Two Bedroom Apartment Renovation Project
Five years ago I took a big leap and bought a 130 year old, multi-family, fixer upper. I say it was a leap because at the time I had no real experience in renovating, no experience at all with rental properties, no one doing this alongside me sharing in the cost and the responsibility. Still this dream was so strong in my heart that I knew I had to go for it. And while I have shared quite a bit about the process and the renovations over on Instagram it felt like it was about time to finally get a blog post put together.
In this series of posts, I am sharing before and after photos of each of the three rental renovations. Next up, the 600 square foot apartment.
Walking in this kitchen initially it felt crowded, dirty, and really orange.
Exposing the 130 year old brick was one of my favorite changes in the entire house. There is just something about the character that exposed brick adds to any space. I also removed the cabinet on the side of the chimney to open up an otherwise tight space a bit more.
I knew right away that this upper cabinet needed to go. It felt bulky and really crowded the space, it also didn’t allow for a full size refrigerator to fit here. Also though, did you catch how gross the carpets were in the living area? I can literally still smell this.
What this side of the kitchen really needed was some additional counterspace and lower storage. I would still like to add some open shelves above this cabinet but its one of those projects that hasn’t quite happened yet. Overall, I added new appliances, vinyl plank flooring, cabinets and countertops in this kitchen.
On the other side of the kitchen there was an original built-in, desperately in need of some love and attention. You can’t see it from this photo but it was also missing one of the doors.
Since it was missing a door and I also absolutely loved the look of the wood on the interior of the cabinets, I went ahead and removed the doors. I removed the tile countertops and refinished the wood underneath, and of course updated the orange paint to something a little more neutral.
Can I get a little drumroll for what might have ended up being the most expensive room of the entire renovation? At least on a cost per square foot basis, it had to be. The layout of this bathroom didn’t work at all. It was impossible to even get a full “before” shot of this room because there was a shower stall literally sitting in the middle of the room. Like you had to walk sideways to get to the toilet, kind of middle of the room.
Obviously the layout needed to be swapped. I hated to get rid of the window and natural light in here but since the shower needed to be on the far wall in order to make this space functional, I had no choice but to close off the window. I would have loved to put a custom tiled shower in here but there were a lot of unexpected costs in this space due to the moving of plumbing, the window install, electrical issues, etc. (see note above on this being the most expensive project in the house). Since my budget was limited for any of the “fun stuff” I ended up installing a corner shower instead. I do think down the road I will go ahead and replace with a larger tiled shower but for now this has been a huge improvement on what was here.
As much as I am here for creativity and making your home yours, these hand-painted vines had to go. So did the outside awnings, and the ceiling fan, and the carpet, okay most of it had to go. Except for the windows, obviously the windows had to stay.
Removing the awning and letting all of the natural light pour through these leaded windows was definitely my favorite change in this space. Besides that this room needed a lot of paint, some new carpet, and new fixtures.
Do you have a renovation project on your mind but aren’t sure where to start?
Follow along @thealteredabode for more renovation inspiration.
