Old House / New House

We're finally 100% free and clear of our last home in Highland Park, NJ where we resided for about 3 years. We sold this house in August, but didn't get final escrow payout for overpaid taxes until this week. Nice to be done - real estate investment not super-kind on this one.

The new house rules. It was a fixer-upper as all have been, but this one was by far the most fixer, and most upper. This house belonged to an old woman who no longer possesed the capacity for living alone - apparently her husband passed on a few years back. The house was actually in pretty good shape, and obviously well-cared for... just heinous by today's standards.

This was not an easy sell to Lisa, although she indulged me on a second visit under protest. I finally gave up my campaign, but Lisa kept her eye on the house and when the sellers made a significant drop in the price, we took another look! I've tried to include 'before' pictures wherever possible.

The list of improvements goes on and on:

New septic system complete with engineering and larger capacity (sellers kicked in about a third of the overall cost - good, not great).

Gutted and started over in main bathroom. Here we maintained plumbing / electrical layout and added jacuzzi tub, new vanity / mirror set, new toilet (of course), new lighting, and tile all around.

Kitchen got refaced cabinets, new countertops (quartz), new appliances, new tile floor, new glass tile backsplash, crown moulding, new doorway to living room (changed from eat-in to breakfast bar for more open floor plan), fresh paint, and new lighting.

before

during

and, now.

The bedrooms all got wallpaper stripped, fresh paint, new trim in some cases, carpet removed, and hardwood floors sanded down and refinished. In the master bedroom, I put in closet organizers to maximize the space and then installed new closet doors.

The same can be said for the dining room, plus we installed our chandelier from the Highland Park house. Pretty soon, crown moulding and a change in paint color now that we've had some time to adjust.

before

during & after

The foyer got a new tile floor, eventually, after months of old flannel sheets protecting us from the black tar adhesive used to stick a faux wood tile floor over hardwood! Plus, new paint, lighting, etc.

In the living room, we ripped out the built-in cabinets that were on either side of the fireplace, and as I mentioned, added a doorway into the kitchen opening the floorplan up. The hardwood floors got refinished and fresh paint was applied in several coats to everything, including new trim in most cases. I still intend to add a 6" X 6" beam down the center of the room on the ceiling, then add crown moulding to the two 'halves' of the divided room. I also plan to install recessed lighting (2 - 3 cans in each half) on a dimmer of course. Dimmers rule.

before - furniture (and realtor) not included.

nowadays - Christmas decor and baby gear!

The powder room was stripped of everything except walls and wainscoating was installed with a nice rail detail at the top - marking the discovery of a great lumber store less than 2 miles away - so nice not to be bound by Home Depot & Lowe's for the important stuff. A new pedestal sink and toilet were installed with new lighting, a bamboo mirror and fresh 'linen' finish paint.

1/2 bath complete & mudroom, in progress

The mudroom is the one I'm most proud of. The floor is the same tile floor as the kitchen and powder room with glass tile leftover from the backsplash inlaid randomly - nice touch. Wainscoating went up all around, and I designed / built a bench / cubby / coat rack that is now built-in and trimmed with the rest of the room. Crown moulding and all new trim was done in this room, after the panels were installed on the lower half of the walls and new sheetrock installed on the upper half.

...and, done!

The whole house got new outlets, properly grounded and GFCI where needed. I also changed all the switches and added dimmers in all the right places. You know how I feel about dimmers.

So, the first floor is essentially done. We plan to stay in this house for a long, long time. The neighborhood sucked us in when we were looking around - so we zero'd in on this little ranch and made our move. Walter loves it - great backyard butts up to woods with a creek and the property is over an acre! Good livin'.

Next phase - remove underground oil tank, move boiler, rip out 75% of driveway, clean up landscaping, paint exterior, and finish the basement.

With a new baby any day now, it's hard to imagine the next phase being done anytime soon. I might have to hire most of it out. Boo!