Without further ado, let me walk you through our new home! I will explain the things we love about the home and the opportunities to update. But, before I do, let me walk you through how we approach our #doberflips:
Make a list of dream renovations {{{this is my favorite step!!!}}}
***Research comps in the area to see what's the highest and lowest your house should sell for after all is said and done
***Determine your renovation budget based on your findings in step 2
Prioritize the list from logical to unnecessary then drop the dead weight project(s)
Roughly budget out each project on the list (always round up!)
Prioritize the list again from the most bang for your buck to least then drop the dead weight project(s)
Determine how each project will be funded and when each project could be funded
Finalize your project list (all projects should be logical, give you the most bang for your buck, and should be affordable)
Once the funds are arranged, tackle your top priority project
Repeat steps 7-9 until your time is up in the home, you've reached your renovation budget, or you've finished all the projects on your list
*** Let me briefly explain the research and budgeting step. We bought our Mild Mild West home for 335K and let's say I do some research on our neighborhood and find out that houses in the area are climbing by about 10K each year. Then we know that if we sell our house (as is) in 1 year, we would sell it for 345k (profiting 10K). Now let's say we do some more research on updated/renovated homes in our area with our same specks (1,900 sq ft, 3 bed, 2 baths, etc.) and we find out that those homes that meet that criteria sell for 50K more than what our house sold for! Then we know if we sold our house in 1 year and in that year we updated the home, we would be able to sell our house for 60K more than we bought it for. We now know we CANNOT spend more than 60K on our renovations or we will LOSE money on our home! If we set our renovation budget to 35K we could walk away with 25K. Not bad! You get the idea! With this research, you can now set your renovation budget! [I will touch on this more in my next blog!]
Today is the fun blog - my favorite thing to talk about! MY DREAM RENOVATION LIST! I am going to nit-pick the crap out of this house and everything I'd LOVE to renovate if money, time, and practicality weren't necessarily a factor! I will be sharing specific links from my Pinterest board "The Mild Mild West"; check it out the board if you want to see more of my inspiration for the home! Here it goes!
Here's what you see when you walk in!
Pros: 9 ft ceilings. You can see out to the backyard. Also, there's a cute baby if you look close enough!
Cons: Hello giant, chunky wall pillar thing that blocks 50% of my view. And why am I seeing the kitchen sink? Gross. (I will explain later how we would fix this issue! - It's my favorite project!)
Living Room:
Pros: Super open space. Nice size! Love the french doors and natural light (which was very hard for this amateur photographer girl to work with!)
Cons: What do you do if there's an (outdated) early 2000's TV alcove that doesn't fit your 2020's flat-screen TV? Also, the fireplace TV combo... ugh...
I have a couple of plans brewing to fix and spruce up this living space:
New floors. Probably a lighter color faux (or "fox" as Tyson would say) wood tile. I'm thinking of either a grey or blonde tone! I'm leaning more towards the blonde.
New window treatments. I'm really digging something like this! White curtain with woven drop shades.
New paint of course. Most likely a soft sage green color. I think it's incredibly important to match your home to the landscape of the area! For this house, we will be highlighting rich browns (wood, leather, etc.), with sage green, soft pinks, and light taupes - hence "The Mild Mild West."
Now let's talk about TV/fireplace/alcove issue... there are a couple of options, but one thing we know for sure - fill in that alcove! TV alcoves are limiting, constricting, and quite frankly - not a thing anymore. As far as the fireplace goes, we either take out the fireplace altogether so there more flexibility with whatever TV situation we and the next buyers want! OR we take advantage of the fireplace and do something grand like this!!! Concrete fireplace with a bold wood beam for a mantle. Maybe add some tile for a little Mild Mild West flair. Now, I'm a sucker for fireplaces! I love me a nice fireplace! Especially during Christmas and other holidays! But, this decision will come down to budget, measurements, and practicality. {I don't want to admit it quite yet, but taking out the fireplace will be the most practical. I say that because there is no other place in the house for a communal TV. To make this fireplace a showstopper AND accommodate a TV will be tricky if not unrealistic. The fireplace will also need to be centered since we will be filling in the alcove. However, if we do decide to keep and spruce up the fireplace, you bet your butt we will stage that bad boy WITHOUT a TV just in case! Lol.}
On to the kitchen and dining (?):
{Ignore the white couch lol, we are selling it! You'll notice we aren't fully moved in so I guess I can also invite you to ignore the random boxes and wrapped artwork that you'll see throughout the house too!}
Pros: Nothing. Well, to be fair, I do like the kitchen! I just don't like where it's at.
