​To wrap up the Moore St. blog series, I just wanted to summarize some of the other small and/or miscellaneous projects that I may have alluded to, or bypassed completely, in past posts. (Click "Read More" to continue...)

I'm sure there are hundreds of additional minor repairs and upgrades we did over the three years living in our house, but I'll just outline the biggest miscellaneous projects we completed:

Hallway:

• Paint
• Replace doorbell and chime
• Add additional lighting, replace fixtures, and wire for 3-way switch

HVAC:

• Replace evaporative cooler and furnace with electric/gas pack HVAC on roof
• Add Nest thermostat
• ​Turn furnace closet into new storage closet
• Create new attic access in new closet
• Add oak flooring and shelving to new storage closet

​
Bedrooms:

• Remove old wooden shutters, repair openings and sills
• Replace mirrored closet doors with bifold doors
• Remove incandescent lights in all closets (fire hazards), reposition lighting in the center of closets, and replace with LED light fixtures
• Add/replace central lighting and ceiling fans

Garage:

• Upgrade fire barrier drywall in accordance with code
• Add additional storage shelving above garage door
• Replace broken and damaged drywall on interior walls
• Add overhead fluorescent lighting

Attic:

• Add blown-in insulation

Other:

• Refurbish bedroom baseboards
• Replace main living area baseboards with new
• Add crown molding in main living areas

And as a final budget breakdown, here is the initial budget vs the final budget.

Initial Budget: $33,900

Final Budget: $80,000 (not including labor cost unless otherwise specified)

I must say, I will be doing a MUCH better job with these numbers in the future, now that I know the true scope of work and materials costs associated with them.

Also, we will do a much better job negotiating the sales price based on the inspection report(s). We were so desperate to get into a house that we let a lot of things slide that we should've asked for to be repaired or discounted. We completely failed to do a sewer scope inspection, which would've alerted us to potential problems (for which we ended up giving the buyer of our house a credit for.) We also should've researched some city code issues for the massive retaining wall on the north end of the property. It wasn't built on our property according to the survey, but could've affected us should the years of neglected repairs made it fail (we of course disclosed the city's legal action against the neighboring property to the new owner of our home.) I also would've had a professional roof inspector come out to do an inspection separate from the general house inspection. All of these things would've reduced the purchase price and allowed us a bit more breathing room in the rehab budget.

So many lessons learned and so many memories made in that house. I would've loved to have lived there for many years to come, but such is the life of an active-duty Army wife. I hope you have enjoyed reading about our first home renovation! Prost!

The back yard seemed to take FOREVER. Mostly because I only budgeted $500 for front and back landscaping before the house purchase and the initial interior budget had been blown in about a year. (Click "Read More" to continue...)

The yard had pretty much been left to its own devices for about 30 years, which meant is was REALLY overgrown with ivy (yuck for many reasons) and a lot of other greenery that wasn't very pretty and took up a lot of precious real estate. 

The first step was clearing out the overgrowth and removing the tree ring in the yard. Then out came the paving stones and brick path. The gas BBQ grill and window bars came off too. I hid the storage mess in the greenhouse with a bit of frosted spray paint on the windows and doors. The stone wall was tuckpointed. Gutters were added, the French doors installed, a new security door built and the new electrical panel installed to support the upgraded HVAC system.

Then I was finally able to design the yard so that it had three designated and very useful areas: 1. Some artificial turf so we could enjoy playing with our daughter, 2. A fire pit area to enjoy the desert nights, and 3. A large patio where we could set up at least three Octoberfest-style tables.

From there, we rented some machinery from Home Depot to level out the yard ourselves and found a local landscape company to help us turn my design into reality. My husband designed, built and installed the fence (with a bit of help from my dad.) Once it was all completed, a bit of café lighting really made the space usable and beautiful at any hour of the day.

If we had a bit more time before moving, I would have LOVED to hire my local artist friend to paint a mosaic on the greenhouse, but alas, we moved before I could get that project in the works. I also kick myself for not painting the French door the same beautiful color as the back security door (why I didn't, I couldn't tell you.)

Although it was a very small and narrow space to work with, I think we accomplished a huge transformation. I know we sure enjoyed our time out there!

