Apartment: Before Pictures & Plans

Since I’m up to my eyeballs in apartment renovations, you’ll be seeing quite a few posts of our progress leading up to the reveal. Please bear with me until I get to the fun/creative/decorating stuff…I can’t wait for that part myself! It’s the reward for the dirty work, isn’t it? I shared the first project yesterday {sanding floors} and here is the apartment “before-before” and after cleaning/’in progress’ but before paint. Got that? lol It’s just the before pictures before and after cleaning, before and after sanding hardwood floors.

Everything got a bath. E.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g! It went from disgusting to clean. As you can tell, someone was a heavy indoor cigarette smoker. Thankfully with washing/scrubbing everything, sanding floors and primer+paint, airing out and sitting empty for quite a while, the smell will diminish. I apologize in advance for these ‘before’ cleaning pictures. I did spare you worse ones, I promise!

Okay, ready?

Dirty kitchen ‘before’ and before cleaning…{gag…what is the brown stuff all over the walls? Tobacco? Cooking grease? Coke explosion? Maybe we don’t want to know!}

rental kitchen before

All cleaned up and in progress…ready to move forward

  • paint ceiling {done!}
  • paint walls
  • paint trim
  • paint cabinets
  • redo countertop
  • storage and organizing solutions
  • thrifty furnishings
  • decorate!

There’s a paint fest going on! Envious, aren’t ya?

clean kitchen before

Pantry under the stairs – before

apartment pantry

Apartment before then ‘after’ cleaned/sanded…

wall 1

apartment living room entryway before

living room before

wall 2

living room before

apartment makeover - before

wall 3 – dirty before

apartment living room before

in progress…

apartment before

{You just turned 360 degrees and saw the entire first floor!}

Stairs are so narrow with a bend…we’ll have to get creative with upstairs furniture/getting furniture up!

before:

apartment stairs before

  • clean (done as of yesterday)
  • sanded (done as of yesterday)
  • stain stair treads
  • fun paint technique on the risers
  • paint trim and ceiling
  • patch ceiling/trim

Someone obviously wasn’t too careful with moving furniture out {it’s a super tight squeeze and odd angle for furniture} and tore off the trim and part of the ceiling on the way down…uh oh!

trim before

I love the vintage light fixture hanging in the hallway upstairs…

vintage light fixture

  • patch and paint ceiling
  • fun idea for the small wall space coming up!

Bathroom needs a complete overhaul, but we’ll see what’s in the budget. Hate.hate.hate the faux tile walls and yellowed tub surround. Actually, I hate it all! I may be able to get away with a new floor, vanity and lighting but that’s probably all we can manage financially for right now. Those walls and tub surround have to stay for now. Wahhhh!

  • new flooring
  • new baseboard trim
  • new vanity
  • new mirror/medicine cabinet
  • storage solutions
  • new lighting
  • paint
  • caulking
  • decorating!

This bathroom is so tiny, the sink/vanity only leaves a small entrance…

apartment bathroom before makeover

Bedroom before…

apartment bedroom before

who paints half a room and walks away?

apartment bedroom before

After will turn this small room into 3 areas:

  • office/study area
  • bedroom for one
  • dressing room

Improving with every little bit of TLC and elbow grease. Ah, progress. Still a ways to go, but getting started is always the tough part for me and we’ve passed that goal! 😉
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WOW! Powder Room Before and After Makeover

Meet: Aimee {and Brian} from

Sixteen Fourteen blog

The powder room before was outdated…

striped wallpaper half bathroom

Walls: Cream wallpaper with red and navy stripes
Floors: Faux-wood laminate
Vanity: Large, dark wood vanity with cream sink.
There was also a a soffit with a can downlight which hung over the sink.

DIY demo…

powder room demo

Down to the studs…

powder room makeover

The reveal…

powder room after

Love all of that luscious trim work, don’t you?

Floors: Brazillian Cherry hardwood from K&K Floors
Paint: Ralph Lauren Pale Gray
Sink and Toilet:  Lowe’s {Kohler}
Mirror and Lighting:  Restoration Hardware

Say “hi” to Aimee and see more awesome details at Sixteen Fourteen – Powder Room Reveal.

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A Bathroom Reveal

Meet: Gemma from

The Sweetest Digs

She shares our love of thrift shop hunting, interior design and DIY. The Sweetest Digs is a blog about Gemma’s adventures in transforming her first house from boring to beautiful on a shoestring budget.

Gemma’s bathroom before was pretty non-descript, totally storage-deprived with a danky old tub.

Goodbye boring beige bathroom. Hello classic, bright, and fresh. She’s a whole new woman.

Love the white with beautiful shower curtain and spa blue glass tile accent.

Gorgeous floating vanity/sink…

Let’s throw in a little side-by-side comparison for good measure. She’s come a long way!

Budget breakdown {goal was under $5k}…

  • tile (marble, subway tile, accent glass tile): $601.23 (originally $900, but we returned some unused tile)
  • bathtub and fan: $364.45
  • accessories (shower rod, towel bar, shower curtain, toilet paper holder, etc): $155.46
  • drywall: $115.98
  • mirror: $30
  • vanity (wood, track system, legs, handles): $176.50
  • vanity sink: $100
  • paint: $64.85
  • supplies (tiling supplies, plumbing, trim, tools, etc): $900.26
  • gift card purchased for friend who helped out with plumbing: $100

Grand total: $2608.73!!!

And after using some wedding gift cards, actual out of our pocket expense was only $1527.67. Not bad for a complete bathroom renovation!

Want to see more awesome DIY from Gemma? Pop over to The Sweetest Digs and introduce yourself!
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