Reno Reveal: Part 2

Alrighty! Ready to see the rest of the rental redo, aka Face-lift on the Cheap? Let's continue on with the walk-through. I'm not feeling so hot tonight, so I'm not up to typing much. After three to four weeks and two trips to the doctor, I'm still not up to par. Whatever this bug is I've had is wicked! So, due to a huge desire and need to rest, I'll be brief and hope this makes sense (because I'm feeling a little woozy:)!

From the dining room I moved on to the Family Room. Here's two "Before" pictures:

"Before" shot with all the old carpet and louvered sliding door to the hallway that was removed.

Be gone old blue curtains and darkness!

 The new hardwood flooring was continued on into here and the hallway. The walls were painted SW Muslin, a new ceiling fan and storm door were installed, and new window dressings. All trim was once again scrubbed down with TSP and re-stained.

So much airier, light and bright! 

Then there was the hallway to tackle:

Paneling, carpet, louvered sliding door...!

The homeowner had started down the right path to lighten the hallway by painting the paneling,
but the colors were just all wrong. It was the same cold toned green/gray.

Out came the paint cans again, and the same treatment was given here as everywhere else. The top was the SW Muslin and from the chair rail down was the custom mix.

All trim and doors were re-stained. The light was replaced
as well as continuing the hardwood flooring into the hallway.

Then came the master bedroom and bath. Here's the before shots:

Some nice tenant had painted the master bedroom lemon yellow. Ugh!

If I'd have had the money in the budget, this would have been a gut job. Gotta love the
old laminate countertop, chipping painted vanity, Hollywood strip lighting, and gold fixtures!

 The master bedroom and bath both received the trim treatment and paint as well as new carpet.

Much better.

In the master bath, I started with stripping down the vanity. I have to say, the master bath and the kitchen were by far where I spent the majority of my time. My furniture revamping skills came in handy with both rooms, but particularly with the master vanity. See for yourself.

Lots of nastiness!

Then is was all sanded down.

Scottie Dog had to check out the action:)

Then the first coat of my favorite stain, Minwax Dark Walnut went on.
Don't you just love the gold toilet with the wooden seat?!

Next, a new vanity top and faucet were installed before the second coat of stain went on.

The homeowner had changed out the lighting and installed new laminate flooring. Some Polycrylic and new chrome hardware left the homeowners having a hard time believing it was even the same vanity! Bingo! Add a new white shower curtain and nice chrome rings, chrome accessories, white towels, toilet update and it was a whole new room.
One I'd actually like to spend time in getting dressed each morning:)

I was pretty happy with the final results:)

There you have it. The finished tour of what I've been working on for the last two months! Looking at it now, it's hard to believe it took so much work, but oh, my word, did it take work! God was gracious, though. By his grace, and ONLY by his grace, I was able to finish on time even though I was sick and ready to drop the last week. It became a constant battle to keep moving. There were so many little times he reminded me he was there holding me up. For instance, when I walked into the family room to see a little wren just sitting on the mantle! He'd managed to squeeze in through the few inches I'd cracked the garage door for fresh air. It may seem totally unrelated, but it was at that point I was really needing his uplifting hand to keep going. Seeing that little bird just sitting there and how easy it was to open the door and watch it fly out, made me truly feel his presence. It was like he was saying, "See the bird and remember,

Matthew 10:29-31

"Not even a sparrow, worth only half a 

penny, can fall to the ground without your 

Father knowing it. And the very hairs on 

your head are all numbered. So don’t be 

afraid; you are more valuable to Him than 

a whole flock of sparrows."

Philippians 4:13

"For I can do everything with the help of 

Christ who gives me the strength I need."

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Rental Reno Reveal: Part 1

Well, the much anticipated rental redo/face-lift is complete! I can't tell you how good it feels. I took a ton of pictures, and decided the best way to do this reveal was to break it into two parts. Otherwise, I'd take forever getting everything edited and posted.

