Before and After - A House Makeover Part 1

As I mentioned last week, my mom and I have worked endlessly on a home that used to be one of her rental properties.  Actually, she sold this house two years ago, but made the mistake of provided financing "by owner."  The new owners paid their house payment ONE time, and then proceeded to live in the house for free for another year after that.  She eventually succeeded in getting them evicted and regained possession of the house- but, by then, the house was practically in ruins. 

before

before

 We are not sure what they were doing in the house - it was full of wiring and appeared that each individual bedroom must of had its own mini-fridge and television.  We have decided that the owners must have been renting out the bedrooms.  All of that to say - this house was beyond disgusting.  Plus, there was the dead dog in a box on the front porch.  And the pit of snakes in the shed.  No joke.  I wish I could provide the smell of the home to you across the internet, because it was unreal.

Hopefully, that description will be enough to help you fully appreciate how clean and comfortable this house is NOW!

But, first - the BEFORE photos. 

The exterior of the home had lots of rotting boards and needed new paint.  

before

before 

before

The wood in several places around the house had to be replaced and the entire home needed paint.

The yard and the house and the shed were full of trash.

Did I mention that this house is located 180 miles from us (near where my mom used to live.)   Not an easy trip each time we cleaned or painted.

But we FINALLY finished this project.

after

MUCH better - don't you think?

We also hung new shutters and a cute little number plaque we bought at Lowe's.

And then there is the mailbox...

before

Nothing says "This house is in great disrepair and may fall down at any minute" like a leaning and twisted and rusted mailbox.

after

We also hung new exterior light fixtures.

The new lighting brought the house from 1980 to 2012.

(We wanted to paint the door a more interesting color, but the door is already "hidden" in the back of a dark recess and we didn't want to darken the space any more.  We thought the white kept it as bright as possible, given the space.)

Given the price-point of this neighborhood, my mom kept a very tight budget.  We tried to pinch pennies the best we could and did not purchase anything extravagant.  Most of the purchases for the home were from Lowe's.  After all, when you are in the middle of no-where South Georgia repairing a house, and the nearest home improvement store is a Lowe's 25 miles away, "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit."  Fortunately, Lowe's had plenty of options in appliances, hardware, doors, lighting, and home goods.  I am waiting for them to call me at any moment and ask me to advertise for them.

One other thing:  We could not really install any landscaping, due to the cost of irrigation systems and our distance from the house.  We did not want to risk a hose malfunctioning or anything while we are away.

See the Before and After photos of the Kitchen, here.
See the Before and After photos of the rest of the house, here.

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