Final Budget:
$3,950 - New patio slab, rock, and turf
$900 - Fence materials (no labor)
$175 - Home Depot earth mover rental
$450 - Wall tuckpointing
$500 - Misc. supplies and materials
_________
​$5,975 Total

Like the master bathroom, I didn’t give the budget or rehab time a great deal of forethought before moving in. I budgeted $1,000 and had intended to remove the painted wallpaper and repaint the walls, paint the vanity, possibly add another sink and replace the countertop, replace the lighting and remove the shower/tub sliding doors. Easy, right? Well, by the time we were done,  that budget tripled and it DOES NOT INCLUDE the labor cost! (Click "Read More" to continue...)

​The biggest budget breaker was the vanity. Because the space between the vanity and the tub was narrow, it couldn’t be more than 19” deep. We found an off-the-shelf model and I ordered it from one of the big box stores. Then we demo’d the bathroom. Fast forward 6 weeks and the vanity had still not arrived, uuuggghhh! I had a recommendation for a local cabinet maker and his quote was actually better than the pre-built one, which I cancelled. So we were off to the races! We were able to create the exact cabinet we wanted, to include new double sinks, drawers in the center and granite countertop. And I was able to get it made to almost seven feet long so it provided a TON of storage. To top it all off, it was ready in just a few weeks! This ended up being the same craftsman we used to build our bookshelves and laundry cabinets and he was amazing!

The rest of the renovation was slow but went without any major hiccups. Just like the master bath, the 4x4 white tiles were laid on top of the original flooring. Because the original green tiles were installed so well, we decided to leave them and just score them so that the new porcelain tiles would adhere for decades to come. 

Although my initial budget was blown, I think that is more due to my budgeting inexperience at the time than actual overspending. My takeaways on this bathroom are that the little things definitely add up (especially faucets and hardware) and should be line itemed when creating a budget. Also, look for things, like the vanity, that may have to be custom built due to spatial issues. And finally, if you aren't doing the work yourself, budget for labor. Luckily my dad has renovated a ton of bathrooms, so this was totally in his wheelhouse.

This bathroom renovation was a great learning experience and for our first one, I think it turned out great! I definitely miss all that storage now that we live in Germany!

Final Scope of Work:

• Remove painted wallpaper, retexture and paint walls
• Remove top layer of floor tile and replace with large porcelain tiles
• Remove vanity and replace with custom cabinet to include countertop
• Add tile accent strip in shower
• Add tile backsplash to vanity
• Replace lighting
• Replace large mirror with individual, adjustable mirrors
• Add new shower/tub glass door
• Replace and add new towel bars
• Paint doors
• Replace all tub/shower/sink hardware
• Replace doorknobs to bathroom and linen closet
• Replace wooden window sill with solid surface

Final Budget (no labor cost included)
$240 – Floor tile
$120 – Mirrors
$380 – Tub/shower glass door
$230 – Tub spout and shower head
$320 – Sink faucets
$180 – Towel bars
$1,250 – Custom vanity
$544 (20% to account for other materials not included above)
-------------
$3,264

The master bath in this home was small, but pretty functional. However it felt dark, dank and dirty. The initial scope of work after our first walk-through was really simple, clean it, paint it, and replace the vanity.  However, after living there for a few months and stripping the painted wallpaper (what a pain!) it was apparent it would definitely need more work than that. (Click 'Read More" to Continue)

My first idea was to open the shower doorway all the way to the ceiling, removing just a portion of the shower header. This would’ve added more light and better air circulation (the original design trapped all the moist air inside the shower, not allowing the exhaust fan to circulate and vent all that humidity, yuck!) Luckily, my dad had an even better idea, why don’t we just remove the entire header and open the whole thing? Now, why didn’t I think of that?!?! It was brilliant on multiple levels: demolishing the ceiling and upper tiles would get rid of the shower mold issue by allowing proper air flow, it would remove the maintenance issue of cleaning tile 2 feet above my head for years to come, and it would allow light into what was once a cavernous-feeling shower. Win, win, win! So out came the header. We also decided to remove a row of tiles to add a modern-feeling accent strip, and finished off the top row tiles with matching bullnose. We also removed the grab bars (which weren’t properly installed to begin with), replaced the damaged tiles with salvaged ones from the ceiling, replaced missing grout, replaced the hardware, added shelving, and sealed everything to make it watertight and provide easier cleaning.

Outside the shower, I wanted to update the flooring. Upon removing the top, white layer of tile, we discovered a sublayer of pink tile (also in the shower). Since it was really installed well, we decided to leave the sublayer and just remove the white tiles (which also allowed me to keep the wall tiles in place without having to come up with a solution for the drop in floor height.) I also selected a new vanity so that we could coordinate the shower accent tiles, floor tiles, vanity and countertop before anything was installed.