Our original deadline was February 1st, but it became apparent to everyone that wasn't going to be possible so it ended up being completed by mid February. A lot of repairs and exterior work had to be done and hired out. One of the things about renovation is you never know what you're going to discover. Inevitably you'll find repair work you never planned or budgeted for (which then affects your finishing budget!). Keep that in the back of your noggin' if you plan to tackle such a job. The older the house, the more likely you'll spend a good sum of money on hidden repairs.

That said, want to see what I've been working on (literally) for the last two months? Today I'll show you the kitchen, dining room, second bathroom and two of the three bedrooms. Tomorrow I'll post the family room, master bed and bath, and hallway. For a house so small (1530 sq. ft.) it has an amazing amount of storage! Which meant I got to paint a lot of closets as well:)

Let's review, shall we? Here's the little rental I've been trying to bring into the 21st century on a super tiny budget (for a reno):

It's really a rather cute little ranch that just needed a lot of lovin'!

The outside wasn't too bad. I don't have any updated pictures of the exterior to show as of now. Suffice it to say it's very much as it is here.

Now, let's see that kitchen as it was. Bear in mind, these are the best pictures the homeowner could find to send me. I wasn't able to get many taken before it became a work zone.

It may have been built in 1984, but I swear it looks like it was built in the 60's or 70's!

It had it all...laminate butcher block for counter AND backsplash, wallpaper border, a cold green/gray color on most walls, old groovy cabinets, scallop valance, flourescent lighting, old shiney brass fixtures, old appliances and a tiny budget.  I had my work cut out for me!

By the time I managed to get a few before pics in, new appliances had already been installed, walls painted and a few cabinet doors removed. I wasn't the only one working here (but I was the only woman!), and it was a disaster zone! Construction is a messy process:)

The "yellowishness" was overwhelming!

On one trip back I managed to squeeze in a few "During the Reno" shots. This was the weekend I tiled the backsplash:

Can I just say... this mess made me twitch... and when I work alone it's not exactly clutter free!

Even with everything a mess and cabinets still unfinished,
you can see what a dramatic difference the new subway tile backslash makes!

The last thing done was hanging the refaced cabinet doors and adding new brushed nickel hardware. The homeowners had two very specific wants when it came to the kitchen redo...almond/biscut appliances (that they purchased on their own) and stained wood cabinets...NO paint! That made for quite the challenge. In order to lighten and brighten a room with limited sunlight, naturally you want to slather on the light or white paint. But, I had to keep the cabinets stained. So, instead I went with a glossy off-white subway tile and old white grout. Then, I revved up the lighting wattage! Walls went a creamy white (SW "Muslin") and old fluorescent were replaced with halogen fixtures. Halogen gives a much crisper, brighter light with more lumens for the maximum wattage.

If budget would have allowed, I've have switched out the bar stools, but a tenant can do that later.

I was also instructed to leave the mini-blinds... which I would have loved to replace. But, like I have said before. You have to invest in what's going to make the biggest impact and we were maxing out the budget as is.

As much as a new counter-top would have looked fantastic, I knew we could make the most of the laminate butcher block, so it didn't make the budget cut.

A new light fixture put in by the homeowner brings the breakfast area into the 21st century. Your's truly scrubbed all the trim (in the house!) down with TSP and a sanding sponge, then a fresh coat of stain was applied! Talk about work! I did more squats than I've ever done at the gym:)

This window underwent a minor, but major impact change. I took down the wooden scallop valance from the 60's and replaced the fluorescent tube light with a hanging halogen pendant.  The amount of light that flooded in just from those two changes was amazing!

