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Life On Virginia Street

Life On Virginia Street

DIY . Home Decor . Travel . Style . Life

The Rental House Before & Progress

Decorating Ideas, Tips and Trends, Rental Properties

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Our rental house is almost renovated and I am sharing the before pictures and the progress so far.

I partnered with Mannington and Nebraska Furniture Mart on this project. Although I was not compensated, some of the product and installation costs were provided to me. 

It’s hard to believe, but the rental house we bought at the end of March is finally done! This was our biggest “project” to date and we couldn’t be happier with the end result. And, as of last week, we have a signed two-year lease on the property with some amazing renters! Today I’m going to be sharing all the before photos of the home along with some of my selections, and then tomorrow will be the big reveal day!

This home offered a bunch of “firsts” for us. It was our first “For Sale By Owner” purchase and it was the first time we’ve had to replace everything. That included the carpets, hard flooring, light fixtures, paint (walls and ceiling) and appliances among other items. Since this was our third rental purchase with nearly an identical floor plan, we had better more realistic expectations going into it. But, there’s always a surprise or two along the way!

Following are the photos from Zillow, and how the home looked when Kurtis and our friend Nick first looked at their sale property. Please note that these photos were after the original owner had moved out several months prior and were from an estate sale she was hosting.

Furniture and items everywhere in a house before the renovation.

A dining room table with lots of plates on it.

A spare room filled with junk items.

A bedroom with an old bed and items on the bed.

Pictures, and exercise bike, a vacuum, and a tv in the spare room.

The guys thought it simply needed some minor touch-ups and maybe some fresh paint and it would be good to go.

Once we took possession of the home, we could more closely evaluate what could stay and what could go. Turns out nearly everything had to go. The home is 17 years old and only had one owner. The carpets, the walls and the ceilings were all badly stained and the whole home was in desperate need of a deep cleaning. Likely due to the fact that it had been vacant for a few months and from the estate sale traffic. The appliances were all original as well, and were definitely starting to look outdated. So, in order to get the rent we wanted, we knew it was essentially a gut job.

Immediately we knew the front door would need fresh paint to get rid of the streaky brick red paint color.

The dark red door of the house.

It’s really hard to tell in wide-angle shots like this, but the walls were a mid-tone lavender gray color and were very dirty (especially along the ceilings, outlets, and where items were hung on the wall). In the living room, you can see what also looks like smoke stains above the gas fireplace.

Lavender grey walls in the house, with a ceiling fan.

White cupboards, in the kitchen.

The dining room was previously carpeted and heavily soiled. Again, some of which was probably from the estate sale and from several months of sitting vacant.

Soiled carpets in the house.

The linoleum in the bathrooms wasn’t in great shape either.

Badly worn linoleum in the bathroom.

The master bathroom had peeling floral wallpaper and needed some deep cleaning. We also had to get rid of all the pink in order to appeal to a wider tenant-base.

Peeling floral wallpaper in the bedroom.

A pinky peachy bathroom.

The light fixtures throughout were original to the home, very outdated and in some cases, missing entirely.

Light fixtures with cobwebs.

The entrance coming in from the garage needed updating and a good cleaning from all the heavy traffic.

Dirty carpet and flooring.

I spoke with my rep at Mannington about good options for a rental. We knew hardwood probably wasn’t the best route so she steered me towards the Adura Max product. It gave me the look of hardwood that I love, but it’s waterproof, noise-proof and pretty much life-proof. Pretty much everything that’s perfect for a rental house! I headed to Nebraska Furniture Mart to see the full line in person. We had used Nebraska Furniture Mart for the hardwood floors at our last house and we were so pleased with the process and installed product that we knew they were the place to talk to again.

Adura Max Mannington flooring options.

Everyone at Nebraska Furniture Mart was so helpful and allowed me lay out combination after combination on their floors to see all of the possibilities I was considering. A big shout out to Jordan Frum in carpet and Brandon Stufft in hard surfaces for being so patient with me and my indecisiveness! The problem was that I thought virtually every sample would have turned out so well, but again, I had to remember to pick a combination that would appeal to the masses.

Picking the flooring from the samples.

Jordan recommended a line called Dream Weaver for the carpeting in the Cosmopolitan line. The price point is great and he said it would be durable enough for a rental but still look great. As you can see in the image below, it has a lot of great features. And it’s also so soft and plush!

Dream weaver carpet for the house.

Looking at the flooring with the carpet to match it up.

They had so many beautiful flooring options that I loved. But I had to make sure to pick something that would appeal to the masses. After looking at sample after sample of potential flooring combinations, we ultimately settled on the following combination.

Matching the wood floor with the carpet.

The Dream Weaver carpet for the main living areas, the luxury vinyl sheet in the Hive Pollen Pattern for the bathrooms and laundry closet, and the Adura Max in Dockside Sand. Guys, it all looks so good together! I’ll share even more info about these amazing products tomorrow when I can show them to you installed in the rental. It looks like a new home now!

The tiles for the floor in a neutral color.

Tomorrow I’ll be sharing the full reveal that includes all the new flooring options, paint colors, light fixtures, appliance and more!

If you would like to follow along on more of my home decor, DIY, lifestyle, travel and other posts, I’d love to have you follow me on any of the following:

Pinterest / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / Google+

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June 15, 2017 · 5 Comments

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Comments

  1. ashley allen says

    June 15, 2017 at 8:27 am

    I love the Audra Max it is so gorgeous! Cannot wait to see the end result!

    Reply
  2. beth ann says

    June 15, 2017 at 9:21 am

    I’ll be curious how you rate the Dreamweaver product over the next 6 months-to-a-year. We put it in our home when we built 4 years ago and it is TERRIBLE . We have had problems after just 6 months. The installers, the company we ordered it from and a Rep from the manufacture come out to look at it – they have all agreed it looks horrible and has worn poorly, but everyone points fingers to someone else and no one will fix it. It has seriously been one of the most frustrating experiences.

    Reply
  3. Marty Oravetz says

    June 15, 2017 at 12:21 pm

    These are all great choices. Can’t wait to see the reveal.

    Reply
  4. Erin says

    December 27, 2018 at 9:42 pm

    I am about to do a complete redo on a townhouse flip and the choices
    You have for the flooring totally fit my color scheme/design theme. I am in love with the hive pollen pattern flooring and planned on using the luxury vinyl for the bathroom so this would be perfect- which color did you use? I see it comes in 3 color choices. Thanks!

    Reply
  5. Cindy says

    June 28, 2019 at 9:34 pm

    I love your choices and would put it all in my own home.

    Reply

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