I really wanted to keep two of the original bathroom elements, the ceiling light/heater/fan and the medicine cabinet with Edison bulbs. Once my dad refurbished them, they looked new again and retained the house’s mid-century charm. Since they were both chrome, we finished the project with new chrome towel bars and hardware. A bit of paint and a few other details, like a solid surface window sill and shelf organizer and we were finished.
​
The only thing I wish we could’ve done, is expand the bathroom into the furnace closet (making it almost twice as big) but that would’ve entailed an amount of renovation (and expanded budget) we just weren’t willing to take on at the time.

I had allocated about $1,000 at the initial walk through for updates, and we stayed pretty close to that WITHOUT accounting for labor cost. It took about 6-8 weeks to complete with just my dad working on it (along with a ton of other mini projects) since my husband was overseas and I was working full time. Overall, it was a great bang for the buck! 

​Having a functional laundry room is key on any home. The original laundry space was small, dingy, and had a layout that just didn't work (I wish I had a better photo of it.) I budgeted ZERO dollars to reconfigure the space, mostly because I didn't plan on gutting it when we first bought the house. (Click "Read More" to Continue...)

However, since we had to move the dryer vent and decided to move the garage door out of the "den" and into the laundry room, a lot of the drywall was being removed anyway. It seemed only fitting to upgrade the laundry area to fit the rest of the house. It's one of the projects that snowballed from "a bit of paint" to so much more. I think you'll agree that the end result was worth all the effort that went into it!

Initial scope of work:
-Paint

Updated Scope of Work:
-Enlarge laundry room by "borrowing" a couple of feet from the garage.
-Widen and replace existing door leading from living room.
-Reposition garage access from den into laundry room. Replace door.
-Move dryer vent so it vents to the exterior, instead of the enclosed porch.
-Add plumbing to accommodate a mudroom sink.
-Add a mudroom sink.
-All new drywall, molding, and paint.
-Replace water heater [it failed the first week after we closed but was luckily (mostly) covered by the home warranty.]
-Replace laminate flooring with porcelain tile.
-Add ceiling vent fan.
-Replace lighting.
-Add custom 15" cabinets above washer and dryer.
-Add clothing bar and matching shelf unit (not visible but located just to the right as you walk in. It conveniently fit a wine fridge or mini freezer.)

Things I would've added had we lived there longer:
We only lived in this house for three years, during which we also had our first child. Had we lived here longer, I would've loved to have done a wall of tile behind the washer and dryer, added a screen to hide the water heater, and commissioned floor-to-ceiling built ins where the clothes bar and stainless steel table are. But such is life, and you have to find a stopping point at some time. Moving just happened to make our stopping point pretty final. Such is the life of a military spouse!

Besides the kitchen transformation, incorporating the "den" into the rest of the house probably made the most visual impact. Looking back through notes and invoices, it looks like my initial estimate to remove the large wall was about $2,000(?). The (?) was actually in my initial budget and reminds me that I was taking a stab in the dark at the actual cost.  My flooring estimate was the best thing I budgeted for the entire renovation, coming in at only $100 over budget. I also ended up not replacing a lot of the windows I had initially budgeted for and was able to "save" that money (aka spend it on other things.)   (Click "Read More" to continue...)

The general idea in this part of the house was to open up the kitchen and den to the rest of the house by removing the two walls, removing/moving 2 of the 3 doors that were in the corner of the den, making the den floor level with the rest of the house, enlarging the den window, adding recessed lighting and generally incorporating that portion of the house seamlessly into the living room. Along the way we also decided to have a custom bookshelf built into an otherwise unused nook. That is still one of my favorite parts of the house.

One of the unexpected things we encountered in this section of the house was that the ceiling in the den was about 2" lower than in the rest of the house, which no one noticed with the arched wall in place. So there went the drywall! Luckily we were able to raise it without too many issues, but it's just one more thing we didn't plan on in time or budget. It did, however, make running electrical, ductwork and insulation a lot easier.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the result of all of the hard work that went into this space. A couple of things I would plan for/change in the next renovation are:

1. When planning recessed lighting and HVAC vent placement, I would make sure they are in an aesthetically pleasing formation. I didn't notice that one of my ceiling vents was about a foot off center until it had already been placed. Luckily without the drywall it was an easy fix, but just one more thing that added time to the project.
2. I would also add a tiny bit of texture to the walls and ceiling. Getting them smooth took A LOT of time and effort. Adding just a bit of texture would have saved us tons of time and hidden a few of the imperfections as well. 