And last, but not least, there was the cabinetry reface. I'm noticing I forgot to remove the wide angle lense with the way the horizontal lines are curving:)

For the cabinet refacing, all of it was sanded down and scrubbed with TSP, veneer was applied to the doors and drawers, trim mitered and applied to trim out the doors, two coats of Golden Pecan stain applied to the veneers and trim (in order to match the look of the old finish on the cabinet bases prior to adding the new stain), then a fresh coat of Minwax Polyshades in Misson Oak applied to all the cabinetry to achieve a rustic look, and new brushed nickel hardware installed. Whew! Makes me tired just thinking about it all:) 

Just as a side note, unless you plan to spray the Polyshades or want a rustic look like this, don't use it. It gives a streaky appearance and isn't really staining. It's tinted polyurethane. It just sits on top of the old finish. So, it's really TONING the wood... not re-staining it. Meaning, if it doesn't go on smooth, and you keep applying layers, it will only deepen, not fill in like paint or stain. When applied correctly,  it can give a fantastic deep, rich, lustrous look, but it's really hard to do with a brush. I didn't mind the streakiness here because it kept with the more "Pottery Barn" look we were going for.

Now, moving on. Next we come to the little dining room. This is how it started:

Parquet floors that were falling apart, wallpaper boarder, old shiney brass chandelier,
cold wall color and a vinyl roll up shade.

At this point, the light fixture had already been changed out and the wallpaper border had been removed previously by the owners and an unflattering cold grey/green color applied to the walls. You can begin to get a feel for how bad a shape the trim was in from the doorway!

New solid, three quarter inch white oak floors were put down on a diagonal and two coats of satin poly were applied - no stain. I loved the natural look! Then I tackled the dining room which was a pretty quick redo. Walls were painted in my custom mix of one part SW Bittersweet Stem and two parts SW Muslin in eggshell. The trim was all scrubbed and re-stained. And the homeowner had already installed a new light fixture. Lastly, I added some sheet linen-like panels to the window to help dress the room up more for showing.

This was probably the brightest room in the house, but I ran out of daylight and had to get my "After" shot in the dark.

Next, comes the family room and hallway, but I'll save those for tomorrow. Lastly (for today), I'll show you the improved front bathroom. I REALLY wish I could have gotten a before shot of this one! The homeowner had this picture with it's lovely mauve and dusty blue sea-shell wallpaper that was peeling off, hollywood vanity light, old groovy cabinetry and pink/white linoleum flooring.

What this picture doesn't show was the pink/mauve sponge painted walls that had most recently replaced the wallpaper! When the SW Muslin went up, it almost looked green next to the unpainted section of mauvishness, causing me to doubt my choice of color for just a second:)

Once again, walls were painted, all cabinetry and trim was scrubbed, sanded, and the Mission Oak Polyshades was applied to all the cabinetry. Trim was re-stained to freshen existing color with Minwax Express Color in Pecan. Everything was re-caulked, scrubbed with a toothbrush (I'm picky!) and bleach, and new linoleum flooring was installed. New lighting was installed by the homeowner and matching brushed nickel hardware replaced the old brass knobs on the cabinetry. With a few photo props, the final result was nice and clean looking:

All freshened up!

By darkening the stain, it helps to hide the grooves and draw you eye to the clean white top. Gotta love contrast! I would have loved to replace the faucet, but it wasn't in the budget, not to mention not enough time.

Last, but not least, the two secondary bedrooms each received fresh paint in the custom mix of the dining room, new carpet, refreshed trim, old curtains tossed and the hideous carousel ceiling fan was replaced. Beyond that, other than than installing larger windows (which was never going to happen with this budget), there wasn't much else to do.

Here's the before shots given to me:

The back bedroom with it's cold grey paint and eighties balloon valance.

The carousel room...enough said!

Much brighter and warmer. Not so cave like.
Given a few props, this room could really take on the "Pottery Barn" modern feel.

These closets were amazingly large for such small bedrooms! And, yes, they got the paint treatment as well:)

This was not a good lighting shot. I tried to do some correction in Photoshop, but this was as good as it was getting. Oh well. You can see the changes. Carousels and cold grey....be gone!

And yet another closet.

