Following the Miller, the second project happened during my Junior and Senior summers of High school. This story is actually best told through the eyes of my sister, for a school assignment shortly following the project. Word for word, enjoy:

Double Summer Job

About 3 years ago (1995) my parents approached Jordan and I to talk about a summer job.

They brought us to a house and showed us around. We were both trying to figure out what the job actually was.

They finally explained to us what we would be doing. I could see for myself that the house needed a lot of work. I could hardly breathe just standing there, due to the smell of the old place.

Jordan and I decided to buy the house after figuring out what most of the expenses and other financial situations would be. It was a lot more complicated than just this, but that would take a lot of explaining.

***Yup that’s my mom there, arms crossed, surely thinking “Am I really going to do this again?”

We finally started to gut the entire house. Mostly to get rid of the smell which was in the old ladies couches, carpet, and clothing.

This was way too much work for just the two of us. My parents helped us out and we hired several friends and classmates.

Adam and Jenny Kramer, Jordan, and I had to take down all of the old rotten wallpaper. There were about 15 layers on every wall and ceiling. Some of it had been on there since 1887 when the house was built.

The four of us also had to strip the varnish off of all of the doors so that way they could be redone. All of the doors were huge with carvings and design, so it took along time to strip all of them.

The whole house had carved woodwork as the trim. It all had to be sanded and filled over and over for the paint.

It took us about one whole summer to get the whole place gutted, resided, plumbed, and heated. We thought that it would only take one summer to finish the whole thing from start to finish. I guess that when you leave your work for vacation and basketball camps, projects take much longer than planned.

The next summer we got back at it again. I was still tired of working from the summer before. Luckily the second summer was easier. This was the rebuilding portion of the project.

We started out by rewiring the whole house. I learned a lot about electricity. When all of the wiring was done we sheet rocked almost the entire house and then mudded all of the cracks and corners.

We definitely built our muscles up when we had to sand down every wall after the mud dried.

It was getting close to start the wallpapering. We started this by figuring out all of the colors. It takes a lot of time to figure out what kind of wallpaper is going to go into every room, in order to match the carpets, and then figuring out how much to buy. Jordan and I let my mom figure this out.

Every wall in the whole house had to be wallpapered. I did one-half of the hanging and my mom did the other one-half. Jordan did all of the cutting, pasting, and running around for supplies. She was our gopher and we really enjoyed it.

Wallpapering is very simple. I was very glad that I learned to do this, because when I buy a house, when I get older, it will be very easy for me to redesign it.

The carpet installers moved in after we were done with the wallpaper. It took about two weeks for them to carpet the whole house. Every floor had to be covered.

It came to a point where we were finally done. We put the house on the market in October. It isn’t sold yet, but hopefully it will be soon. This is something that I will never do again. That is probably the most important thing that I learned throughout the two-summer project. I learned many building skills, designing, financial, dealing with business people, city fathers, and numerous items that I will appreciate when I am an adult.

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I’m asked often how I learned my home improvement skills. I can chalk my style and taste up as hereditary I think??? I didn’t really take any design classes, so I’ll thank DNA for my ability to visualize. I do however owe my ability to wire a light, change a faucet and drywall to 2 influential projects during my teen years.

The first being what my family called The Miller. My parents purchased the building in 1992, yes way back so don’t judge the pictures. The original 1908 plans of The Miller included fifty-six hotel rooms plus private offices. Also it had a bar, kitchen, lobby, ladies lounge, salesman lounge, and laundry and furnace room. It was fireproof and totally modern for its time.

Here’s what the exterior looked like:

The building was always a little erry, I remember as a child running past it quickly, fearing who might be lurking inside. The condition did not deter my parents; my mother had grand plans for this building. My mothers love for math and my fathers mechanical inclinations definitely helped as they undertook this project of designing and changing the hotel into apartment living.

Gutting began, with sledge hammer in hands I remember tearing through the lathing and multiple layers of wallpaper. Walls where moved and rebuilt as 56 rooms became 17 apartments. The project took almost 3 years, to make something neglected into a beautiful apartment building. There was a lot of work if statistics thrill you, 350 knobs for cupboard doors, all installed by us children. Count the doors, 100 oak doors, 81 closet doors with handles. What I didn’t mention before is The Miller is located in a small town, so the closet Menard’s at the time was a good 50 minutes away. I recall going to movies on the weekend as a family but making sure we left early enough to head into Menard’s to fill the truck with goodies for the hotel.

It was a family job, and the efforts were soon realized. This had been a longtime dream of my mother, to refurbish and old home which turned out to be a home with 15 apartments. Gee, I wonder where I get it from?

Later my parents were honored for their work in renovating the Miller Hotel at the Main Street Awards at the State Historical Building in Des Moines. They received the first place award for “Best Adaptive Re-Use Of A Building” from the Governor at the time.

Jumping to present time, the family managed the property until just last year allowing us children to learn the ropes of property management.

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I’m a little OCD, I don’t like clutter and I like everything to be nice and neat and well, perfect.  So FREE is a word that I like but also find a little scary.   If it’s free, why didn’t they want it, do I really want it cluttering up my pad?

It was early Saturday morning and my husband Brad had just pulled out of the driveway to head into town.  He’s quickly catching on to the things that I like and spotted a Patio set, glass and table and chairs for 6.  He comes back to tell me what he’s found and soon we find ourselves, me in my p.j. hauling the chairs and table back to our house.  4 trips later it’s sitting on the back porch and I’m working on making it perfect for our house.

