Before and After

Everything really started in earnest with home remodeling when we realized that our roof was leaking. We now have a new roof and new gutters so no more leaky roof and no more rusty gutters.



We also went from about R5 insulation to R38 so next year we should see a decrease in our heating bills. In reality insulation is the one thing that is less expensive than I expected and will actually make a difference in our housing cost.

However, before the insulators came we needed to remove some things that were in our attic. Like this monstrosity. Dave had the fun of getting those out.



Dave also was in charge of doing some wiring for internet, satellite tv and phone for our upstairs apartment. We had the top of our chimney removed when we re-roofed (it was on the verge of falling off). That left the rest of the chimney to run wiring. All this had to be done before the insulators arrived and it became much more difficult to move around in the attic.



Here is our attic all insulated. Not very exciting but yet really rewarding.



We also got a new water softner that is much more high tech than our last one. Okay, so also not super exciting but a change for the better.



Now on to the upstairs apartment. Here is the front entry stairs before.



Here are the front entry steps after. Not a huge change but this is one of the most annoying parts of the house to paint because there are parts of the ceiling that are really hard to reach and you can't easily get a ladder in the stairwell. We also had the carpet cleaned which was long past due as it was really dirty.



From the entry you enter the living room. Our previous tenants painted it pesto green and were using it as an office/study room.



Here it is after I've done all the prepping (filling in holes and cracks with spackle, caulking around the trim, washing, taping). I've just started putting on the primer.


Here I am filling in holes left from taking off the old curtain rod holders (which were probably from the 1960s). I definitely learned how to best spackle, apply joint compound and use a caulk gun over the course of this 10 days as there was lots of prep work before I could paint.



Here is the living room after the floors were sanded.


Here is the living room after the floors were done and the walls were painted.



Here are some shots of the living room after I moved in the furniture (we're renting the apartment as furnished for the summer).






Next up is the bedroom. Unfortunately some friends of ours who rented the apartment didn't prime before painting (they probably put latex paint over oil paint). Anyway, it was peeling like crazy and between Dave and I we probably spent 4 hours scraping the peeling paint.


Our last tenants loved to hang artwork and even guitars on the wall. Unfortunately that left a lot of holes to fill and some fairly big holes.


This is the bedroom (which was used as a living room by the prior tenants) painted tangerine with lots of things hanging on the walls.


Here is the bedroom after painting and after the floor was sanded.


Here is the bedroom after the furniture was moved in for the new tenant.


Here is the office which the prior tenants used as their bedroom (but it doesn't have a closet so it is not technically a bedroom).



Here I am preparing to move the furniture in. I'm eating cold pizza and dusting the floor at the same time as we were running out of time to get everything done before our new tenant arrived.


Here is the new office in a slightly toned town orange/copper color.


Here is the big closet that runs behind the kitchen which was used as a bedroom closet by the prior tenants.


Here it is after the old tenants moved out. Just a plain boring closet.


Here is Guy, Mike and Kenny working to transform the closet into a laundry room.


This project was not without its issues as our pipes made some crazy twists under the floor. The downstairs apartment has a dropped ceiling and all the problems originated between the old ceiling and the new ceiling. This meant we had to rip out the floor in the back of the closet to access the pipes as they did not run straight down as expected.



However, in the end we now have this great new laundry room with super quite Whirlpool Duet front loading washer and gas dryer. I did wash a comforter and bed skirt before the new tenant moved in and these are super quiet and perfect for a second floor laundry. Unfortunately, we did not get this room scraped, prepped, primed and painted before the laundry install so it was too difficult to paint the back wall so the laundry room has an accent wall in periwinkle with contrasting walls.



Thanks to the leak in our roof we had water damage in our kitchen pantry.



Of course the water damage was more extensive than we had hoped so out came a big chunk of the wall as well as some really wet insulation.


However, we were able to dry out the remaining wood by putting a dehumidifier in the room with a fan for several days. In the end we got it all put back together in the nick of time. We didn't have time to install the new Closetmaid wire shelving we had bought so the new tenant gets some shelves that the prior tenant left behind. We have all the new shevling though so we'll get that installed later this summer.



Here is the kitchen before.


Here is the new dishwasher just waiting for installation. Not that the installation went perfectly since our counters were not a standard depth and I didn't measure that before buying the dishwasher. When they put the dishwasher in it stuck out too far to secure it to the countertop. Oops! In the end I paid our contractors to take out the back of the cabinet and move all the electrical lines that came in there. This made just enough space to get the dishwasher to fit in the space and not stick out beyond the countertop.



Here I am at about 1 am finishing up painting the kitchen and feeling very excited that it was no longer that pink/salmon color.


Here's the new kitchen after being painted, having a new stainless steel backsplash installed, and the dishwasher installed. I had hoped to sand and paint all the cabinets but there was no where near enough time to do that so it will remain on the list of things that should be done.


To recap: In the 10 days between tenants we did the following:

1. Prepped, primed and painted the bedroom, office, living room, laundry room, kitchen and entry way.
2. Did extensive scraping in the bedroom closet and laundry room before painting.
3. Installed new window blinds in the bedroom, bathroom and office. Installed new curtains in the living room.
4. Wired the apartment for internet, satellite tv and phone.
5. Removed old junk from our attic.
6. Hooked up our tv to an antennae in the attic so we get local channels in HD.
7. Insulated the attic.
8. Installed a laundry room.
9. Installed a dishwasher.
10. Fixed water damage in our kitchen pantry.
11. Installed a stainless steel backsplash behind the kitchen cooktop.
12. Refinished the floors in the living room, bedroom, office and part of the laundry room. Had new floor tile put in the back of the laundry room (due to ripping out the floor).
13. Painted and then installed quarter round in all the rooms with wood floors.
14. Cleaned all the kitchen cabinets and lots of other areas.
15. Installed a new light fixture in the office and on the porch.
16. Got the entry way carpets cleaned.
17. Installed new outlet covers in most all of the rooms.
18. Installed new coat hooks in the bedroom closet to replace really cheap ugly ones that had been installed over the last 10 years.
19. Replaced the screens in most of the windows (our last tenants tried to scrub away rust and made holes in all the screens)
20. Installed a carbon monoxide detector (needed now that we have a gas appliance upstairs)
21. Moved furniture from our apartment to the upstairs.

I'm probably missing a few things there but you get the idea. It was one crazy 10 day period and although we didn't get everything I wanted done we did a lot. And the good part was that the new tenant thought the apartment was great. Of course, I did have to stall her as we went up the front steps since Dave was rushing to take the last of our supplies down the back steps. It was complete insanity.