Finally started House #2

We finally got started on house # 2 over the weekend. A little info on the house...the house appears to have been remodeled and sold about a year ago but went into foreclosure almost immediately. Luckily that means there isn't too much work (except that we want to change the layout a little bit). Below is a picture of the front of the house...needs a little help with the curb appeal.

We plan on taking out the wall between the family room and the dining room to help open up the house. This should also give the family more light than there is now. The pictures below show the wall we will be removing. The picture on the left is of the dining room...to the right of the dining room is the view from the kitchen into the family room.


We're going to change the kitchen a little also. We plan on opening it up to the family room by taking out the wall.



The house currently has 3 bedrooms.



We will be closing in an extra room off the family room that can be used as a bedroom. We will use it as a game room (thank you Aimee and Ray for loaning us the pool table for the next couple of years!).



The house has 2 bathrooms. The 2nd bath doesn't need much work.

The master bath was also remodeled but the work done is very interesting. You can't tell from the picture but there is a step up to get to the shower. We believe they decided to move the shower but didn't want to break into the foundation so they just ran it above ground and created a platform.



The hallway containing the bedrooms is a little jumbled. I am hoping to be able to pull out the extra door jamb to create a cleaner look.



The backyard is also in need of some help. We will end up pulling out almost everything and starting over. We are going to redo the back patio.





I think the garage is going to be Justin's favorite thing about this house. It is a 2.5 car garage. The previous owners had an extra bathroom out there that was probably used as a pool house when there was a pool. We will tear it out and make a great garage where Justin can work on the projects I have in store for him.



There is a hallway connecting the house and the garage. It currently houses what we suspect was a kosher kitchen. We are tearing this out and will be installing some storage cabinets.



We are very excited to get this house started and completed. I am looking forward to seeing the changes that we will be making.

Backyard - House #1

Before

There is actually a small pond under that piece of plywood.

Oh the fun of cactus and banana trees. Kind of hard to make out but that is what the whole mess. There is actually a small tree in there on the left but we didn't know that untill the cactus was torn out.

During

Oh, did I forget to mention how much I hate banana tree!!!!!! They won't DIE.

Again, I clear out all of the banana trees and another one pops up. If you don't have a green thumb buy lots of banana trees.

Just about finished....Just waiting for the sod and the mulch for the flower beds.

Master Closet - House #1

Before

I felt that the closet had a lot of wasted space. So I desided to copy my father's closet and double up one side. Plus ofcourse I had to replace the carpet and paint.

Master Bathroom - House #1

Before

The master bath really didn't stand out but if you can believe it, the size is way above normal for the area. So I felt I needed to do something nice to make it stand out.

During

I gutted the whole bath except for the cabinets. They were still in pretty good shape and just needed new doors. I expended the shower about 300%. Trust me...I don't think the old shower was big enough. I felt like I was in a coffin.

Master Bedroom - House #1

Before

During

What a mess!! Everytime some sees the picture of the carpet they ask me if someone was killed in there. ........... and the answer is.......not that I know.

Middle Bedroom - House #1

Before

When we first started working on the house, we would bring Rylie with us. For some reason he loved this room. Anytime we couldn't find him he was curled up in this room.

Guest Bathroom - House #1

Before

Pretty simple remodel here. Just paint, resurface the tile, and new cabinet door, and new window. Thats about it.

Front Bedroom - House #1

Before

The bedroom sure was pretty. If you turned off the light it would glow with the stickers they put on the ceiling.

Kitchen - House #1

Before

My plan was to replace the counter tops, remove the cabinets above the stove (well the hole for the stove, ha ha), new sink, new oven, new appliances, tile the back splash, new cabinet doors, can lighting....etc (sorry it is just too much to list, just have to scroll down to see what was replaced)

During

The fun of demo. After getting into the project, we realized that the cabinets that had the sink were all rotted and had to be replace and the plumbing in the wall was cracked. Boy was that a fun project. Plumbing has to be the most frustrating project out there. I swear I went to Homedepot and plumbing supply stores 10 times before that was finished.

Just about finished. Cabinet have molding and lights on the bottom, new counter tops, and the back splash is finished. The spot for the oven had to be widened because the new models don't come in that small size anymore. Plus I couldn't find a place to put the microwave so I ended up taking out a drawer under the oven to make a little shelf.

Family Room - House #1

Before

The family room, from the pictures it doesn't need much work but who really likes track light......really come on.....track lighting looks bad.

During

As you can see, the hanging cabinet from the ceiling had to go. It really opened up the family room to the kitchen with just that little amount of work.

This is just about finished. Can lighting is in, granite counters in, new windows in, and the freshly painted cabinet doors are drying. (To bad the painter did a horrible job painting them so we had to repaint them again later)