Thank you for all the sweet comments about the split level home we renovated and are selling.
If you missed any of the before and after photos, check them out:
- Before and after: Sunroom
- Before and after: Living room/Dining room/Kitchen
- Before and after: Bathrooms and bedrooms
It’s closing week, soI wanted to share a few final before and after photos today that didn’t fit into the other posts. I’ll also share some then answer some final thoughts before someone else makes this house their home.
We are grateful we were able to take this project on – but we are ready to move on to other things. I feel like selling a house is always a bit of a pain, even when everything goes relatively smoothly. Just all the inspections and back and forth and finalizing all projects and cleaning.
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So … first up …
The split foyer
This is a fairly typical split level home, which means the front door opens into a split foyer.
There was nothing particularly “bad” about the before, but it was definitely dated and drab – like much of the rest of the home. There was also more mismatched flooring and some ugly wall colors.
New wall and trim paint, new flooring, and a painted black railing. Chef’s kiss.
I really cannot begin to describe how much more welcoming the front entry is now with these small changes.
And the railing turned out so well. My dad and Ryan sprayed it with black paint and it’s such a nice, easy update. I wondered if we’d need a new railing but I love how it turned out and it feels natural for this home and style.
It’s a nice welcome into the home.
The lower level bonus room
Speaking of welcome into the home, this downstairs room connects to the attached garage and will likely become a defacto mudroom and drop zone. It’s really nice to have this extra space and I think it would be a wonderful toy room or game room near two downstairs bedrooms.
We decided that the carpet had to go – especially since this room will get a great deal of foot traffic. With light and bright paint and new flooring, it feels so much bigger and brighter.
I love that all of the lower level rooms also have large windows and plenty of natural light. It feels nothing like a “basement.”
Adding a few more can lights also helped it feel even brighter.
So those are the last major interior rooms to share!
Outdoors
When it came to outside projects, the yard needed a little TLC but we didn’t have the budget or time to tackle a full-scale outdoor renovation.
The home already had low-maintenance vinyl siding and decking above the garage, but needed some painted around windows, foundation and doors. The old decking near the front door was removed and planted with perennial plants relocated from other gardens around the home. Grass seed was also planted, but it’s still filling in. We also had the front concrete stairs fixed with a mudjacking company.
The landscaping around the house was well-established but really overgrown. So everything got a trim and hefty weeding. They also added fresh rock and dirt where it was needed.
The yard is almost 3 acres, but half was rented out to a farmer in the past. My dad and Ryan tilled and planted grass in the back acreage, which made the yard look as big as it actually was.
And everything else got a lot of clean up – including removing 5 or 6 dead trees in the yard. (You can see the spots in this photo from above but all have been filled in with grass in the past few months.)
On the back of the home, the small deck needed repaired and painted. We also removed the ramp and the 4 satellite dishes.
It looks so much better!
The outside looks neat and clean now, which was the goal. It’s a nice, country paradise.
Was it worth it?
We spent about 6 months renovating this home and I think it will be worth the time and effort for the final profit. We knew what homes were going for when we purchased this home and it was a really solid investment. The home increased in value substantially, thanks to the current real estate market and the projects we took on.
But, don’t get me wrong – it was a giant undertaking. It always ends up being a bigger project than you think it will be. And the financial aspect of having another home is also an adjustment – taxes, insurance, mortgage and project expenses add up quickly.
We simply couldn’t have tackled this project without partnering with my dad. I’m so grateful that Ryan and my dad get along so well and work so well together. They are also both very self motivated and did a great job of taking on the projects they could handle alone while working together on big projects together. They often looked over the master to-do list and adjusted things as needed.
We have three busy, active kids and Ryan works a full time job. That makes it very very difficult to spend full days or weekends working on project like we may have done 10 years ago. My dad spent almost every single weekday at the house working on the projects he could do alone while Ryan was at work. My dad mowed the lawn and painted every surface of the house and did countless other projects when we were elsewhere.
And then Ryan spent so much of his own down time between work and activities to get more projects done. He was burning the candle at both ends and still managed to be a great dad while tackling projects left and right to move us to the finish line.
Basically – I just think they were the dream team. They both sacrificed a lot over the past months to get this project finished and the success made it worth it.
My dad and I also had a fun time picking out finishes and fixtures. We nearly always disagreed on what to choose and then had to compromise. He talked me out of a few hair brained ideas and I talked him into a couple. 😉 I may have also just randomly ordered a few light fixtures to swap out and he never complained.
It was such an amazing opportunity to do this right in our neighborhood. The convenience of being right across the street was amazing and made it much more doable for this season of life.
My kids are going to be disappointed that “the work house” isn’t “theirs” anymore. They loved having their grandparents there almost every day. They loved running around the yard and checking on the progress and playing hide and seek in the big, empty house.
I think Ryan and I and my parents are glad to be moving on and happy to see the project come to an end. And we are happy we were able to find success taking it on.
Onward and upward.
Do you have any questions about our project? I’ll try to answer in the comments.
Room sources:
- Flooring: ProCore Plus English Grove Oak 7 inches wide
- Paint: Behr Dolphin Fin (walls), Behr Ultra Pure White (trim)
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Christine says
none of the links take me to the kitchen 🙁