Original scope of work (as you can see, I was very detailed) and budget:
​
-New oak flooring in den and refinish existing floors (50% of whole house) - $4,300
-Remove wall to den - $2,000? 
​-Windows - $3,000
Total Estimated: $9,300

​Updated scope of work and budget:

-Remove wall to den and add microlams for structural support, demolish and raise lowered ceiling in den, remove wood paneling in den, add new drywall to den walls and ceiling, texture ceiling and walls smooth from main entrance/living room to the dining room. Reshape the wall of the entrance arc and make it square. Remove wall between kitchen and dining areas, remove the partial wall of the kitchen's main entrance and make it accommodate 15" pantry cabinet. Move garage entry door into laundry room and remove door to exterior storage room, brick the exterior where door opening had been. Remove dining room windows and replace with French door. Enlarge and replace den window. - $10,740 
-Flooring (50% of house) - $4,400 on budget!
-Custom bookshelf - $1,950
-New flexible ducting to den (I don't have this as a separate line item so I'm guessing here) - $500 
-New recessed lighting (I don't have this as a separate line item so I'm guessing here and electrician cost not included) - $300
-Electrician (65% of whole house) - $5,084
-Crown Molding - $800
-Baseboards (50% of whole house) - $375
Total Actual: $24,149

The kitchen in this house was probably the most amazing transformation of this project. Since we funded the entire house renovation budget from our day jobs, this project seemed to take forever since it was one of the largest expenses. It was also the hardest to live without since we lived here during the renovation period. Luckily my handy dad was able to rough-in a working sink using an old lower cabinet, he set up plywood and cardboard counters, and even hooked up the dishwasher so we had a few creature comforts before the new cabinetry was installed, about 6 months after closing. (Click "Read More" to continue...)

This room probably received the most forethought and planning of any space in the house. However, I did a horrible job at budgeting before we purchased the house. I wasn't planning on gutting the space, but after we closed, we decided it would be the best way to go.

The initial demolition happened within the first few days after closing on the property. We had a pretty good idea of the order of things that needed to happen in the weeks before we could actually move into the property. The main items went a little something like this:

1. Remove wall between kitchen and dining room
2. Remove wall between living area and "den"
3. Repair, replace and refinish floors
4. Retexture walls and ceilings in common areas. Paint.
5. Replace dining room windows with a French door
6. Gut the kitchen

That seemed to work pretty well both in theory and execution. At last, we had a space to call "home."

In one of the photos below, you will see a rough sketch of the design plan that would be our template for the kitchen rehab. To get there took a lot of back and forth between my dad, my husband, and myself. We mocked up the island in multiple dimensions using old cabinets and cardboard boxes, living with each iteration for a few days before making adjustments. We used painters tape to mark out the pantry, cabinets, fridge and dishwasher locations. It took quite a few tries before we had it just right. 

Something we didn't plan on was all the new electrical work required. The circuit breaker panel was originally in the kitchen, just to the left of the fridge. In order to install the new HVAC system we were planning on down the road, we'd have to upgrade the panel and reroute it to a brand new one on the outside of the house. But we'd also need to leave this panel accessible for any work we (or future owners) would want to do. Our electrician also discovered some hot wires that had been drywalled over in the ceiling (yikes!) when adding wiring for a 3-way light switch to the newly installed can lights. All-in electrical costs for the entire house reno were just shy of $8,000.

One piece of forethought that worked really well was moving the gas line from the old range location to its future location in the island. The $650 plumbing cost for that move wasn't in our initial budget. We also ran electric to the island before the floors were finished (my poor budget.) 

Here's the rundown of initial vs final scope and budget for the kitchen and dining areas.

Initial Scope:
1. Paint cabinets
2. New counters
3. New appliances
4. Replace dining room windows with French door

Final Scope:
1. All of the above plus:
2. Demo all cabinets and replace with custom
3. Reconfigure kitchen, moving range to island (adding gas and electric to island)
4. Add new electrical panel, upgrade outlets to GFCI, add new outlets at counter
5. Add can lights, remove old ceiling fixture
6. Add wired speakers to living room
7. Add insulation behind cabinetry that backs to exterior wall
7. New sink and faucet
8. Design and add new floor transition between kitchen and dining room where wall was removed. 
9. Move location of dining room light and replace fixture

