Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Done at Last! Done at Last! Praise God Almighty, We’re Done at Last!**

**Ok, so technically we weren’t completely done, because two days after our renter moved in she called to tell us the front storm door fell off its hinges, so I was back over there again today with the handyman …. But for the most part, we are done!

Don’t worry, this isn’t turning into some kind of home-improvement blog. The one thing that renovating a rental property has taught me is that the Bob Villa gene obviously skipped a century or two in my family, and I have no desire to repeat the process anytime soon. While pleased with the work I accomplished, I also discovered there’s a whole lot more I *can’t* do than I can, and perhaps serving as landlord is better left to the “handy” people of the world. But for better or worse, it’s done now. Although I did really like the part where I got to buy new stuff.

It’s not that I even think our before and after pictures are that interesting, but by golly, this is the project that has taken up the vast majority of my time since we moved here, and so I’m going to post them. I reckon I’ve spent almost as much time there, as I have moving myself into my own house. We spent way more money (hence the reason our son is still living in a closet) and man-hours (I remember thinking I would have the whole house painted in a few days --- ha! Pity the fool!) {that fool would be me, in case it wasn’t clear} than we intended; I’ve had paint in my hair for two months, ruined at least three manicures, have freakishly overdeveloped shoulder muscles thanks to the paint roller (no lie, I broke one IN HALF with my strength! And well, with my really bad posture) and I am on a first-name basis with the paint guy at Home Depot. I’ve single-handedly made SEVERAL of my handy-man’s mortgage payments, spent many evenings away from my family, felt the thrill of manual labor (not) and the self-satisfaction of a job well done. And all things considered? I. AM. SO. OVER. THIS. PROJECT.

But in the meantime, for your viewing pleasure:


The master bedroom BEFORE:





The master bedroom AFTER:






The front bedroom BEFORE:



The front bedroom AFTER: (and I have no idea why the walls look so baby-shit yellow because they are actually tan in real life):







The middle bedroom BEFORE:



The middle bedroom AFTER:







The bathroom BEFORE:





The bathroom DURING:





The bathroom AFTER:







The kitchen BEFORE:







The kitchen AFTER:








The living room BEFORE:





The living room DURING:







The living room AFTER:






And then I was going to do some cute little Photoshopped images of ME, before and after, but quite frankly, I'm sick and damn tired of the whole thing.

30 comments:

Colleen said...

It looks really good! Looks like it gets some nice sunlight too.

Unknown said...

Wow. I am really impressed! It turned out so nice. Too bad about the storm door though.

Now go get a manicure in the morning.

Anonymous said...

Job WELL done!! I love it! You should be proud!

Natalie said...

I'm ready to move in! I'm impressed!

Ann said...

Fabulous job! The finished product makes it all worth it, really, doesn't it? I agree - you should be proud.

M said...

WoW! Your very own "Flip This House!" -Nice work!

We once bought a fixer-upper cuz it was all we could afford...that was 22 years ago and we are still working on it...in fact I am painting my sewing room now! And the boy will get out of his closet when he goes to college in 2 years :)

Anonymous said...

awesome work...when can i move in? and as far as kellen closet goes; i wish i had such a nice space to my own! i sleep on the couch while my husband and children have their own rooms. i'd be very thankful for kellen's closet!! :O)

cathy

Anonymous said...

It looks beautiful! Good job!

Unknown said...

I just noticed the new dishwasher, so now I wonder where the refrigerator goes.
House looks awesome.

Anonymous said...

Is the tan color called "solomon's sand" or something like that? It looks like the (very nice I might add) color of my dad's living room. anyway, the whole place looks great!

Kristie said...

Grandma J, there is a place at the far end of the kitchen that is *supposed* to be for a small breakfast table. It would have to be teeny-tiny, though, so the renter just decided to put her side-by-side fridge over there. It worked well, since she wanted the dishwasher, and her fridge was two inches too tall to fit in the old fridge space. We had to run another water line so she could hook up her ice maker (have I mentioned how much I love my handy-man?) but all's well that end's well.

Alice said...

Wow.

