Before And After | It's Great To Be Home

Finished Flip Photos: The Exterior & Guest Bath

May 7, 2012 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 18 Comments

For our fourth and final round of tours of the finished flip, I thought I’d show you how we changed the exterior and the guest bathroom (and if you’re just tuning in you can check out the finished kitchen here, the master suite here, and the den, dining room and office here).

The exterior was in pretty great shape for the most part – it just needed some love! We switched out the old iron porch support and scrollwork for a more contemporary stained cedar post – an instant improvement!

We also added modern house numbers, new lighting fixtures, new windows in a striking bronze color . . .

. . . and a new solid wood front door with sleek hardware.

Much better!! The iron bars on the windows and front door got the boot, too. :)

A little sprucing of the landscaping and we were good to go!

And before we head to the backyard, let’s check out the guest bathroom. Remember how we changed the layout? Well, here’s how the finished product turned out:

Nothing like the original, right? In fact, the only thing that stayed was the original mirror, which we repainted to match the new vanity.

I really love how this bathroom turned out, and I would use any of these finishes again in a second. Especially the floor tile – my fave. :)

And the last stop on our tour? The deck!!

I never knew I could love a deck like I love this one. I am 100% committed to having one like this at our next house (not that we’re moving, but a girl can dream).

The benches are my favorite part. Why have a railing when you can have benches?!?

And remember, we tore down this insane addition before adding the deck (and in turn adding access to the backyard through new sliders).

So much better! I can totally envision laying out on these benches, or throwing an awesome backyard party. I’m jealous.

The new sliders above . . .

. . . and the new fence!

That’s it for the before and afters of our fourth flip!

We should be closing on the purchase of our fifth flip by the end of the month, so hopefully I’ll be able to fulfill your need for photos of demolition carnage soon. Fingers crossed. :)

Finished Flip Photos: The Dining Room, Office and Den!

May 3, 2012 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 16 Comments

I’ve been dying to show you guys these photos of the dining room, office and den at our fourth flip – the new open floor plan turned out so great!! (If you’re just tuning in now, you can check out finished photos of the kitchen here and the master suite here, and a recap of the entire renovation here.)

When you walk into the house the first thing you see is the dining room, which is a fun balance of chic and cozy thanks to the capiz chandelier and fireplace.

I’m so glad that we ditched the formal living room in favor of turning it into a dining room – and that meant that the old dining room became a home office!

You can see from the photo below what a difference opening up the walls made, and of course removing the old carpet so we could refinish those awesome oak floors.

I think I could get some work done in this office! :)

The two photos below really show what a difference that big opening between the dining room and den made – look at all of that light!!

And creating that opening also let us close up the funky doorways between the office/kitchen and hallway/den. Much better.

All of the sunlight kind of keeps this photo from being all that great . . .

. . . but I just had to show you the new view from the front door! (Yes, that wall really was all up in your grill the second you walked in the door!)

And now onto the den. We had an open house over the weekend and it was awesome to see the house flowing exactly as we had envisioned – there were no weird bottlenecks, and all of the rooms had such a great connection.

I especially love the wider opening between the kitchen and den, which was achieved by moving the washer/dryer to the new laundry room and relegating the water heater to the attic.

Much better than before!!

We chose to keep the paneling instead of replacing it with drywall, and I think the overall look works – I was worried that it would feel a little too traditional or outdated but I think all the modern touches throughout the house give it a nice balance.

Probably the best change that we made overall was replacing that window (above) with a huge glass slider so that the den is now connected to the backyard (instead of just being able to access the yard through the kitchen). The floor plan just didn’t make sense before!!

So there you have it!! Did everything turn out how you thought it would? I’d love to hear what you think!

Scope out all four of our flips here.

Before & After: The Exterior

October 17, 2011 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 30 Comments

Well hello there, peeps & peepettes! I know it’s been awhile, thanks for hanging in there! I don’t have any fabulous explanation for my absence, other than that a little break felt nice. :)

This is the final stop on our before and after tour of our third flip – the exterior!!

Here’s the professional “after” shot that went in the listing . . .

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

. . . as compared to what this little ol’ house looked like when we bought it back in June:

Yikes, right? The exterior got a full facelift, including a new roof, new windows, a serious tree-trimming, a new front door, a tiled front porch, new exterior lighting, a paint job, and some new sod and landscaping. All of it was in dire need, if you ask me!

Here’s the front of the house from another angle – not as dramatic-looking as the professional shot, but this is what you get when I’m behind the camera. :)

And a similar angle, pre-spruce-up. (Sorry for the spots, not sure what was going on with my camera).

And last but not least, the covered patio that leads to the backyard:

( Courtesy of Lance Hames Photography )

Prettier than it was before, no?

The new windows, lighting, French doors and paint job really freshened things up, and we used the patio furniture from our own patio to sort of “set the stage” for some serious porch relaxation.

I might have some flip updates for you guys in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

P.S. To avoid missing any posts in the future (or to save time so that you don’t have to check back here for updates), remember that you can always subscribe to IGTBH by email or in a feed reader by clicking on this nifty little button to the sidebar on the right: