Our First Investment Property – Before & After
It’s been a long time coming but we are proud to say we are officially finished renovating our first investment property!
Looking back, it’s been such an amazing experience. We’ve both put in so much time and hard work, learned a lot of lessens, grew from many experiences, and have gained the confidence to want to do another one.
We bought this property over Memorial Day weekend in May of 2017, finished renovations in February, and had our first tenants move in in March.
Without further adieu, the before and afters.
UNIT 1
Living Room
Unit 1 wasn’t in the worst shape but we did make a few updates. We fixed the plaster cracks in the walls, sheet rocked over the popcorn ceiling and wood wall, refinished the floors, put a new fresh coat of paint on everything, and installed a new ceiling fan.
Before
Living Room – After
Living Room – Before
Living Room – After
The Sun Room
This little space off the living room was wasted space so we took out the huge closet, laid new flooring, fixed and painting the door, sheet rocked the ceiling, and painted.
After
The Dining Room
Updates are similar to the living room except we also boxed in a gas line, hung a new chandelier, and replaced a window.
Before
After
The Kitchen
Fortunately, the kitchen didn’t need too much updating either so we kept the original cabinets, countertop, and backsplash. We installed new appliances, recessed lighting, drop ceiling tiles, a new window, sheet rocked a wall, and painted throughout.
Before
After
The First Bedroom
In the larger of the two, we refinished the flooring, boxed in and hung new closet doors, removed the built-in air conditioner, and painted.
Before
After
The Second Bedroom
Similar to the other, we refinished the floors, sheet rocked the closets, installed new doors, fixed plaster cracks, and painted.
Before
After
The Bathroom
This is where the most work was done. We completely gutted this room and built it back up. Every inch of the space is new.
Before
After
UNIT 2
Unit 2 was in slightly worse condition than the unit downstairs. We made some big changes and love how it came out!
Living Room
The property was originally built as a single family house which is evident in the layout of the second floor apartment. In the photo below, this is the view from the top of the steps looking in. Bedroom doorway on the left, living room doorway in front and a hallway to the right leading to the bathroom and kitchen.
In order to make the small 600 sq. ft. space feel a bit open, we turned the wall separating the hallway from the living into a half wall, and took down the wall dividing it from the kitchen. We did water-resistant laminate flooring throughout the living room and kitchen from Lumber Liquidators, exposed the chimney, sheet-rocked the ceiling, relocated the closet door, replaced the windows, and painted.
Before
After
Before
After
Kitchen
The kitchen was probably the most fun room to work on because a completely clean slate. The prior kitchen consisted of a sink and a few cabinets on the other side of the room. We gutted the space, hung all new sheet rock, ran new plumbing and electric, installed all new cabinets and appliances, laid new flooring, , installed new windows, painted and boom, we had ourselves a new kitchen!
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Bathroom
For this space, we kept the existing tub and shower surround and… that’s about it. New flooring, sheet rock, vanity, toilet, and paint.
Before
After
Bedroom
The bedroom was one of those places where all you think you need to do is paint, and before you know it, you’ve gutted the whole room.
Okay, so we didn’t have to gut it, but we did have to replace the floors, sheet-rock the ceiling, patch cracks in the wall, install new windows, hang a new ceiling fan, and paint.
Before
After
Exterior
Fortunately, the exterior of the house was in decent shape so we painted the siding, ran new gutters and downspouts, replaced the front doors, skim coated the porch and fixed the cracked sidewalk.
All in all, we came in over budget and behind schedule but are very happy with how the property came out and are even more happy to call this place home!
