This was my husband and I's first house. We had just purchased a little condo, rennovated it and sold it and had our eyes out for the perfect real house to flip. I was 23, new to rennovation and design.
I came across this beauty: a cute little bungalow built in 1916. We purchased the home with then intent to fix it up and put it back on the market. I loved this house. This was our first true "house" together. But, it was not in the right area for us, and after the rennovations it was worth much more than we could afford. It took a little bit longer to sell than our first that sold in 2 weeks. This one was in a developing area - the street itself was precious, but there were some sketchy areas surrounding it.
Here is Front Before:
Front After a little red trim paint and a porch redo:
Here is the living room Before:
And the Living room After:
Here is another angle of the living room: Can you tell I was in my loving red phase? I think it looks good, but if I would do it so differently today, this was in 2005
Bathroom before:
Bathroom after: We would have kept the clawfoot tub, but since it was the only bathroom, we opted for a jetted tub instead and sold the antique cast iron on craigslist to pay for it
Here is the cute little kitchen before. I hated demolishing it, because it was just so precious. It just wasn't practical though. The countertop was a true drain board with the scores in the bark for draining and everything. It just wasn't set up for modern cooking though, so we gutted the entire thing.
Here is the after: The picture was taken from the same angle with the sink still positioned under the window. I still love the kitchen, but if I had to do it over again I would do things differently. I guess I'll always say that 5 years after a project.
The guest room before (with the boarded up windows)
The guest room after:
I don't have a before picture of the next picture, but there was just a single door that led from the dining room to the kitchen, so we opened that whole space up, and we used the same style of casing for around the opening. When I came home from work and the contractors had made a huge hole in the wall, and there was then a huge open floorplan - I was TOTALLY hooked on rennovation. I couldn't believe the difference. I can still feel how good that felt, and I'm sure my husband remembers me jumping around the house like a complete fool not able to contain my excitement.
See that huge kind of ugly thing hanging on the wall on the right? That was my very first DIY/crafty project. I was sitting in an Electrical Engineering class in college and I my mind was totally up in the clouds thinking about what to do above my brand new couch in my first apartment. I sketched this up, made my first of 2 million trips to the Home Depot, got supplies and whipped this thing up. It had sentimental value so it "hung" around (get it!) for a while, but I finally threw it in the garbage last year.
I will never forget this home, and I don't think any home that we own will be able to live up to it. I miss it, but am so happy that we now have a forever home (after 4 years 5 apartments and 3 home flips).
I am posting this on Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Monday.
