So tomorrow I am going to share our final house tour. I've got the place as good as it's going to get and am SO HOPEFUL that I can just sit back and live here for the last two years of Paul's residency. (We don't know where we are headed next, but we're 95% certain we'll be leaving San Diego and selling our place).
I was preparing the house tour post when my dad emailed me a link to the old listing for our house. For some reason this site hadn't been updated and the photos showed what things looked like in December 2012, before it was purchased and flipped (remodeled to sell quickly and never lived in). We don't know too much about the house before we moved in, but we do know that the owner who lived here previously was the original (only) owner of the house since it was built in 1961. We know that the guys who flipped it made the changes in under two months and we know that they paid $150K less than we did for the house (but we don't know how much they actual made on the sale). (I know it's awkward to talk money, but when I share the changes I think it might be helpful to have some concept of cost. Remember we live in San Diego and houses and not cheap.)
So. Do you want to see some crazy before and afters? These photos make me cringe a bit. And marvel A LOT.
The most interesting thing for me to see was that the whole space was already opened up. For some reason I had it in my head that they had taken down a wall, but it looks like nope. And the ceilings were already as is (which was probably a selling point).
Obviously that blue carpet had to go. But I'm impressed that they thought to add travertine tile up the fireplace. It makes a HUGE difference compared to that blue gray.
They did a lot to really open up those windows on the back of the house. And cleverly removed the bars on all the windows. (Yes, our house had bars on the windows.)
The kitchen is probably the craziest transformation. The new set up is all Ikea and while they kept the same layout it looks like a lot of counter top space was added.
The overhead cabinets were removed which makes a HUGE difference and the whole counter was pushed out it looks like about 4-5 feet. (Thank goodness.)
Here you can see it even better. That bar sticks out to the edge of the pantry (which was cleverly replaced and given a bit more depth – also from Ikea). The travertine floors make a big difference too.
Not much change in the bathroom. 😉
This is my office. It looks like they just removed that big window hood, repainted (Benjamin Moore Athena is throughout the whole house) and replaced the carpets. It's crazy the difference for such minor changes.
And then the master bedroom had a bit more work. That whole wall around the closet was built out making it fit in a bit better. And the mirrors obviously help brighten up the space. All the bedrooms got a similar closet makeover.
Seeing this was insane. The outside (front) looked so crazy different too. I am relieved that someone aside from Paul and I made all these changes. I'm good at the "make a quilt" type DIY. Not so great at the "demo a kitchen" type DIY. And Paul's work schedule leaves little room for "re-tiling a fireplace" these days.
Interesting to see though, no? Thanks for letting me share.
enJOY it 
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