BEFORE:

Do you remember this Before and After project:

It was Free as well, I just applied some paint.  It didn’t really go with our house and I certainly wasn’t attached to it so Craiglist here I come.  On the same day I scored $200 for this old set.  I set straight out for Home Depot and purchased these new cushions.

Here’s the after:

Now I’m on the lookout for the perfect umbrella.

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Staging outside is just as important as staging inside your house.  Step back, way back, across the street if necessary and look at it with a blind eye.  If it helps take a picture and then review your first impression.  Several of the aspects that help the first impression can be done with a little elbow grease.  Today’s DIY is one them.

I feel like I just purchased these Andorak Chairs, but when I think about it they have been sitting in the sun for two full summers.  They look pretty worn out and dull.  I also happen to have plenty of stain left from my chaise project so this little touch was virtually pennies.

Here’s what my chairs look like before I got started.

Staining is a pretty easy project and takes just a few supplies.

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A vintage velvet chaise seemed like the perfect first attempt at upholstery.   The previous owner had the same intentions but never got around to completing it.  Therefore this wonderful project became my opportunity when the powers that be (Craigslist) landed it on my desktop early Sunday morning several months ago.  With a little bartering with my husband we were off across town in his truck to pick up my new project.

On first inspection it was perfect for my first upholstery project and thought I could get it done over the weekend.  I got right to it, when on my hands and during ripping down I realized that it might be more than I had bargained for.  You see I choose Industrial Arts over Home Ec.   As soon as I ripped old fabric off realized I was dealing with old springs… another skill to add to my list and was trying to figure out how I would recover this huge thing.  It was nothing like the seat covers I can recover in a few minutes.

The bottom of the frame is pretty shaky and needed some new support and the springs needed some serious attention.  I used one of my favorite paint and varnish removers Citrisstrip from Home Depot, to remove the old varnish.  Followed it up with some delegate sanding before I got to putting my project back together.

The final finishing piece took months, 13 to be exact, I moved this thing around the garage and finally done to my office in hopes it would help me get it done faster.  Winder went by and I finally decided this weekend to get it done.

I’m not usually very indecisive but choosing the new fabric for my chaise called for several trips to the fabric store.  I was determined this weekend however to pick one out, put it on and be done with it.  I can now say the chaise is now fully upholstered and is looking great. I love it – but must let it go – any takers?

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It’s a standing joke amongst my husband and I that his Town House was his wedding gift to me.  He gave me the keys and the landlord responsibilities the minute he found the opportunity.  We’ve been renting this 2 bedroom, 1 bath end unit with a double garage for a few years now and recently come to terms with it’s value and we are ready to rip the band-aid off and move on.

It was a quick decision and with spring apon us and the tax credit nearing it’s end I wanted to get it on the market before the following weekend with a budget of $2000.  It’s amazing how much you can do with $2000 when getting your home ready for the market.

It’s always difficult as a home owner to know if they will see that investment back, it’s important to consider why you would make the changes.  In my case this unit will sit empty on the market until I find a buyer so I want my unit to be the most attractive unit.  I want it to be the next unit sold in the complex, not the 8th.

The unit was built in the nineties and my husband, bachelor at the time had zero interest in making updates?!?!  Since this wasn’t my first rodeo I new exactly where to spend my dollars to get the most bang.

Budget and Before and Afters as follows:

$200:  8 gallons of paint (entire unit)

$340:  New light fixtures out with the gold in with the silver

$1300 New Carpet through out.

$120 Misc. Home Depot/Supplies

I wanted my budget to have room to do something “special” or something that would make our unit stand out from the others.  With $300 I was able to install a beautiful modern back splash in the kitchen tying everything together.

These changes have made our unit much more appealing to the market and turn key for the first time home buyer.

Total Cost:  $1970

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I “blame” Etsy and this wonderful shop called PopWall for this weekends project.

I painted the ceiling to match the walls using Sherwin Williams Library Pewter helping create a warmer feeling while visually increasing the ceiling height.

All while still delaying my chaise project, I keep telling myself I’ll finish this up when spring hits.

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Investing in a rehab home is an income producing opportunity I pursue in my free time.  It can be a tough job; if you’re interested in learning first you need to understand one question “What makes a good real estate investment?”

The answer isn’t necessarily simple – buy low and sell high.  It’s a simple answer, if you can do this it’s an investment.

Determining what makes a good real estate investment are the factors that allow you to by the home at a lower price and then sell it at a higher price.

One of the best factors in allowing you to buy a home at a lower price is a bad economy.  We’re witnessing this today as people are facing foreclosures and selling their homes as a short sale.

A second factor is condition of the property.  If the home needs a new roof, plumbing, electric, paint, carpet, updated kitchens and bathrooms it’s very possible these items are unattractive and can drive the price of the property down.

Remember though, in order to realize a profit you need to sell it at a high price than your investment.

I usually choose to rehab a home by putting in money through new paint, carpet, and landscaping.  These help me create value in the home many times over the cost of painting, carpeting, or landscaping.  I also suggest working with an agent familiar with proper staging to make your home the most attractive to buyers.

In a real estate market up or down, investing is an exciting and profitable venture if done correctly.  Remember buy low and sell high.

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