Renovating 407: 2 Years Later

I didn’t plan to do this much to the house. I didn’t plan on this much money going into it either. And I couldn’t even sell it tomorrow if I wanted to move again (which I don’t) because I have yet to get the shower in the master bath finished. LOL.

I thought I would go back and do some before and afters of the finished spaces. The befores were all taken with my iPhone so some aren’t very good, or in focus for that matter.

This is 407. That light wouldn’t turn off. The bushes and yucca had never been trimmed. Even the swamp cooler was original to the house. Which means, 40 years old. My dad basically told me he wasn’t starting up that bucket of rust. Luckily, I complained about working with only floor fans for a few days and a friend from college sent a plumber my way. He started up the cooler that day and got to work on getting me a Master Cool.

Meanwhile, I removed the light that would never shut off and put a solar light in the freshly spray painted pole. My mom put an empty lantern over it to make it look more proportional. I removed the bushes by the front door and put brick pavers down in the dirt spot. We replaced the front door and screen door. I painted the front door (and later the mailbox to match). And lots and lots of time, two broken tow ropes, a truck in the yard, and a bobcat later, the big bush and that stinky yucca were completely removed. Man, did that yucca stink. Fun times on that was had. The really big tree you see to the left of the cooler, it was also removed. The roots were way too close to the house. My dad and his friend cut that sucker down, and it might have taken me a year to get it all hauled away.

Come, step inside with me. I promise it is cooler now. We walk into the front door and stop about 15 paces into the middle of the room. Turn back to the front door. (I laughed so hard opening this picture just now, I had never noticed the arm at the door before.) When I viewed the house, I saw all this 1970s going on, but it was the cleanest house I had looked at. (The new roof and the completed landscaping was the final selling point though.) The house was still completely furnished, so the 1970s Harvest Gold carpet actually looked much better. Something I thought I might be able to live with for a little while. See the popcorn ceilings, arched cutouts, huge mirror and slightly blue tinted white walls? Next turn around towards the other direction of the room. The second set of heavy curtains covers the sliding glass door that opens onto the screened in porch. The little corner of wall on the right, is the wall that separated the kitchen.

EVERYTHING came down. The curtains, blinds, curtain rods, the chandelier, even that wall. The popcorn ceiling was even scraped. The carpet and padding came up. There was 40 years worth of sand in there. The baseboards even had to be replaced because some were rotted out. I had a termite inspection (you would think in a arid climate that wouldn’t be necessary and many people probably think that). I think the other (only) owners went too long since treatments because they were a bigger problem than the inspector had thought. He fixed the places he saw, but he couldn’t see behind the wallpaper in the master bath or behind the tiles in the master shower. I digress.

Let’s continue towards the table. Turn to your right and there is the kitchen. That stained glass plastic door divider doesn’t open. I guess they wanted a closed in as possible kitchen. Where we are standing is the only way into the kitchen. This shelving unit held all of her Faberge and acted as a wall I guess. The carpet in here is blue. I thought the florescent light was kind of cool. It looked a little like it was a wood box.

From here we step down into the den. This is where the other garage once was. I think it was her lanai.

There was a plywood closet covering the utility box, 3 different wallpapers, a different carpet than even the kitchen, many plant hooks, and the doors to the garage and outside weren’t outside doors. I think they wallpapered on top of the drywall too because it was really hard to come off (except the depiction of a patio) and left the walls in bad shape. More so on the bottom half where it had a textured wallpaper. Luckily the ceiling wasn’t popcorn. The florescent light came out (and a fan was put up instead). Both doors were replaced and the carpet came out. Drapes and rod and hooks also gone. And tearing down the closet was fun. In fact, it didn’t even leave marks so it wasn’t put up to last.

Now I have a cleaner landscape