Before and after pics

[Huma0]

I'm an enthusiastic interiors buff and renovating my house has been a long-term labour of love and, I realise now, will always be an ongoing project. I'd therefore be really interested to hear from other hosts who have renovated their Airbnb properties and see before and after pics if you have them, or just hosts who have plans and ideas for future projects.

To start it off, here is one of the guest rooms in my house, BEFORE:

and AFTER:

I still haven't finished tweaking this room yet (the painted wardrobes for example), so there may be updates to come.

Please share your projects and plans!

[Ken28]

@Huma0 ... so excited to see this post!

I just finished renovations this spring on my house. Bought it in November and basically gutted it. There was deteriorated insulation throughout the house, some termite damage, leaky patio doors, and hideous carpet, wallpaper, and linoleum throughout.

Here's some before and after photos of the living areas.

KITCHEN:

LIVING ROOM:

FAMILY ROOM:

[Huma0]

@Ken28 wow that looks like a lot of work. Did you do it yourself or get builders in? Mine had similar "issues". Luckily the nasty lino was just in the kitchen/diner, but there were horrible, dirty carpets in the rest of the house that were hiding the original floor boards.

[Ken28]

@Huma0, most of the work I did myself and with the help of some family members. It was a 6-month venture, working about 4-6 hours every night after work. Started mid-November and finished in March:

1. patched roof where had 'nail pops' (contractor)
2. removed up carpet and padding in 8 rooms
3. removed wallpaper from 4 rooms
4. removed all doors and trim throughout house (they were ugly hollow core doors)
5. removed drywall and deteriorated, moldy foam insulation from all perimiter walls
6. removed particle board underlayment in 10 rooms
7. removed lower kitchen cabinets
8. installed new water lines in kitchen, utility closet
9. reinsulated walls with fiberglass batting
10. installed new drywall on all perimiter walls (contractor)
11. removed two patio doors and repaired perimeter joists and subfloor around them; installed new patio doors
12. painted walls (contractor)
13. replaced 2x14 wall-registers with 4x10 floor registers (had to move ductwork)
14. patched subfloor
15. layed new, unfinished hardwood floors (contractor) throughout house
16. finished floors with tung oil / waterlox
17. painted and then installed new trim
18. repainted shutters
19. stained and installed new doors
20. replaced all outlets and switches
21. trimmed a lot of shrubbery and removed many volunteer trees
22. installed new appliances
23. installed new HVAC (contractor)

6 months and $50,000 later, I have a house that I can call my own. Would I ever do it again? No. But I'm glad I did it.

The whole demolition and reconstruction process is captured in this photo album. ** Fair warning: the house looks really scary before and during the renovations! **

[Huma0]

@Ken28, that's a seriously impressive amount of work to do in your spare time in just a few months. I used builders for a lot of it, but they were a nightmare, so timescales went out the window! If only I knew then what I know now, but it's all a learning curve I guess. Now, when I meet builders, they're very surprised at what I know and the detailed questions I ask.

You say you wouldn't do it again, but it sounds like a real success, so never say never!

[Harriet-and-Stu0]

@Ken28 your high-backed counter stools are great! Mind if I ask where you got them?

@Huma0 thanks for this thread, very inspiring.  We're still in the 'during' stage of our to-be AirBnB cottage.

[Ken28]

@Harriet-and-Stu0

 I got those chairs about 6 years ago at a consignment store, used. They're OAK EXPRESS brand. The dining set matches, though I had to refinish the table top. (It had a hazy varnish) 

[Harriet-and-Stu0]

@Ken28 thanks for the lead on the stools!

Meanwhile, we are not done yet (listing not yet up either) but here is an exterior before

and not-quite-after but at least in progress

[Ken28]

@Harriet-and-Stu0 Oooh.. I love wooded properties!

[Huma0]

@Harriet-and-Stu0 really glad you like the thread. I feel like I will always be in the 'during' process to be fair.

Thanks for posting your before and after. Looking forward to seeing more as the project progresses.

[Huma0]

So, this room was in really good condition compared to the rest of the house, i.e. the walls needed skimming rather than ripping out completely. Not sure if you can tell though how very dirty the paint was. The wood work was super yellow (white originally I guess).

Before:

The previous owner had also used curtains going across the lovely arched windows, as well as the blinds you can see here. It seemed a shame to hide them as they are such a feature, so I splurged here on shutters. Initially, I painted it a teal colour, but more recently went for a deep blue and added wallpaper to the chimney breast. There are still changes I want to make to this room, so it's not quite finished in these photos (erm... anyone spot the masking tape?)

