I have always had a slight distain for parts of our Provo Rental house. Ladd sometimes called the bedrooms "hobbit holes" because they were just so, well, gross. I have taken over managing the house and it was getting frustrating managing something that was falling apart. SO, I hired my parents (and got a bonus visit!) to come down and help me, because they are super handy and reliable. And my sister-in-law Ruth hooked us up with her cousin Jackson who is super skilled and was willing to work. We also hired Jackson's friend who learned a lot and was willing to do even the dirty jobs.
Here are some pictures from before: The tenants left it in pretty bad shape. I cleaned for over 10 hours and I still wouldn't live in it.
nice AC set up don't you think? not.
uh, those nasty windows and blinds make me cringe
gaps and holes everywhere.
I could show you a close up of the mold and grossness, but wouldn't want you to loose your appetite. I scrubbed that shower tile and grout for 2 hours. ick.
Lovely broken and totally ugly light fixture.
Everything in this bathroom was gross. Enough said.
Left side of pic is cleaned grout, right side is blue mold. How lovely.
HERE COME THE HELP!!!!
Here are pictures of the process. Remember, it usually gets worse before it gets better.
After texture, sanding, and a coat of primer...starting to look better.
Demo
Texturing one upstairs room.
Ladd got some of the dirtiest jobs.
Reading books after a long day working.
Mom, KC and Jackson, texturing and creating a closet.
Sadly, Quincy spent most of her Monday here on this couch with the ipad watching Dora or playing games. At least she was out of harms way.
Building a closet for the room.
Hated this room, light blue walls with dark blue trim...who chose that?
Laundry room, bracing the roof, taking everything down to the studs, re-insulating and new walls.
End of Day 1--happy to be with Grandma.
Day two sanding party. Don't be jealous you weren't covered with dry joint compound.
Dad elected not to join us for the sanding party, but who expected him too. He kept busy putting in a new window for the laundry room. I don't have a before picture.
During the sanding party.
Making a platform to put the washer and dryer on so they stay level.
Dad loves to have two things..drinks and snacks.
Priming the walls and ceiling.
This is what happens when you paint for 2 days straight. Way to go mom.
New flooring and prepping for paint.
Quincy relaxing on the lovesac. Wish I had her job.
Cream and yellow stained before door.
Lots and lots of painting to do.
Ever increasing junk pile
It seemed like it was 100 degrees in the laundry room when Ladd was working. Sweating bullets.
A reward for a 15 hour day of working.
So glad that Allison and Justin could watch Quincy during the day Tue-Thurs because I know she had a lot more fun with them.
I was totally sad when Dad and Mom left Friday morning, but I'm sure they were elated. I worked them hard for 4 days and we couldn't have done it with out them.
Just putting this in there to gross you out...this is the old tenants idea of cleaning.
And this is my idea of clean.
AFTER PHOTOS
As if you haven't had photo overload of something you probably don't care about anyway...here are some after pictures. They do a decent job of showing the finished product, but you really have to see it in person to see the transformation. 6 full work days, (me 2 weeks), a few dollars later :), and we no longer have to rent "hobbit holes" to BYU students. Hopefully now that it is nicer, they will keep it nicer. If not, you know I will charge them for cleaning.
Downstairs room
Downstairs living room (notice my Quincy watching Dora)
One upstairs room
upstairs kitchen
up bed
Upstairs bathroom.
last upstairs room
Front of house...I chose the wrong red. I was going for more of a dull brick red color, but with my pregnant brain, choose the wrong paint chip.
progress on the laundry room.
Downstairs kitchen
And the aftermath of what a renovation does to your own home. Boxes of supplies and cleaning items, and returns everywhere.
Overall we finished what I wanted to do... and here is the list of what we accomplished.
- textured, caulked, sanded, primed, and painted 4 bedrooms and replaced light fixtures
- built 3 closets, primed and painted
- cleaned the bathroom, painted walls, installed new floor, vanity and mirror
- had carpet cleaned
- took laundry room down to the studs, replaced the window, braced the roof, fixed switch boxes, re-insulated, re-sheet rocked, mudded, sanded, primed, painted, built platform
- replaced 5 windows downstairs
- painted front door, plus 5 other interior doors
- replaced blinds and took down curtains.
- took load to the dump
- mowed lawn, weeded garden bed, cleaned up both front and back
- and the list goes on with the little things.
During the last 5 months I haven't slept for more than 3 hours with out getting up to get a snack or use the restroom, or just waking up period. After this week was over I slept 7 hours straight. I think we were all exhausted but glad to have it done. Well mostly.
Thanks for all your hard work Ladd, Mom, Dad, Jackson, and KC.!