Well, there is the Reno Reveal: Part 1. Probably the toughest thing in design is being able to give the homeowners what THEY want... not just what you like. It's super easy to come up with ideas to update spaces. The tricky part is tweaking that plan until it satisfies their wants, likes and budget. You wouldn't believe the amount of time spent just doing the planning for this face-lift!

Stay tuned... because tomorrow is Reno Reveal: Part 2!

Face-lift on the Cheap: Part 1

I've been a really busy girl over the last couple of weeks, thus the inability to muster the energy to get back into my daily blog posts. Betcha wonder what I've been doing. Well, it's not furniture (which is still waiting). Instead it's been a mini face lift on an older rental house.

The house after it was painted a few years ago. Unfortunately, the paint hasn't weathered so well. The gray has faded unevenly and the burgundy has turned a hot pink!

Back view. It's actually a nice little house.

The house is one of those older ranch style houses built in 1984 (Gee...if that's old then I'm ancient!). It's got the small high windows, stained cheap wood trim, hollow core doors, flat panel cabinet doors with the nice little groove thing around the perimeter that went out with the pioneers, butcher block & faux marble laminate, gold bath fixtures, etc. all nestled in the woods! UGH! Dark and dated are the words that come to mind. I don't hesitate to say that because the owners and I completely agree on all of the above (except for the need to paint trim & kitchen cabinets)...thus the "remodel".  Structurally, it's solid, so it warranted a makeover in order to justify the rent. Fifty years ago, this would have been a middle class dream home at 1530 square feet on one acre, but unfortunately in this age it hardly qualifies as such. Now this would be considered a starter home. It's sad, really. Why do we tend to think we need so much these days? Despite being dark and dated, if allowed, I could drastically improve this to meet today's "standards". I'd begin with  gallons of warm white paint:)

Want to see what it was to begin with? Brace yourself! Most of these are old pics the homeowner took years ago. I'd have taken newer ones where the wallpaper had at least been removed, but before I could get there, they'd already started ripping out flooring. So, these will have to suffice:

Thinking all the drapery is just a wee bit DATED!

Newer family room picture prior to starting work. If I could only paint the brick as well!
You can imagine what response that would get, so I didn't even go there.

The homeowner has since removed the wallpaper boarder and replaced the chandelier in this dining area with a semi-flush mount. All new lighting was picked and installed by the homeowners prior to me getting involved.

The homeowner did manage to get in just a few more current "before" photos before the work began.
Here's the dining room as it was with it's parquet floor.

Where do I start with this kitchen & breakfast area?!
Dark, more wallpaper border, super dated everything, florescent lights....you name it!

See. It's not much better from this angle! Butcher block laminate counter that continues up the back splash, dated appliances and bar stools, nice little scallop over the sink, and weirdest of all...TWO light fixtures! Some tenant was nice enough to do that for them:) It was probably the same tenant who did this and left it for them (see next picture):

OMG! Is that seriously a stuffed bear hanging in the tree?!!!
Maybe they should run background checks for psychological issues on possible tenants!

Super grainy, but a view of the paneled chair rail and wainscoting. DARK and DATED!

Newer shot of the hallway where they'd started down the right path and painted the paneling out, but not the chair rail. Like the louvered track door? There was one going into the kitchen from the dining room on the right as well.

The main bathroom with it's pastel seashell wallpaper, dated faucet & handles, cabinetry and lighting.

The first bedroom that felt like a cave when we tested out the home owner's first paint choice!

Second bedroom: see the carousel horse in the window? Would you believe the ceiling fan has them on it and mirrors?!

Master bedroom a tenant had painted bright yellow!

Master bath with it's faux pink/yellow marble laminate, gold fixtures, and Hollywood light strip!

When you have a rent house, you have a choice to make: are you going to be a slum lord and just leave it as is renting it out for whatever you can get until it absolutely has to be repaired or bulldozed? Or are you going to keep it updated and maintained to get your maximum rent out of it? The owners prefer the later:) Fortunately, most of what this house needs is just some cosmetic love, with the exception of installing larger windows.

