Ready for the first batch of “afters” from our 9th flip?
I wish I could remember every little detail of this renovation so that I could give you guys a thorough play-by-play of everything that happened. Unfortunately, most of the nitty gritty details have already fallen out of my head. I hope these little recaps will suffice!
First up is the exterior.
The front of the house looks 80% the same, but the 20% that changed looks pretty good!
The biggest change was swapping out all of the old windows for new bronze windows. It pained me to lose the leaded glass windows in the dining room and in the stairwell (to the right of the front door), but they just wouldn’t have looked right next to the new windows.
Here are the dining room windows as they were being delivered and then installed:
We also tiled the front porch with a slate tile, and ripped out the overgrown holly bush and replaced it with a few knockout roses.
Losing that bush made the front porch feel so much more open. Oh, and I forgot! We also added a new mahogany front door that looks pretty snazzy.
Here’s a better view of the slate tile as it was being installed:
Here’s the front porch all grouted and pretty:
The photo above shows the grout just after it was applied, and it dried a lot lighter, which you can see below.
The pic above is from closing day – it was a mad dash to get a few trades through for last minute fixes before all the paperwork was signed!
The backyard got a little love, too. The brick wall around the patio was cute, but it was falling apart.
So, we knocked it down. :)
The patio was also cracked – we didn’t think we could spruce up the whole house and leave the patio looking a little less than fabulous, so we ripped it up. :)
The concrete guys leveled everything out…
…and put rebar in place to keep the new patio strong and crack-free.
Seeing the new patio in place, I’m so glad we got rid of the old one!
Inside the house, the changes and improvements continued. The entryway was already a great size, but it was a bit on the dark side.
We painted everything a bright white which instantly brightened up the joint, as did the new Moravian star fixture which I’m a little obsessed with.
(We didn’t get professional photos of this house because it sold before we could list it – I wish we had!)
All of the tile got jackhammered up…
…so that we could replace it with hardwoods. Doesn’t that just look crazy?
Along with the tile, the green stairs got the boot.
We added hardwood treads and risers…
…and the stairs instantly look a thousand times better!
The view from the dining room to the entryway improved, too.
The walls in the dining room were painted a light gray at the request of the new owners, and you’ve seen my favorite chandelier about a million times by now. :)
While I love the chandelier, I will never love removing the little plastic sleeves off every.single.strand of shells.
For awhile, the dining room was the official “cabinet painting area”…
…but it looks a lot better now!
Ignore that little sneak peek of the kitchen. ;)
What do you think of the changes so far?
Wow – it looks SO good. I love that entryway light fixture. Can’t wait to see the rest of the house!
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You all do such quality work!
Thanks, Deb!
It looks wonderful! The light in the foyer really makes the space special. It seems, at least at this point, that you had to do little knocking down of walls for this home. An easier flip? How can one ignore the kitchen??? I see a classic white kitchen and bin pulls–excited to see!
You are totally right – the floor plan of this house was already great, and there wasn’t much that you even could do in terms of knocking down walls that would make sense or improve the flow. So, it was definitely easier and went much quicker because of that!
It looks amazing! This does seem like an “easier” flip than some of your others! Though there is nothing easy about renovation. I’m curious what color you used in the dining room. It’s so pretty!
Thanks, Mary! The dining room was painted Aloof Gray by Sherwin Williams. :)
This might be my favorite flip yet and I’ve loved them all. The exterior is so unique!! Can I ask where you got those slate tiles?? They’d be perfect for our concrete front patio too :-)
Thanks, Laura! These are the slate tiles – https://www.flooranddecor.com/slate-stone/multicolor-pattern-slate-flagstone-924100802.html – with natural gray mortar. Hope that helps!
Wow! Huge differance and yours choices were just spot on, just beautiful!
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W-W-What!!! That’s the same stairway??? Wow, had to do a double take – fantastic! Don’t feel bad about switching those lead windows either….I know they are supposed to be special but IMHO the new ones are so MUCH better… I’m not a fan of a cagey feel while in my home…. like a little canary; “let me out!” Thanks for the post. Oh, and i love the rose bushes…great way to warm up the front area. fun fun fun:)
I love love LOVE how changing the floor and painting all the dark wood white made such a difference! Looks clean and fresh and amazing!
At my parents’ cottage, all the walls in the living/dining room are a dark wood, while the floors are painted a light grey. I mentioned painting the wood walls and my dad looked at me like I had two heads. I am going to show them these pictures – maybe it will change their minds! ;)
Hey Liz,
Wow, the entryway changed amazingly. Loved that chandelier. Thumbs up for your creative mind! Keep it up :)
absolutely love it already.
have to say that the brick + Tudor front seems really weird to me — maybe it’s just the few black bricks mixed in — but it wouldn’t keep me from going inside, where I clearly would be on my way to a swoon. :))
Nice work Liz, really love what you did with the staircase! Those green stairs needed the boot!
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I can totally see why the house sold before it was even listed. You did a wonderful job on the flip, and I’m a little sad you didn’t leave in the green carpet on the stairs. :) The hardwood is gorgeous, and the white walls made it so much lighter.
Look at that entryway transformation! Absolutely wonderful job. It’s amazing how much of an impact that can make on the entire feel of the home, since it’s the first impression. Great before and afters– we really admire your work!
The stairs and spindles are much like the ones in my house. I have spoken to professional painters who I wanted to hire to paint them & they always try to talk me out of it, never seem to want the job. What is it they are afraid of? How did you paint yours?
Thanks
Hi Judy! Our painters sprayed the spindles, which can get a bit messy when you’re trying to protect the surrounding areas – maybe that’s what they’re afraid of?
Hi Liz!
I just happened to stumble upon your article and let me say – this has been one of the more helped renovation blog posts that I have come across! My family and I are moving to West Palm Beach in two months from Seattle, and we are so excited to finally have a backyard that we can actually use.
We were not sure if we wanted to completely redo our patio – but now that I read your post I think that we are going to. Also, I love the look of the bronze windows and the difference it made on the exterior of your house, so I think that we are going to do the same thing as well since our home has similar colors to yours.
Needless to say, I’ll continually be referring back to this post, along with checking back to see what other projects you tackle at home!
Christina
Great work on the home Liz! I am in love with your entryway. The seamless white paint goes beautifully with the dark wooden floors, and that light fixture is to die for!
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This looks so great. Painting the entryway white was a brilliant idea. I can’t believe how much it brightened up the area.
Even though unwrapping the chandelier probably took forever, it looks beautiful. I love the little dangling parts, and the white/light colors really brighten up the space. So pretty!
Whoa, that was heck of work. The entrance look alot better than before, actually I think the front door adds more grace to the place because of it’s darkish appearance. Again, I must say that the interiors were well balanced between bright and light colors. Lastly, it really fascinated me what you did with the stairs, the color and the interior complement each other well now.
Great work.
Amazing!!!!!!
It’s look awesome. The every design so awesome. I like all the item really good post. Amazing
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Amazing change. Congrats.
I’m in love with that chandelier, too. Can you share where you purchased it? Can’t wait to see the rest of the flip, that peek of the kitchen has me wanting more!!
It’s from West Elm! :)
I loved it, the whole post and the quality of work you presented. It is amaizing how the house changed, from dark and unapproachable to a light and enjoyable. I’d love to see how you progress with the rest of the house.