Flip Thy House

Wee House Photos: Before and After

It took me long enough, but I’ve finally got some photos up and running for some before and after shots of the Wee House. These are from various stages of finish at the end of the renovation, so ignore a bit of mess here and there, as far as some floors that still needed mopping at the time of the photo, unsightly drainage ditches in the front yard, etc.

As far as a quick reminder before photos and commentary, I bought this house for $9,500, and it was basically a shell of a house with one bedroom and 505 sq. ft. I added a bedroom on the back to bump it up to a 2-1, 640 sq. ft. house, spending about $23,000 on the renovation and holding costs, with the goal of keeping it as a rental and renting it for $500/month. It’s currently rented at $525/month, with the tenant signing a one year lease and moving in on 4/1/2009. I’ve got about approximately $32,500 invested in it total, and PITI comes in at $255/month.

We had a decent amount of exterior work to do, as far as replacing asbestos siding here and there, removing the old door entrance on the side where the driveway went, painting, and adding the new columns and railing on the front.

I ended up doing the railing and columns on the front, and was pretty happy with how it turned out. Everything used was basically scrap odds and ends that we had left over, as far as some 1×6, 2×4s, shoe molding, doorstop, and baseboard trim, so it was a pretty cost effective way of dressing up the front of the house a bit.

The bottom two photos above are the before after of the main room as you walk in, with the top two looking out from the kitchen to the bathroom area.

Obviously a pretty big change, and I was pretty happy with how the vaulted ceiling turned out, and the tile (when it’s clean and not messy, as it is in the photos) and French doors that lead to the addition.

For a wee little rental house, going with the tile and French doors and vaulted ceiling was a little spendy, but I think it definitely helps make it seem bigger than it is. The addition is a pretty small space (about 140 sq. ft.) but again, seems bigger with the French doors, and it’s more flexible as far as being a living room/office if a single person is living in the house, or a second small bedroom for a kid, etc.

Similar shot on top, but the bottom two are the existing bedroom, before and after. The door in the bedroom photo leads to the bathroom, and the shot is taken from the bedroom door that opens to the living room.

I was worried about the existing hardwood floors, as they were pretty rough, but I was really happy with how they turned out. Instead of sanding them down to near oblivion, I left some of the original dark finish in the lower spots, hoping for a more distressed look. I stained them with Waterlox Original tung oil, which is my stain of choice for old pine floors like this.

More bedroom photos, including one of the entry from the main room, one of the closet and the door leading to the bathroom.

Again, lots of work here, as far as the top being the before and after of the bathroom space, and the below being the kitchen area. Both are pretty straighforward and not that exciting, but functional enough for a rental property. The cabinet finish not matching the other stained wood bugs me a little, but that line of cabinets was on close-out at Lowes recently, and I got all of those solid wood upper cabinets for about $200 total, so it was hard to pass that up.

The stove is the same one that came with the house (which amazingly was new and actually works), and the sink/sink cabinet/stainless countertop/integrated sink came from Ikea for $300, which I thought was a pretty decent durable option. I hated losing the window in the kitchen but the addition took up that wall, so I put the little diamond mirrors up to catch some light from the windows at the front of the house.

Some shots of the addition, as well as a few looking back into the main area of the house. This is the only carpet in the house, hopefully easing maintenance moving forward.

And a few shots of the breakfast bar we added, which pokes into various shots above. Most of the materials here were also culled from odds and ends for other projects, and I think it turned out all right, as far as providing a bit of separation in the main living area, as well as some more storage space.

In many ways, this one was a mixed bag, as far as my feelings on the project. Given that we started with an abandoned house in need of serious, serious work, I’m pretty happy with the finished product. It’s not fancy and won’t be featured on any tour of homes, but I feel like I made the most of what I had to work with. Most people who’ve seen it after it was finished were shocked when I told them that it was just 640 sq. ft., which is exactly what I was shooting for.

I’m not happy, though, with the fact that it took us nearly 12 weeks to wrap this one up, as that’s far too long for a house that size, even when factoring in that it was basically a complete gut remodel, in every way. Plus my original budget was at $27,500, so a pretty big miss at there. Part of that is my fault for under-budgeting a few things, part of that is from not knowing we’d be forced by the city to add a driveway, but a lot of it was simply from labor cost with the project dragging on for some long, which can’t happen with the next one.

But, all in all, I’m happy enough to keep this one as a rental, and it should be a nice little property to hang onto for awhile. While I’m disappointed with the ballooning budget and timeline, at the end of the day if this exact house came up for sale at $32,500 I’d buy it in a heartbeat, as it’ll appraise at $45,000-$50,000 and rent pretty easily in the $500-$550 range, as it’s hard to find small houses for rent like that, at an equivalent price to what people pay for a 1 bedroom apartment.