Anonymous said...

Is that hard wood floor, the real deal or laminent? It looks great!!

Kristie said...

Anonymous, it's the real hardwood floors that we had sanded down and re-finished. And although we spent almost half our budget on the floors alone (refinishing the hardwood, new carpet in the master, and new linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom) the living room floor is my biggest disappointment in the entire house.

Somebody, years ago, threw carpet down over the hardwood, and through the ages, as things were spilled on the carpets, the wood floors underneath sustained water damage. We had hoped the damaged parts of the wood would sand off, but no such luck. Once our floor guy put on the new finish, the stains came right back up to the surface.

The bedrooms, hall, and dining "area" look fantastic, but there are dark spots all over the living room which just annoy me to no end. But, short of ripping it all up and starting over (cha-ching!) there was nothing to be done about it.

One of the reasons I knew this renter was the right girl for us was when I showed her the damage, and explained how we had tried to correct it, her first comment was, "Well, so I'll just put a rug over that spot and it'll look fine."

Man, I LOVE optimistic people!

Tammy said...

Wow, looks fabulous darling! You did a great job, be proud, show off those pictures, you know we would of been pissed if you did'nt! Great job Kristie, now get that mani would ya?

Anonymous said...

It looks great! And if you've ever watched Flip this House, they NEVER have it done as soon as they would hope (and usually it's over budget!)

Lenaya

Anonymous said...

I am super impressed! Thats what I call a full out reno! It all looks fantastic and I think anyone would be happy to live there. I especially like the double aspect windows in the bedrooms, so nice!

And in reality you were acting as your own contractor and that takes an enormous amount of skill and patience so please don't knock your own handyman skills. You were able to find an amazing handyman who came on time and did what you wanted. That alone gives you about 50 gold stars!

I can't wait to see what you do with your own house!

Blondie

Pink Lemonade said...

wow... it looks great! The hardwood floors look beautiful... you guys did a great job!!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Great job!!! Hope you're getting boucoup renting bucks for this place. Love the white mill work and the hardwood floors and the great job on the bathroom and kitchen. Don't know what the whole square footage is, but, if that house was inside Seattle city limits, you'd get $1500+/month for it, depending on how close you were to the downtown corridor (closer to downtown = moremoneymoremoneymoremoney....well, you get the picture. If this place wasn't in OK, I'd want to live there! (no insult to OK intended - there just isn't much Boeing work out your way!!). Congrats on a job well done - I'm impressed.

Amy said...

Wow!! That looks awesome.
Are you sure that's not really your master bedroom at the new house?

Unknown said...

Perfect! I love the spot for the frig. you guys should get an award for getting so much done in a short period of time...with bad weather, holidays, getting the kids in school...and walking cute dogs.
Congratulations

Anonymous said...

Gotta love that Harvest Gold sculptured carpet in the bedrooms!!!


Meg from Ga

Monica H said...

A home-improvement blog would be awesome and quite entertaining!

I can't believe how well the floors turned out. There may noit seem like a lot of difference in the bedrooms, but they appear clean and much neater. Awesome job!

Anonymous said...

Well done, Kristie!! (and kids, Blaine and Handy Man!) The hardwood floors turned out fabulously :-) I love the paint color in the master bedroom, could you tell me the name, please? I hope you are feeling darn proud of your awesome 'flip' and of yourself, of course ;0) I am sooo impressed! And so happy for you, that it is OVER!

Anonymous said...

What a sweet, cute house! I love all the built in shelves and the arched doorways. Nope, they don't make em like they used to... (you can just call me grandma).

I love the hardwood and the colors look great! You rock and your renter has a super cute house!

Anonymous said...

Holy cow! You did a FABULOUS job! Amazing difference!

Jan Ross said...

Every single room looks amazingly different and better. Your time was well spent. Great job!

Anonymous said...

WOW! Want to come and be the Nanny for our house renovation? This one turned out fine. Good Job!

Anonymous said...

Wow do you want to come up here and work. I'll supply the diet dr p for you. Great job.
Karen from MN

willowtree said...

Great job!!