Home Remodel...we had no idea what we got ourselves into!!

*Note: all the pictures in this post are photos from before we started the renovation...I will post current pictures later :) There are just a few pictures in this post but I have thousands that I had to choose from. This renovation took 6 months and I took as many pictures as I could along the way.

Our little homestead began with the purchase of this small abandoned 3 bedroom 1 bath house in October 2008. It was a bank forclosure and we had dreams to restore the property, but we had no idea the potential this small city lot could offer!

We had never done anything like this before (renovating a house!) so it was an adventure every step of the way. The renovation took us 6 months and countless hours ... and there are still loose ends we are trying to tie up!

The siding was missing in some places and most windows were rotted out (some worse than others)...which brought about the excessive mold damage throughout the entire house.

First, we rented a dumpster and began demolition and extensive mold remediation throughout the entire house...

We tore out the 2 old chimneys and installed new wood stove piping, new roof and gutters, repaired siding, new windows and trim, new doors, painted siding and trim, tore out several trees, trimmed trees and shrubs, ...

  

Stepping inside the house you could clearly see and smell the years of abandonment this house had experienced. We tore out 2 walls to open up the main rooms, removed the red carpet, reparied and refinished the hardwood flooring, installed a wood burning stove, tore out and repaired the exterior wall, installed new doors and windows...

The kitchen was in utter disrepair so we tore it out and put in new walls, new kitchen cabinets and countertops, textured and painted the walls and ceiling, all new energy star lighting fixtures and appliances....

 The Den was an attached garage (with the garage door still inside supporting the wall). The only exit to the backyard was through the door at the back of hte den beside the utility room, we made that a window and moved the exit into the kitchen. We took out all the wood paneling, vaulted the ceilings and put in a loft (Great Idea Dad!!), raised and insulated the floor then installed new hardwood flooring, installed all new electrical wiring and fixtures, expanded the utility room and made it a full laundry and storage room.

We expanded the utility room, took out the sliding glass door and put in a new window, water heater and appliances and new flooring....

The 3 bedrooms were covered in multiple layers of moldy wallpaper & paint (walls, ceilings, and closets). We put in new windows & doors, scraped the wallpaper & paint, textured & painted the walls, new light fixtures, refinished the hardwood flooring...

In the bathroom we put in new windows, doors, flooring, cabinets, shower, electrical wiring and fixtures, toilet & sink, plumbing & fixtures, textured & painted the walls...

 From the back of the house we moved and removed a few doors and windows and built a back deck...

This A-frame metal swing set was completely rusted over...but it will come in handy later as a greenhouse :) ...we didnt have that in mind at the time, but I sure am glad we kept it!

 

 

A few years before we bought the house this huge tree fell under the pressure of an ice storm and demolished the garage...leaving only a concrete slab and a huge tree that was rotten from termite damage and covered in poison ivy...so we tore down the tree and built a garage...

The backyard is in constant remodel....We put in a privacy fence, new garage, new/used playset, tore out a couple trees and shrubs, vegetable garden with drip irrigation, chicken coop, goat barn, compost rotation...with much more every weekend... We had no idea the potential that this yard would bring!!