I didn’t get to do a “progress” post for our first renovation because I wasn’t on top of my “reno” game as we were all in the learning phase. But, I made sure to take as many pictures of each of our projects as I could with our 2nd home. Like I said before, seeing the house come together piece by piece, slowly but surely is the best part to me. It’s so fun to look back and see what these houses looked like from day #1 before they quickly turn into updated homes at the time of sale. But, there’s SO much that happens in between that’s so worthy of sharing and that’s exactly what these “progress” posts are about. You may want to pull up a seat and stay a while, because I’ve got quite the picture overload for you today! Part 2 will be up following this post so make sure to stick around for that too.
Ready?
Let’s get to it!
This picture ^^above is exactly what we pulled into on the day of closing. What a mess right? This front yard was screaming for a good clean up ASAP. That’s exactly what happened too, first thing! Whew, thank goodness for leaf blowers!!
Next on the to-do list was flooring! Boxes on boxes of hardwoods ready to be put to work. See ya’ parquet flooring-hello beautiful dark hardwoods! (Soon to be at least….)
Then, next priority was getting these rows and rows of windows covered with new wood blinds. It’s amazing what these do to a room.
Notice the floors ^^ the carpet was pulled up to get ready for new hardwoods. (Another giant mess on our hands, all within just the first few days!) Oh and not to mention the paint samples splashed onto the walls to try out our many options!
^^SEE! What a change! Total- there were over 20 sets of blinds put into this house on both floors. Nick decided after putting the last one in, he could probably do it in his sleep after putting up SO many sets.
Then, one of the many kitchen projects was started, backsplash.
Next, the woodwork started to get going. Operation “update-the-cabinets” was officially underway. Simple molding pieces that made a major update in the end!
This is where things get interesting in the “flipping world”. Trial and error are our best friends in each and every house. We attempted to try out butcher block countertops in the beginning in this kitchen, which was eventually taken off and replaced with Corian tops.
Countertop #1 in progress……
In place….
Finished product….But, the durability of these tops just weren’t going to cut it. We initially wanted them to be a lighter color, but the extra coats needed to cover the wood soaked in differently making it a lot darker than we wanted. So….
Kitchen countertop renovation round 2 began. Much better, right? Lighter and brighter saved the day!
Then came the bathroom renovations. Remember this one from the “BEFORE” photos? This is the half bath downstairs that used to be leopard print….
This backsplash made for such a cute and clean update! We loved the finished product!
Then the master bath was ready for it’s updates. Surprisingly, this was probably the biggest challenge of this project. It wasn’t the biggest of bathroom spaces, but was in need of a ton of updates. Nick actually had to take out part of the wall to extend the shower.
Then, he retiled the shower and update the glass door.
Next, the bar went in!
Nick made this from scratch and did such a great job!
The dimmable lights underneath were one of our favorite touches of the house. Oh, and not to mention those bar chairs!
Slowly but surely the staging starting to move along. Decorating those shelves were one of our biggest challenges! Who knew putting things on bookshelves could cause so much stress? Ha! Unfortunately, I didn’t get a progress picture (I know, what was I thinking, right?) but to the right of this room, Nick and his brother built a built-in bookshelf dividing the room, that was AMAZING!! So, we were in major need of bookshelf decorations because they were all around between these two living areas.
Make sure to check out “Part 2” of our progress on House #2 after this! You can find it >>here<<.
…To be continued.