31 Days to a Complete Home Renovation : Day 3

Before we get started, I have to say something.  I turned 31 today.  Which is sad.  But it's also kinda ironic because this is the 31 DAY challenge.  The irony was too much for me to pass up.  (And also, I'm trying to deal with the fact that I'm now in my thirties and not just thirty.  I know.  There are bigger problems in the world.)

Ok, ARE YOU READY FOR IT?

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Finally, we get a glimpse inside the ugly little house.

But first a reminder of what she looks like on the outside:

And now, let's get inside. You may want to hold your nose. I did.

 The Entryway

Ok, you'll notice that there's carpet on the stairs.  Which, normally I'd be like "ok, whatever." But we live in Vancouver.  That's like 2 hours above Seattle.   And what does everyone know about Seattle?  It rains. A LOT.  Like starting in October and ending around June-July.  Don't mis-understand. It is BEAUTIFUL here.  But it's the northwest and rain just comes with the territory.  So, all that to say: a carpeted entryway doesn't mix well with wet shoes.  You can guess what it smelled like...it was musty. And they had cats.  Cat hair stuck on stairs.  Delicious.  (Did I mention I have severe cat allergies?)

Moving on.

At the top of the stairs was the kitchen.  The kitchen quality was actually not too bad.  It was from Ikea.

The Kitchen

Ryan's dad just happens to own a high-end kitchen cabinet and design company.  This is a picture of him and Ryan re-designing the kitchen.  Woo-hoo for family connections!

Now the following 2 pictures I took on the day that the sellers moved out.  They were such nice people and really got it cleaned up and looking good.

***MONEY-MAKING TIP***

Because the Ikea cabinets were in such good condition, we sold them on craigslist for $500!  They were gone within the week!  (And actually, the guy who bought them didn't need all of them so we ended up using the remaining cabinets as extra storage in our garage.  Win-win!)  We  also sold all of the appliances on craigslist.  It was amazing how fast everything went.  We used all that money to go towards our new cabinets and appliances.  If you are doing a home reno, consider selling your cabinets (even bathroom cabinets!) and any appliances you aren't keeping.  There's no harm trying!

The Dining Room

Now this is where the pictures get a little tricky because the rooms were very choppy.  And also because I am not a photographer.  (That's probably the main reason, but we'll go with the choppy thing too.)  So if you were standing in the kitchen, you'd see the dining room:

scary skull, anyone?

After the sellers moved out, I snapped a shot of the empty room.  Do you see how the laminate floor is wavy where it meets the carpet? 

Here's the dining room looking into the kitchen and living room:

I think that's a lot to swallow for day 3.  Tomorrow we'll finish the "before tour" of the upstairs.  I can hardly wait to share all of the afters because it looks SOOO different.  The layout has completely changed into a modern, open-concept feel. Oh! I love being married to someone who can look at my  pinterest account and say "yep I can do that."

He's also my bff.  

On that note,  thanks for reading about our ugly little house! 

See y'all tomorrow,

E