Flip #4: Meet My Birth Mother’s House

Read the doozy of a back story here.

I found out about this home from our massage therapist and friend. She told me that she had a client whose son-in-law was looking to sell his mother’s home after her passing. I knew very few details about the house, but I was interested, and so I arranged to meet with him to view the home.

When I pulled up and got out of my car at the house I heard a male voice from behind me ask with surprise, “Courtney Doyle?” (my maiden name). I turned and the guy I was meeting was actually a boy I had gone to school with since kindergarten. I knew and remembered his mother actually. It was an odd coincidence, and one that I that I think brings our story full circle: the home that his mother lived in and was happy in for years would ultimately be passed on to my *mother* for a fresh beginning. Even though I didn’t know at the time that this would be the fate of the little house.

THE EXTERIOR

I didn’t happen to take a true before picture of the exterior before beginning demo. So this photo is after I had already begun, with my big rented industrial dumpster in the drive. Try to see past it!

I loved the exterior of the house. I just heard every one of you collectively go “say whaaaat?!” Skeptics. All of you. Skeptics. It may not look like much to you, but I could immediately envision the orange brick painted white with cedar shutters, and gray trim. I visualized a charming little white cottage. I was crushing hard. Stick with me kids, you’ll want to buy up all the ugliest houses because you have been bitten by the “BUT IT HAS POTENTIAL” bug.

Here is an example from Romabio’s Instagram page of a home of similar size, elevation, and era, with almost identical brick, transformed by limewash:

Look at that! They changed nothing other than paint, and it completely transformed the look and feel of the house. It went from awkward teenager in headgear to the moment in every 90’s and early 2000’s teenage rom-com where she rips her glasses off and is actually seriously cute underneath all of that.

The only thing that I didn’t like and couldn’t change about the exterior of this home was the location of the front door. It isn’t on the front of the house. It’s tucked within the porch, perpendicular to the street.

WHY THO? 😑

I knew that this would be a visual challenge and needed to think of a way to draw attention to the actual front door and decrease the dark, dismal abyss vibe that it gave off from the street. That porch looks like a place children get abducted. MUST REMEDY.

The roof would also need to be replaced. This was going to be a huge budget eater, and all of my numbers had to be modified to allow for this.

LIVING ROOM

View from the front door looking in:

The carpeting had been removed, and someone had begun scraping the popcorn ceilings in the house. I LOVED both of these things as it saved me from two labor intensive steps. SCORE.

There was a rectangle of sheetrock missing to the left of the front door that would need to be replaced and patched. There is a little coat closet visible here in the far right of this shot. I imagined this as the TV wall and began building my living room plans around it.

This is the view standing in the kitchen/dining looking into the living room. I knew immediately that I would remove part of this wall to open the two spaces up to one another.

Like so:

Can’t you imagine what a difference that will make?! (Spoiler: it makes a huge difference. Heart eyes.)

KITCHEN AND DINING

Remember, this is an 800 sq ft house, so there is no room for an official dining room! It’s more of an eat-in kitchen with the space under the chandelier serving as the dining space. That little spot would be perfect for a small table and chairs. I originally planned to keep the existing chandelier and just spray paint it white, but I wound up finding a fixture that I loved too much to pass up, and it would ultimately find its home here.

The overall layout of the kitchen was great. The cabinets (excluding the cabinet doors) were in good condition, and there was even a nice little pantry/broom closet.

My plans for the space involved removing the tile and replacing it with new luxury vinyl plank (waterproof!) flooring that would continue from the living room to create a more cohesive, seamless look. The goal with small spaces is to use any and all tricks to make them look as big as possible!

At first glance I planned to paint the existing cabinets and cabinet doors, but I would come to find that many of the cabinet doors were in poor shape. I would have a cabinet maker create new cabinet doors based off of my measurements. (Guys, this is the easiest way to remodel a kitchen if you, like most people, can’t afford a full gut job. It cost less than $800 for all new shaker style doors with hidden hinges for this kitchen, and it totally transformed and modernized it. Plus you don’t have to sand each door down before painting them- added mega bonus!)

I would paint the walls and the cabinets, get new hardware, install a pretty backsplash, new appliances, and a new kitchen sink and faucet.

I initially planned to keep the existing countertops. They were an inoffensive light colored faux butcher block vinyl, and I liked them. Alas, though, I found that the countertops and backsplash were one married piece, and the countertops were damaged beyond repair when removing the backsplash. Womp womp.

MASTER BEDROOM

The master bedroom is one of only two bedrooms in the house and is the slightly larger of the two. It has two good sized closets (not pictured, one of which is a nice, deep walk-in).

The popcorn ceiling had been scraped in the room already. I would remove and replace the carpet, paint the walls and trim, and replace the ceiling fan. Pretty simple and straightforward, just like I like it.

BEDROOM TWO

The laminate flooring was badly damaged in this room and would need to be removed. I would replace the flooring with carpet, paint the walls, ceiling and trim, and replace the ceiling fan. Easy as pie.

THE BATHROOM/LAUNDRY ROOM

Again, we’re in an 800 sq foot house here. The single bathroom and laundry space are combined.

Suffice it to say that everything in this room would go, including that fur down header over the vanity.

I would replace the vanity with something new and cute, install new faucets, and a new mirror. I would move the vanity light to the wall, above the mirror instead of keeping it mounted on the ceiling fur down.

I was sad to discover that the bathtub had a big hole in the floor and would need to be replaced. I would replace the tub and shower with a new all in one kit because the budget did not allow for the beautiful tile surround that I wanted. Boo. Can I please get an unlimited budget sometime?

I would pull up the linoleum flooring and do a fun retro black and white tile, paint the walls and trim, replace the bank of laundry cabinets with new ones as these were broken.

THE BACKYARD

It was a jungle in its former life.

I didn’t have big plans for the backyard. The fence was in good condition, and there was a nice slab of concrete for a patio table. Some mowing and weed whacking would take place, that was a given, but other than that plans were minimal.

I quickly made an offer on the house which he accepted, and we moved forward with the closing. I didn’t know at that time that I would wind up flipping the house for my birth mother. This wouldn’t be revealed to me for a few weeks. Once it was, I began to look at the house in a different light. I wanted to really personalize the home in a way that I haven’t been able to do with previous houses and likely wouldn’t be able to do again. I began to think of color schemes, and asked in an awkward first-date like conversation what her favorite color was. It was blue. Teals and turquoises and aquas, to be specific. I began to think of ways that I could give her a space of her very own that she would be proud of and that would reflect her personality. Of course, this required actually getting to *know* her personality on a deeper level, something I had previously been closed off to. I quickly realized that I would potentially be changing more than just a house here, more than just tile and paint. Maybe in this journey I would be changing the framework of two people’s hearts.

Stay tuned next week as I reveal the afters! I can’t wait to hear what you think of this cute little “cottage!”