So, it was time for a serious redo, but we have had a few mitigating factors that influenced the design decisions: fixed lower budget (it's a rental), the fact the owners live half way across the country, and a husband who's of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mind-set as well as a stained wood lover. I say that factually, not critically.  He's entitled to like whatever he wants. It's his house! It's purely a matter of opinion. It's my job to do what pleases while trying to gently help them see what exactly makes a house feel dated. And it's not that I don't like stained wood. It's just that white would appeal to more people - specifically more women who tend to be the final say-so in chosing a house. It would also reflect more light making the spaces feel larger and brighter. But, it's not in the cards, so I've had to get creative. How do you keep the budget minimal, get the desired updated look, and still please the client? Sound familiar?

I'm not going to lie. It ain't easy! The first thing done was to go in and rip out all the flooring. They'd already decided to install 3/4" hardwoods throughout the living, dining and hallway and new linoleum in the bathrooms. It didn't take much arm twisting to get rid of the carpet left in the bedrooms, even though it was actually still in decent shape for a rental. The problem was the color. I think it was called "Mocha" but any "chocolate/coffee" had turned decidedly lavender over the last twelve years! Ick!

My favorite part -  that was not cheap and pretty much blew a good chunk of the budget - was the hardwood floors. They did those all on their own and I give them a huge thumbs up on design! Budget wise, I'd have probably not spent the extra on laying it on the diagonal in a rental, but it does look nice! They used 3.5" wide white oak planks on a diagonal, sanded and left UNSTAINED...just polyed in a satin finish at my suggestion. Glossy is beautiful, but shows wear, drips, and dust considerably more than a satin finish, which is also a little more subdued and appropriate for this space. Again, the house is going to be lived in by tenants with little to loose should the floor be scratched!

Example of white oak solid 3/4" flooring without stain and just polyurethaned.

Example of a wood flooring laid on a diagonal and left unstained.
via Hardwood Floorist

Once floors were all picked out, then it was time to pick some paint colors that were as light and neutral as we could get to brighten the space up without being taste specific. Here's what we went with:

SW 6133 Muslin
Used in the kitchen, family/living room/bathrooms/upper portion of hallway.
Awesome color and looks fantastic with stained or unstained wood! Just enough color to be creamy but not yellow.
Ever so slight of a greenish tint in some lighting.

SW 7536 Bittersweet Stem
We lightened this with two parts Muslin: one part Bittersweet Stem.
Used in the bedrooms, dining room, and on old paneling and chair rail in bottom half of the hallway.

The wife wanted color, which everyone knows I'm usually enthusiastic about, but in this case I had to reel her in due to limited light and her bent toward pinkish undertones. Bittersweet Stem is a gorgeous warm mid-tone neutral, but in bedrooms with dark wood trim and small windows, it was cave-like. White trim would have made all the difference, but like I said, it wasn't going to happen. So, I mixed in some Muslin and we came to a lighter version that we both liked - a warm light neutral that was slightly darker than the Muslin used in the main living areas.

Then, because I don't mind grunt work if it pays, guess who got to do the painting of the ENTIRE HOUSE?! You betcha! Talk about exhausting! Five days of hitting the floor running with lots of coffee holding me up until I fell into bed around 10-11 at night. Painting is something I do well, so because the pay was good I enjoy it,  I was willing to take on the job with a little help from Grandma and hubby watching the kiddos:) I'm a glutton for punishment, aren't I?!

As of now, all new flooring has been installed (I've not seen it yet) and every square inch of drywall painted with two coats (I would know!). Coming up....new appliances installed, a possible (if time & homeowners will allow) creative solution to old but solid cabinets that I'm not allowed to paint, new window dressings, a good pressure washing for the exterior, new lighting & ceiling fans, back splash update on the cheap, touched up trim and new kitchen hardware. Did I mention it's all supposed to be done by the first of February and yours truly is doing a lot of the work? Hey, if I can and they're willing, why not? Makes for good blogging material:)

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