Initial budget:
$12,000

​Final budget:
$641 - plumbing of gas to island
$1,955 - electrical (1/4 of $7,821 total electric cost for reno)
$2,300 - granite counters
$3,825 - Samsung appliance package
$9,060 - Custom cabinetry
$2,200 - Floor refinishing and transition work (1/4 of $8,800 total flooring cost for reno)
$113 - Kitchen door pulls
$272 - Kitchen sink
$1,000 - Misc. supplies, faucet, lights, crown molding, etc.
------------------
$21,366

And although the budget almost doubled from the initial estimate, I think it was worth every penny. Our daughter had her first bath in that kitchen sink and ate her first bites of food in that kitchen. And boy, did I learn how to evaluate a kitchen rehab! 

​​This house was a HUGE education for my husband and me. It was our primary residence and I LOVED this house. Looking back I can say with certainty that I overlooked many of its flaws (accidentally on purpose?) so that purchasing it at the negotiated price seemed like a good idea (it wasn’t.) After all is said and done, I still love this house. It was a great learning experience and it allowed us to “save” enough money that once we sold it, we were able to purchase a better rental property outright. Here’s what I learned from the front yard: (Click "Read More" to continue...)

IWhen I was preparing my renovation budget and scope of work prior to writing an offer, the front yard got about 0.01 seconds of my thought process. I thought, we’ll just clean it up a bit. Maybe $500? A couple of weekends worth of work? Boy did I underestimate both the scope and budget. After everything is tallied, I think the budget came in at about $3,000 and countless hours of sweat equity. Neither of which is bad if you plan on them (which I did not,) but when you have 10 other projects with that budget overage (or more), it really adds up quick.
 
There are still things I wish I would’ve done to the front, such as removing the bushes at the patio supports and between the bedroom windows, resurfacing the patio, trimming up the oak a bit more, and adding additional rock and tall, colorful grasses to the area beneath the bedroom windows. Painting the brick would have also made a huge difference (we never liked the orange but had to stop somewhere.) Isn’t there always another project?
 
I can tell you that I learned so much about budgeting time and money from just the front yard on this property. I’ll definitely have a much better understanding of what it will take on the next project we tackle. And I hope this helps a few of you avoid the mistakes I did when evaluating a property’s workload and monetary commitment. 

​Here is a snapshot of scope and budget after everything was said and done. It’s a far cry from $500 and “cleaning it up a bit.”

Initial Scope:

1. Replace front window with a larger one
2. Remove 4 huge bushes at the front, trim everything else back
3. Try to salvage as much of the greenery as possible
4. Remove security bars on front windows

Final Scope:

1. Replace front window with a larger one
2. Remove diseased Italian cypress, 4 huge bushes nearest the street, 50+ year-old ivy, and other overgrowth/diseased/dead plantings
3. Trim up the oak tree (it probably could’ve used a bit more, but in such a brown landscape it was hard for us to cut it back at all. Plus it did a great job of shading the front of the house from the El Paso sun.)
4. Add 6 new trees and other perennials along front and side yards
5. Remove security bars on front windows
6. Remove old tile on front patio slab (I still wish I’d had time to resurface it, sigh)
7. Fix rusted-out gate posts on both sides of house and replace chain link gates with wooden ones
8. Seal all holes, shrunken window caulk, and generally make the exterior impenetrable to water, sand and critters
9. Reconfigure sprinkler system for even water coverage
10. Add drip irrigation to front and side yards
11. Tuck point rock wall
12. Add rock to side yards (also wish I had included the front left side of the house, sigh)
13. Repair and repaint gutters
14. Repair and repaint garage door and add accent strips
15. Remove old front door lite and replace with a more modern one (instead of purchasing a new door)
16. Replace old front door hardware and replace with modern one and electronic deadbolt
17. Reconfigure storm door (I designed it and my husband & dad fabricated the new one)
18. Remove and replace rusted out support columns on front patio
19. Replace front porch light (my dad had a used one in his garage so it was FREE)
20. Add house numbers to porch
21. Add some solar lights to front walkway
22. Replace mailbox under front porch
23. Remove the dozens of large rocks the former owner had collected and "decorated" with
24. Probably some other stuff which I've blocked from my memory

Initial budget:
Misc. supplies and plants: $500
 
And here is a much more complete budget of what it actually cost:
Debris removal, labor included: $140 
New Trees: $169
Front perennials: $146
Front rock work, labor included: $680
Front wall tuck point, labor included: $150
Paint: $25
Front door lite insert kit: $127
Front door entry handle: $218
Electronic deadbolt: $93
New front window: $315
Garage door accent strips: $45
New Irrigation backflow, labor included: $325
I’m going to guess another $500 in misc. supplies and recycled materials we were able to obtain for free-fifty.
Note: Labor is NOT included unless specified
-------
Total Spent: $2,933

This is the story of our first home remodel of a 3 bed/1.75 bath, 1880sf, 1955 brick ranch house.

