facebook Marketplace and added vanity lights. We painted the guest bathroom vanity black and installed black rain shower heads from Amazon. We also added striped towels to create a warm, homey feeling.
At one point during the renovation, my mother recalled that my grandmother used to say, “When you fix or replace one item in a room, you end up having to replace the entire room,” and she was so right! We painted all the baseboards white at first. When we finished, the walls looked so dirty. So, we did a color match and said we could just touch up the dirty spots. We couldn’t get the sheen just right on the color match (after all, it had been painted 20 years ago), so what started as a tiny touch-up job turned into repainting the entire three-bedroom, two-bathroom house. Once the walls were glistening, we replaced the light switch plates, hinges, door stops, and door handles. We realized that the curtains were outdated and aging the house, so down they came and up went new window treatments.
Since the house was starting to look significantly more modern, we changed the hallway lights and hallway ceiling fans to look more cohesive. We were balancing the new black-and-brushed-gold aesthetic with the house’s original dark wood, evident in the fireplace mantel, the wood step strip, and the light-colored wood floors we had installed. Therefore, when we came across items that incorporated both, like the hallway lights and ceiling fans, we jumped at the opportunity to add these to the house. Ordering door stoppers, blinds, hardware, hinges, door knobs, showerheads, fans, curtains, and accessories like towels from Amazon helped us stay within a reasonable budget.
During the warmer months, my grandmother was always outside in her garden. She loved flowers and bold colors. Since we ended up renovating during the winter months, we had completely forgotten her beautiful backyard on a lake. My mom ended up painting the entire back deck white (in below-freezing temperatures, by the way), which really brightened up the backyard and made some of the rotted wood less of an eyesore. My mother also chose to honor my grandmother’s love of gardening by adding flowers to the front yard for some curb appeal.
Unexpected Repairs
Of course, renovations never go as planned, so we had to increase our budget. First, we discovered a water leak in the front yard that had to be fixed. Then, a few days before closing, we learned that the water heater wasn’t working and needed to be replaced, another hefty expense. And lastly, we found traces of termite activity that needed to be addressed as well. After all of these unexpected expenses, we were finally in the home stretch.
The Sale
We doubted ourselves several times throughout the process, but ultimately realized all the work the three of us (me, my mom, and our realtor John) put into it was well worth it. We listed the house for sale on a Thursday, had 23 showings, eight offers, and a bidding war by Sunday. We sold it on Monday with a cash offer (which was also the highest) and a closing within 30 days. The house sold for 4% above the asking price, with a clause stating that the inspection was for information only.
Would we do it again? Absolutely. Fixing and repairing the house was a therapeutic way to process our grief. It was a way to slowly say goodbye to the house and our memories in it, and to leave it in the very best possible condition for the next owner to enjoy and bring new life to. We were lucky to have found an excellent real estate agent who knew what needed to be replaced, helped us fix things, and encouraged us throughout the process. Though a lot of work and tears were shed, we feel grateful to have received the best possible outcome.
