I have developed a philosophy in renovating houses which results in a “Doll House” or “Dream House” finished product.

How many houses on the market today look less than perfect?

Yet, the same house might be dressed up to look spectular!

So to stand out in the crowd, I try to finish off my refurbished houses with a spit-shine look.

And to round out the process, the exterior must stand out too, in order to draw prospects in to see the interior.

My objective is to polish the appearance of my renovated house to make it look better than any other house in the neighborhood.

My wife and son are involved in the project, too. We are somewhat versatile in our renovation skills, but even as a team we are not at all totally competent. When an electrical problem stumps us, we call in a licensed electrician. We don't have many specialty plumbing tools, so we are not adverse to calling in a licensed plumber. We don’t lay carpet, so we always hire out that work. And without my wife's "feminine touch," I would not know how to match color-coordinated decor like she does.

It's not always easy to create the best house on the block, but our attempt includes some very simple tasks.

I have organized a system or process to create this effect.

We start our renovation by taking off all the storm windows, which have usually never been cleaned because of the difficulty to get to them. We clean the storm windows on the inside, paint the space between the window and the storm window, and re-install.

Next, we remove every entry door, the interior room doors, closet doors, and kitchen cabinet doors. We paint them, and reinstall them with new or refurbished hardware.

We remove all the electrical outlet covers to give a clean paint finish on the walls.

Since the kitchen is the housewife's most important room in the house, we give special attention to updating it. We try to give it a flair of some sort. Sometimes just painting each of the cabinet doors and re-installing them with new hardware can give that special look. Often this avoids the costly expense of replacing the kitchen cabinets. Yet, we are often told that our refurbished cabinets look new.

We often replace old light fixtures with new light/ceiling fan combinations and/or chandeliers.

Every square inch of the house is freshly painted.

We replace all the carpet, tile and linoleum (unless it is already new). Fresh paint and new carpeting are probably the most important steps in renovation.

We might even change out the bathroom lavatory and commode (since the bathroom is another very important focus for the buyer).

Some of these steps may seem unnecessary, but you can be sure they are noticeable to prospective buyers.

And the finished product sizzles.

Our last house sold after only 3 days on the market, and the contract and counter-offers were concluded within 5 days after listing. We quickly found a buyer who fell in love with our Dream House.

Dr.Phil Speer