I had some extra time on my hands. The town I work in, which is also my hometown, was in need of quality rental homes. I decided to try my hand at a remodel. “It will be a learning experience,” I thought, “won’t take more than a couple of months,” I said. Well, I was partially right…..

This lovely old home needed some TLC. I had it “examined” and was told it has a solid foundation and great “bones” . The price was right. We closed on the home and I got to work right away.

The first thing I did was clean up the outside. Then I moved inside and began taking down wallpaper. So many different types of wallpaper. It was in almost every room. It required a steamer and a lot of patience. During this process, I listened to many episodes of This American Life , StartUp , and The Tim Ferriss Show . It was tedious and it took forever.

After all the wallpaper came down, the contractors got to work skimming the walls, making repairs, updating electric and plumbing. Next, I went to work pulling up carpet. I found old, but salvageable hard wood underneath. There were thousands of carpet tacks to pull up. I went through many hours of podcasts and audiobooks. One of my favorite books from that time was When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi.

Next, the kitchen & bathroom were refinished, the hardwood floors redone, and the walls painted. I took down all doors down, removed and refinished hardware, repainted the doors, and put it all back together. The original glass doorknobs were very pretty. I painted walls & trim, and scrubbed down everything else.

Nearly one year after the project began, the house was rented to a wonderful family who lives in the home to this day.  As expected, it took more time, money, and effort than what was budgeted, but I learned a lot and I may do it again someday.♥