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Here are a few of the before and afters that we've tackled so far on our teeny-tiny budget:
Living/Dining Room
When we bought the H-Haus, we knew one of the first things we wanted to do was to rip out the wall dividing the tiny living room from the itty bitty office to create a living/dining space. Unfortunately, the fact that it was plaster and load-bearing put a damper on our sledgehammer-wielding wishes, but we soon remedied that with a tax credit and a general contractor.
Dining Room Before:
(With seller's furniture)
Formerly used as a living room, this space was so small that a settee was the biggest piece of furniture in the space. The wall behind the settee divided the space from the even smaller office (soon to become the living room):
Living Room Before:
Complete with drop ceiling, fluorescent lighting, stained beige carpet, dingy walls that hadn't seen paint in decades, the cheapest door you've ever seen (it didn't even close!), and a drop ceiling - the office was a doozy. Sorry, I don't have a photo of the drop ceiling in all its glory - only partially removed.
Dining Room After:
Living Room After:
This is our main living space, so we wanted it to be comfortable, cozy, and colorful. It's still a work in progress, but we're slowly making it ours.
Nursery
The nursery previously belonged to a ten-year-old boy who apparently loved orange, sports borders, and using really sticky adhesive pads to attach billions of bulletin boards to his walls.
Before:
Sorry, I don't have any photos pre-border and bulletin board removal. But I think you get the idea.
We added beadboard, replaced the vinyl floors with hardwood, painted, and added trim.
After:
The previous owner used this space as a dining room, but we found a formal dining space didn't work with our lifestyle. Since it's become a sitting room/office/play space.
Before:
(with seller's furniture)
After (in progress):
Master Bedroom
Before:
After (still in progress):
After (still in progress):
We ripped out ugly old stained carpeting, found green asbestos tile, and covered over it with new wood flooring. We gave the walls a fresh coat of white paint and are planning to install new lighting and create a wooden headboard:
.
Main Bathroom
Before:
The main bathroom was a mess of dirty old vinyl flooring, a peeling bathtub surround (probably the cheapest fiberglass you could find - it was practically cardboard), and an animal print bathtub border.
Before:
After:
(Sorry no befores)
We still have a long way to go, so stay tuned!
