​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...)

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...)

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 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)

​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...)

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 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 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...)

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...)