We moved to El Paso, Texas from Germany in 2015 and had about 10 days to find a house before my husband, and Army pilot extraordinaire, had to go to an 8 week training course out of state. We arrived on a Friday and I had to start my full-time job the following Monday (and contrary to what I was told, I would NOT be given any time off to help find a house.) So the scramble began...

This was going to be our home, not an investment property, and we wanted a super walkable neighborhood with lots of amenities. We decided to purchase something in Kern Place--a historic and hip neighborhood in west El Paso. Moving in October, I can't say that inventory was great and I was pretty convinced that we'd have to do some home improvements to whatever house we chose. We didn't really plan on an entire house renovation... (Click "Read More" to continue...)

My husband didn't even want to look at this house in the beginning, but I had loved the huge live oak in the (overgrown) yard and had seen photos of the oak floors inside and could see its potential. I finally persuaded him that we should take a peek. This is what we walked into...

​A bit scary? Maybe. Walls begging to be torn out... definitely! 

​There was a second wall (not pictured) that leads from the kitchen to the dining room with a swinging door. The photo of the kitchen is from standing in that doorway.

After developing a quick $35,000-ish rehab budget (insert hysterical laughter here), I was able to persuade my wonderful husband that this would be a great project and that THIS was the house for us. My father also agreed to run point on renovations as my husband and I were both working full time. 

We had about a 45-day close, and I started lining up my tradespeople so that we could begin work the day we closed in mid December. I will be the first to admit that I had NO idea what we were really in for. I think my timeline was something like 12 weeks to be completely finished (yes, feel free to laugh.) 12 weeks may have been doable with a MUCH larger budget, doing ONLY what is listed below, hiring out ALL the jobs, not closing a week before Christmas and not living in it too. I'll try to cover each of these areas in separate blogs with all the changes that were made to budget and scope of work along the way.

​Here is a rough idea of the scope of work that was initially planned. It was woefully underplanned and underbudgeted from the start.

1. Walls. Remove 2 walls (kitchen/dining wall and living/"den" wall.) Paint everything.

​2. Doors.  Remove the 2 stained glass panels in the dining room and replace with a French door. Paint all doors.

3. Floor. Build up the floor in the "den" to match the existing floor height in the rest of the house. Add new oak flooring in the den and refinish all the wood floors.

4. Kitchen. Gut everything and install new kitchen. 

5. HVAC. Remove existing evaporative cooler and install new HVAC system on the roof. 

6. Bathrooms. Minor updates (paint, hardware, etc.)
​
​7. Landscape. Remove all overgrowth, ivy and diseased cypress. 

​8. Windows. Remove all shutters. Replace the existing "den" window with a larger window.

9. Miscellaneous. Square out the existing openings at the entrance (instead of the original arches.)

I'm sure I missed a few things but here's a rundown on my initial budget (again, insert laughter here.)

$2,800 - Electric (for new HVAC)
$8,000 - HVAC
$8,600 - Floors
$2,000? - Wall move (living room/den)
$500 - Landscape
$6,000 - Kitchen cabinets
$2,000 - Kitchen countertops
$2,000 - Kitchen Appliances
$1,000 - Guest Bath
$1,000 - Main Bath
-----
Total: 
$33,900
​
The rest was going to be done with sweat equity (or so I imagined.) 

Fast forward 3 years of living in a work-in-progress house and we were finally DONE! Obviously, it was not a 12-week project. And the final budget came in just shy of $80,000. That does not include the COUNTLESS hours my father spent making sure everything we touched would last another 50-100 years. We took no lavish vacations, hardly took a day off, and poured all of our disposable income into this project.

When all is said and done, the house was beautiful. I wish we could have enjoyed it more than a few months before we moved (back to Germany!) But we were able to squeeze out a small profit after the sale so I feel like we were able to do a Master's course in home renovation and get paid to do it (sorry Dad, I know you only got paid with food and a few weekend trips around the Southwest.)

​I hope you enjoy reading about the adventure of our very first home renovation in the weeks and months to come!