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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Supporting Habitat for Humanity {summer contest} – One Project Closer’s The Better Half

Supporting Habitat for Humanity

I apologize! I’ve been so busy with working on the demo in the dirty dinky apartment that I’m a little behind in sharing updates on the Before and After Series – Habitat for Humanity going on at One Project Closer’s The Better Half. Forgive me? Awe, c’mon – I’m covered in grime here and so sore! So here are some updates:

If you haven’t already, you’ll want to check out the winner chosen by Traci from Beneath My Heart:

Bathroom Transformation by Tenth Avenue South

bathroom makeover

The winner chosen by Michelle at Ten June Blog:

Rustic Country Kitchen Makeover from Buckets of Burlap

farmhouse kitchen

and finally, be on the look out! This week’s winner will be chosen by Rhoda at Southern Hospitality.

southern hospitality

There’s still time! I’ll be judging the week of August 19th and I want to see your before and after projects there!

How can YOU help and win? Submit your pictures and a before/after story from a home improvement project you worked (no contracted jobs) sometime in the past year. Every week of the summer until September 21, a winner is selected and their story is published online. Each winner gets a $50 gift card to either Lowes, Home Depot, or Amazon, and a donation of $100 to Habitat for Humanity in the winner’s honor! There’s more! At the end of the Summer, the best submission, as voted on by readers, wins a bonus $150 gift card to one of the three stores above. You can enter your home improvement project and see who’s hosting each week HERE.
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Special Announcement and Our Next DIY Challenge

I can’t wait any more to share the news!

definition of true value

For the past two years, I’ve been honored and super excited to be a part of the True Value DIY Blog Squad. We’ve completed some fun True Value DIY projects in the past.

TRUE VALUE 2012 DIY BLOG SQUAD

We were so surprised when we were asked to participate again in 2012 and there may have been some big smiles and high fives. We humbly accepted because of this…

(scraping and painting the exterior is in the works)

apartment exterior

Side note: True Value Blog Squad is bittersweet for me. Niski was a part of our team that first year and I just miss her soooo much. 🙁

True Value DIY Blog Squad

We’ll have to motivate lazy Lalka to be a part of the team this year. 

Our plans include giving a tiny fixer upper one bedroom apartment (we’re the owners) a little fixing up and some cosmetic surgery here and there. We’re up for the challenge of making the most of this small space on a small budget and can’t wait to share the transformation with you.

Inside is teeny tiny and dingy/dirty. Previous tenant was there for years and years and it’s now been empty for quite a few years. It’s pretty dirty and run down. It only has 4 rooms – a small combined living room, kitchen, dining area

first floor apartment before

and a small bedroom and bathroom upstairs.

apartment second floor before

Do you see past the dirt to the potential? It’s darling! The goal is a fresh and pretty transformation with a little DIY magic in this cozy little home.

We’ll be sharing some of the DIY home improvement projects very soon along with some awesome giveaways! Here are the ways you can stay up-to-date with the entire True Value Blog Squad so you don’t miss a thing:

Any ideas for that little apartment (besides lots of cleaning and painting)? I can’t wait to get started on redoing those hardwood floors too. Love the wainscoting and those little curved stairs. If you had a completely clean slate with a big green light and super small budget, where would you start?

We were chosen by True Value to be one of the members of the 2012 DIY Squad. I have been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY projects. However, the thoughts and opinions expressed are completely honest and my own. I have not been paid to publish positive comments and no one has twisted my arm to participate. 

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