31 Days to a Complete Home Renovation: Day 5

Today we move to the downstairs of our soon-to-be-not-a-dump-house.  Is that too many dashes?  It felt appropriate as I was typing.

Anyways, let's get this tour started and let's head downstairs...


When you get to the bottom of these stairs, the layout gets insane. Insane, I tell ya!  When you turn left, it opens to a weird mud room, bathroom, and laundry room. But if you turn right, it's a suite.  A suite that you rent out.  For money.  As in, a whole other kitchen is down there.  As in, someone else lives under you and shares your laundry room and could technically come right on up your stairs and get in your fridge if you weren't home.


I've learned, since moving here, that suites are very common.  LOTS (if not, most) people have them because housing costs are so expensive.


But I'm from the south.  Sharing a house sounds...well, it sounds kinda weird to me.   BUT honestly, I would have been willing to have a suite in the right house with the right renters.  This house was just too small for us to keep a suite, what with us having 3 boys and now a 4th kid on the way.  We basically have our own army to house and feed.

Let's see some pictures:

Suite to the right.  Garage/mudroom to the left.

This is the mud room/storage room.  We actually weren't entirely sure what they used it for.

"Hallway" going to the "laundry room".  Can you see it back in there?  A dryer shoved in the corner.

Downstairs bathroom (shared between the owners and renters.):

 Here is the actual suite.  It was a 1-bedroom suite with a kitchen and a little living room.

Here's the kitchen:

Money-Making Tip:

Once again, we sold the appliances from this kitchen.  We didn't get much $ (because, hey, they were OLD), but again...anything helps in a reno.  Selling appliances (and anything else salvageable around the house, like light fixtures) really helped with purchasing the newer appliances (which we bought for cash at a local refurbishing place. More on that later!)

On to the bedroom in the suite:

It's a little weird seeing all of these pictures because it's easy for me to forget what the original layout looked like.  It's so different now!  And I cannot wait to show you!

Come back tomorrow for the beginning of the demolition process.  By the end of day 6, you'll see the floors all gone and a lot of the walls gone to get an open-concept feel. 

Thanks again for stopping by!

See y'all tomorrow,

E