After:

[Andrea9]

@Huma0

A bit late to this post (I've been cold-turkey CC detoxing lately...), but it's great to see the Cinderella story to your beautiful home.

After my own good 6 yrs of DIY home improvement and the energy it takes I'm in absolute awe of your renovation work. Even with having a worker crew doing the 'heavy lifting', there's plenty of headaches involved around having guys like that let loose on one's property and successfully directing their work as a woman. And the work left one ends up doing on one's own because it's more budget friendly is SO MUCH work. Besides creating a beautiful environment and home I have to laud you for being one unphazed lady with 'balls"! 😉

If you hadn't pointed it out, wouldn't have spotted the masking tape on the arches ;D

And darker green and pink are gorgeous together, unexpected and go well in modern as well as vintage interiors.

Cheers,

Andrea

[Huma0]

Thanks @Andrea9. Yes, I hear you! Managing builders etc. can be such a headache and many do assume that because you are a woman, they can pull the wool over your eyes. I have learnt so much doing this renovation. I much more careful about who I hire now and have realised that just because someone has been personally recommended, it doesn't mean it's going to be plain sailing.

I find it helps now that I can demonstrate a bit of knowledge from the outset so that they sense I have some idea what I am talking about! I even try to talk in builder language, e.g. 'rads' instead of 'radiators' and measurements in 'mil' (mm) rather than cm or ms.

[Huma0]

And @Andrea9 I do really like the funky contemporary and mid-Century touches in your home. I especially like the cool little entrace/coat storage area. My entrance hall/office/general dumping ground is still very much a work in progress, which is why I don't have photos of it on Airbnb yet. It kind of became the repositary for furniture items that didn't work in other rooms so is a bit of a mish mash, but I do have plans to pull it together and it's going to be a much more contemporary looking space than the other areas in the house. I don't know why I keep putting it off... First impressions are, after all, everything.

[Andrea9]

Thanks @Huma0. I have so many colorful little things that I decided to keep the structure itself very Zen-colored in gray and white to let the colors come out and everything feel less cluttered.

The tiny entrance area was my own dumping ground and wood repositary for several years until I got tired of squeezing past stuff when entering or leaving the apartment. It's such a funny little space that I decided to let it be the only funky and bright colored place in my home (I already had the green flowery wallpaper used on the coat storage thing and walls). I went all out crazy with the mirrors everywhere to optically enlarge the space. 

And then I found a funny little mirror which sort of connects two larger ones, and that has a continuous long text of "Oh, how beautiful you are! You're charming. Tou look gorgeous! It's fantastic. You are so infinitely attractive! I think that you are fabulous, just fabulous! you are absolutely delectable. Your hair is really stunning. It sparkles with life! I love the way that you do your hair, that silken head of curls and waves is glorious......" and on, and on, and on for another 10x as many compliments  😄 What I find incredible is the amount of complimented things and the sheer endless battery of descriptive nouns! You just can't look at it and stay in a bad or woe-is-me mood. It's funny though, that nobody has ever commented on it specifically.

Re. your dumping repository - if you don't have time yet, you could consider doing something unserious and 'artsy (though I have no idea how large the space or the piles): Maybe you can find inexpensive gold-colored cloth to hang over and cover the stuff. Coming into a space with things covered under a gold blanket is such a strange sight, it's hard to forget! The thermo insulation blankets used to protect burn or undercooled victims are pure golden colored foil on one side, but they aren't super cheap. A friend of mine used it as a cover she lays over a practical but boring shelf in a niche - very impressive eye catcher.

[Huma0]

@Andrea9 I really love the sound of that mirror and can't believe that guests don't comment on it! Where did you find it?

My hallway is actually unusually large, so I really should work on making it a more attractive space. The photo below was taken a few months ago and it does look a bit better than this now. The large dresser and nest of tables by the door were in the process of being painted and aren't there now, plus no more cardboard on the floor! The moc croc and crome drinks cabinet in the foreground has been moved to a less awkward spot in the room. As well as the nice parquet floor, there is lovely wooden panelling on the walls on one side and a large, dramatic sputnik light. You can't see it here, but the room is L-shaped and in front of the window is a cool desk, chair and bookcase. However, in this area there are also a pile of paint cans, huge box full of wallpapers and boxes of chandeliers etc. waiting to be upcycled.

It's an interesting idea to cover them over with something more attractive, but I should really just make the time to sort through it all and find space for it in a cupboard if I can. Once I have decluttered, I plan to re-paint the space is a mid-grey. I'm also thinkig of adding a small velvet 'love seat' sofa, which I want to dye a deep emerald green or dark blue. This is the sort of look I'm hoping to achieve (but with a darker grey on the walls). I know there is a long way to go before I acheive this!