The Hubs and I bought our first house, a foreclosure, on April 15, 2011 with the help of our good friend and Realtor Scott Neal . We sold the home in September of 2013 to make the big move to Georgia. It was a TON of work, but it was a labor of love. Looking back, I can’t even believe we did all that…
Check it out the before and afters….
The front of the house before:
Ew. The day we closed on it, I drove straight to the house and kicked down that hideous handrail. Sorry old folks. I would have loved to get rid of the tiered yard but was told several times that it would negatively impact the foundation. Boo.
The living area before:
The carpet was nasty. Well, more like ass-ty. It smelled like piss, not to mention it was crazy-hideous.
Living area after:
I tore down and built a new mantle, scrubbed off the smoke stains on the brick fireplace, we repainted the entire house with Behr’s Sculptor’s Clay, put tile in the living area and Allure Plank Vinyl flooring throughout most of the house. That stuff is awesome. Looks just like wood but doesn’t scratch and scuff near as easily.
Here’s a wider shot. I love my paint chip art. The quote is from this scene in one of my favorite movies ever. Poor Jefe.
The dining room before:
Sorry for the super tiny pic, it’s from the original listing.
Dining area after:
We also added a tiny door for our fat basset hound friend Howard.
Another shot of the dining room before:
and after:
This is my favorite part!
The kitchen before:
In progress:
Kitchen after:
We added french doors to the laundry room, sanded and restained the cabinets, added crown molding, new appliances, granite counter tops and flooring.
Another view:
I made that bench cushion from 2 burlap coffee bags that I picked up in Canton for a buck each!
Dining/Kitchen before:
Dining/Kitchen After:
We also closed in the garage to make room for another living area and an office/craft room.
Garage before:
Living room side after:
That Goodfellas painting back there was the first painting I ever did.
Craft room side after:
There’s the Jefferson’s Chair! You can check out my the craft room in the new place here.
Guest bathroom before:
I don’t know what was up with the weird counter, but it drove me crazy. I agreed to leave it but then tore it out one day while Hubs was at work. Then he had no choice. 🙂
After I tore out the weird counter top, I replaced it with one I found at a local surplus store for $90 bucks.
You can find out how to make your own vinyl record butterflies here and the chalkboard art here.
Here are some side by side before and afters:
Whew! Buying a foreclosure is a ton of work, but the possibilities are almost endless. You can do whatever you want and create your own perfect home. Now, if I can just get the Georgia home how I want it, I’ll be able to rest.
Whaddya think? Have you taken on a foreclosure or a crazy pee-smell home reno project? Would you do it again?
dena@heartsandsharts.com
Our house was a short sale in 2009. It was a nightmare because our estate agent had never done a short sale, and it was kind of an estate anyway. There were liens on the property, unpaid taxes and workmen, and our closing/settlement was pushed back 4 times. The actual house? Not bad. Only one major appliance dies every year (as if by clockwork: sleeve A/C, dishwasher, stove, washing machine, water heater. We’re waiting on the fridge. It’s time. As for decorating, we had to strip wallpaper from every room (bathrooms included), and de-old lady-ify the entire house. We’re getting there, with some help!
Hubby and I just bought our first home and its a foreclosure. I’m terrified, excited and itching to get started lol. I love that I can see that other people have done it, and so can I! Wish me luck!
GOOD LUCK! Hope all goes smoothly for you and that it turns out even better than you imagined! In the meantime, getcha some IcyHot! 🙂
Your renovated house looks amazing!You and your husband put in a ton of work. I would love to live in a house liked that.I am trying to renovate my apartment to look more like mine every wall is painted white need to figure out the colors I want.
Thank you, Jill! I’m an all-beige kinda girl… I get so scared of color on the walls! Good luck!
How’s this for crazy: unexpectedly pregnant, looking for a house(??Aah!) and buying a house that sort of got singed in a fire. We’re in the Midwest, and had to call a place way in NJ to find insurance so we could work on it to move in(also had to shop for a mortgage- problem with ordinary lenders/insurers was, they wouldn’t insure an unliveable space, so it was a catch-22 to find someone). I found out at the end of May, we started looking right away, and moved in to this house at the end of September, after working on it for a month. We had to demo the carpet(smoke & water damage), and gut the living room(where the fire started). That’s how we bought a $60k house for $12k. Funny, our family all said, “I like that house, but we can’t afford it,” before, then someone left candles burning and took the dog to the lake(or something), on a beautiful summer afternoon.
Where did you get your coffee table in the living room ? I love it!!!
Thank you! My mom actually made that! It was a regular sized kitchen table and she cut down the base to make it into a coffee table and then painted and lightly distressed it.
sheet dena musta killed you to leave all that hard work behind, and to now have to do it again, and nothing smells worse than old piss stained carpet xx
It was hard! We did a lot of things to that house because we thought we were going to be there for the long haul. But, a sweet, young single mother bought the home and we were happy to know that she was all set up; new roof, insulation, electrical, a/c. So, yeah, it was hard to leave but knowing that a sweet family would have a great place to grow was a really nice feeling.
Your home renovation looks great! We are in the middle of our own home renovation, so I know exactly what you went through! Stopping by via the SITS link-up party. (P.S. Your blog name is hilarious, love it!)
Haha! Thanks, Jen!
What kind of stain did you use on your kitchen cabinets? Ours are that light wood color that yours were before and I realllyyyy don’t like them. Your new cabinets look great in that color. I know white is all the craze right now and I love the clean look of it, but with all of our trim and doors still being wood, I think just staining them a better color would be the best idea.
Thanks, Michelle! The stain was Minwax Gel Stain in Hickory. I loooove gel stain. We actually didn’t even poly over them.
Great, thanks! I’ll look into that 🙂
Hi Dena! I’ve nominated you for a Liebster Award, you can check it out here: http://lipglossandlumber.blogspot.com/2014/03/liebster-award.html
P.S. – Your home transformation is AMAZING! I bet you were in such good shape after all that work 🙂
Awesome! Thanks Meg!
You are hilarious!!! It’s amazing to see the before and afters. Miss you!
YOU are hilarious. Come see us!
Such a great transformation!!! I THINK I want our next house to be somewhat of a project house, but I am also terrified of it. I guess there is still plenty of time for that
Thank you Heather! Patience is the key. I have none of that so it kind of drove me crazy and I was working like a mad woman all the time. I’d do it again though!
Dena,
What a great transformation. I remember the hours of hard work… what a payoff! You really have talent. keep me updated on the latest.
Thank you Dave!I will! Hug!
Daaaang you have been busy and your house looks awesome! I love all the fun colors and personality, not to mention that Goodfellas poster is awesome!
Thanks Katie! This was actually a lazy post – we sold this house before we moved to Georgia but I didn’t start the blog until January 2014 so I’m just now sharing somewhere other than Facebook.
Haha, yeah that makes sense now that you mention it. I was like, wow she has 2 craft rooms, awesome! I’m a dummy. Plus now that you mention it that house does look very Texas-y. Is that a word?
I wish I had two craft rooms! One for sewing and one for the “man stuff”. I’ve been getting sawdust on my fabric scraps. #crafterproblems