Cons:
Who put Baby in the corner??? I mean Dining Room! Who put the Dining Room in the corner?! Yeah... This is WEIRD! The dining room is all the way in the front of the house, too far from the living area, and suffocated by the neighboring kitchen. Imagine having new friends over for dinner... "Dinner will be through this bulky archway, make your way through the kitchen - don't mind the gross mess, we've been slaving over this meal for hours and our kids tried to help! Please make yourself comfortable in this secluded corner with me and my family who you know nothing about! So, tell us, how did you two meet??!" Blegh. If you're going to only have 1 dining room (as opposed to a nook and a formal dining room), make sure it's open. There are lots of reasons for this, but for one, you always want an open space for your guests' eyes to wonder in those uncomfortable transitional moments in the conversation.
Not sure if you can tell, but in the first picture, there is a large, open space between the living room and the snack bar/kitchen. This could actually be a formal dining room, leaving the space hiding behind the kitchen to be a casual nook! But the way the previous owner did the tiled under the snack bar kind of ruined that option. They tiled that area about a foot and a half too wide - cutting into that potential dining area. So, if you wanted to put a table there, there's no room for it now!
BULKY, CLUNKY, CLOSED OFF.
My {DREAM} plans!
The kitchen and the dining room are switching places! The kitchen will start where the fridge currently is and go the full length of the wall mirroring on both sides. We will fill in the window on the right so we can continue the cabinets and counters along that wall. As for the back wall, we can either raise the window up, adding cabinets and countertops running along that wall, make it a "U" shaped kitchen (more co$tly); OR leave the window on the back wall as is and run with the galley kitchen style (less costly).
TEAR DOWN THE SNACK BAR/WALL! This will create room for a larger dining room right where the snack bar is currently. A completely open space! Upon entering the home, you will see a beautiful dining room and chandelier to your left, a view straight out to the back yard (no obstructions!) with a beautiful living room (and hopefully a fireplace!) in between, and the whole kitchen barely out of sight just around the corner. Much better than a chubby pillar and a dirty kitchen sink!
As for the kitchen design - I am stoked for this one!!! Again, to match the surrounding landscape and keep the integrity of the home's design, I'm thinking rich wood shaker cabinets, white countertops, white/stone backsplash, and subtle gold hardware. Something like this!
Laundry Room:
We love having our laundry on the main floor, right by the bedrooms and right off the garage! Much better placement than what we had in The Midcentury Modest home (RIP - we miss you)!
Our plans are simple and fun:
New funky tile
Paint the walls (we will probably carry the living room color into the entry, laundry room, and hallway)
Paint the cabinets
New hardware
Butcher block countertop
On to the bedrooms!
[Callie's room - Guest bedroom/office - Master suite]
Our plans with the bedrooms are simple:
Paint (If you look closely, you’ll see lots of scuffs and dirty marks on the wall. This is why you NEVER paint with flat paint Even when flipping! Flat paint is the cheapest “gloss” option. But it leaves a chalky residue on your walls, and because of that it absorbs oils and dirt. You also can’t clean them! Wipe the wall and it’ll take the paint off, leaving an even bigger mark!)
Window treatments
Light fixtures
New doors
Bathroom:
We will probably:
Continue the floors from the living area and hallway
Paint the walls (look closely and you'll notice moisture on the walls - always turn on your bathroom fan!)
Paint the cabinets
New faucets, light fixtures, and hardware (If you haven’t noticed already, none of the cabinets in the house have hardware. We’ve lived here 2 months now and I still don’t know what side of the cabinet to reach for!)
MAYBE new countertops
MAYBE we'll take on redoing the bathtub with a new tub and tile
And last but definitely not least, Master Bathroom:
We didn't get a chance to do our master bathroom in our Midcentury Modest home, and I REALLY WANTED TO! So, to say I'm excited for this project is an understatement!! Because I'm so excited to get my hands on this, I haven't decided on ANY design yet! I'm still dreaming that up! But here's our overall plans:
Modern barn door separating the bathroom and master bedroom (you can literally see the GLASS shower from the hallway - ha!)
Paint the cabinets
New countertops
New hardware
New floors
I'd also love to replace that early 2000's block glass window! (We'll $ee...)
New bath (if I had it my way, it would be freestanding! But, I don't think that'll look quite right in this space... Bummer.)
New shower tile, glass door, showerhead (our current showerhead doesn't bend down very far so we have to stand inches away from the glass wall in front of us in order to rinse our hair hahaha! Tyson is extra excited for that update!)
Overall, we are very excited about what this house can become! We love the open living area, the wide hallway, large master bedroom with an awesome master suite, it's a single story, and it's not a home that was built in the 60's (no offense Mid Century Modest home - but you were a LOT of work and sometimes kind of scary haha!) This next week I'll be spending a good amount of time on steps 2 and 3. These steps are very interesting and I learn a lot, but after the results are in, it's my least favorite part! I've gathered all these exciting dreams and then I have to see what our budget really is! It's such a downer to be realistic! Haha. But it's always fun and, I believe, important to let yourself unleash the creativity and dream up any and all renovations! After all, it's what keeps the passion pumping when investing in real estate!
Sincerely,
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