When you find your perfect house but it's still adiamond in the rough..

[lynn]

How do you know where to start? We find the most perfect 5bdrm home on 5 acres with a pool. It is a foreclosure and needs a lot of work. mostly pressure washing, steam cleaning, patch work and paint and some replacements of bathrooms and a stove. The foyers is hard wood and perfect, just what I dreamed of having some day. The bedrooms are arranged exactly how I wanted them with a princes purple/pink room. The pool needs a liner and pump. Okay now to stop rambling....WHERE DO YOU START. We would live in our old house and not sell it until the other is ready so we won't be living there during the work. Any ideas, suggestions or resources welcome.

[Jennifer in MI]

We did this last September! We found the perfect four bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 2800 sq. ft. house with a finished basement on a lot that is easily three times the average lot size for our town. Ours needed the kind of work yours will - wall repair, paint, new floors, etc.

We decided to hire someone to do the first floor living area first. We had carpet ripped out, hardwood put in (800 sq. ft!), hardwood that was already in sanded and finished, countertops replaced, wallpaper torn down, paint, lighting replaced, tilework done in the entryway and a new toilet and pedestal sink in the 1/2 bath. All that was done in a week!!! We moved in at that point.

We decided to start there because I wanted the main living space to be presentable and in our taste. The bedrooms were still wallpapered and had awful light fixtures, but the hardwood floors were in great condition. We decided to do the work up there ourselves. I spent about a month on the full bath taking down wallpaper, repairing the walls, repainting, taking out shower doors, etc. We still have to have the lighting, countertop, sink and toilet replaced. But, it's a start!

I just started taking down the wallpaper in what will be my dd's room. (She still sleeps with us.) I ended up taking down a bunch of layers of paint with it! Oops! I had our contractor over to take a look and, sure enough, it's full of lead. So, I have had to hire him to help take care of it. So much for do-it-yourself!!

So, I guess, to figure out what to do first, decide what's most important to you - living space? Kitchen? Bedrooms? Play area for the kids? Then, do it! Figure out what you wouldn't mind doing after you move in - it's inconvenient to move out of a bedroom while you re-do it - can you live with that? Or would you just rather do it before you move in?

I say go for the house! The cosmetic things are quite easy to take care of - especially if you are do-it-yourselfers!

[Ottakee]

Sounds wonderful. We wouldn't need 5 bedrooms but the 5 acres would be a dream.

I would start with the bathrooms and kitchen. Make sure the electrical and plumbing are up to code--well, in the whole house for safety. Those are the 2 hardest rooms to live without while remodeling. Then you could move in and do room by room.

If though you don't have to move in until it is all done, that would be ideal so that you can work faster and not worry about all of your stuff in the way.

You might want to look at Don Aslett's book, How To Make Your House Do the Housework for ideas on how to plan for EASY cleaning and upkeep.

[Quiver0f10]

Sounds wonderful! I agree, start in the bathrooms and then kitchen. To me, those would be top priority. Have fun!

[Lisa in Jax]

I agree -- I'd do bathrooms/kitchen first, then do the wall repairs, then do the painting, then clean/redo floors, then the pool/outside.

Congratulations on finding your dream home!

[Tracey in TX]

was the proverbial diamond in the rough. 4000sq ft acros street from golf course, pool, and park (with soccer fields :)). Unfortunately it required much TLC and some major renovations. It's taken 4 years to make it "ours", and we still have some additional work.

We began with kitchen--the heart of our home. Remodeled, updated, and enlarged. Next was floor replacement from tile to hard wood. Expanded upstairs with additional bedrooms and bath. We still need to add an office (DH works from home when in town--and it's in our bedroom. UGH); and would like a pool. Both are on the drawing board, but all in good time...

Determine what is your priority and begin there. Also, what is the focal point of home? That is also a good place to start.

Good luck and congrats!

[mcconnellboys]

Start at the top and from the inside, then work your way out and down. If there are any internal things such as wiring or plumbing problems that need to be taken care of, or heating/air conditioning, fireplace work, roof work, etc., then do those things first as they might require tearing up walls or ceilings, result in leakage that would damage floors, etc.

Once those are squared away, then I'd do any bath and kitchen renovations for the same reasons. Traipsing in and out with stuff to be removed and brought in might cause some dinging of walls, doors, floors, etc. And any leakages might also cause problems....

Once those sorts of things are squared away, I'd start upstairs (if there is one) and do ceilings and lighting, then walls, windows, doors, baseboards, then floors - patching first or otherwise repairing, then repainting or refinishing, steam cleaning, etc. Same for the downstairs.

Then I'd do the outdoor things when it's warmer and nicer outside and chances of spring rains that will splash back up on the house are somewhat over, etc. It may have to be a certain temperature before your pool liner can be replaced, too, although you probably want to get it done as early in spring as possible, because once you fill the pool it will take it a while to warm up for you.

What fun! We've just redone a lot of our house over the last couple of years and need to do the front porch and walk this summer. I like doing house changes! You'll get to pick your own paint colors if you want to change and make the house feel like a custom fit for you.

Good luck,

Regena

[JABarney]

I suggest refinishing any hardwood floors first because of the dust produced and drying time. It is great if you do not have to move in before doing them. You do not have to move any furniture and cleanup is so much easier. You can always put down lots of plasic later when you are painting.
Four years ago we purchashed an old colonial circ 1871, 5 acres, inground pool, 5-6 bedrooms which needed a LOT of work including a new liner for the pool. (Liners can be very expensive, our total pool renovations including new decking have come close to 12k!) Had we known before hand we might have filled it in with dirt but now we are glad to have it!!
The beautiful parkay floors with mahogany inlay my husband refinished, while we were newly moved in. So, it can be done, but its not easy and required lots of plastic to keep the dust and then the poly fumes contained. But we are big do it yourselfers and that has saved us a lot of money. We also first took care of electrical issues, and then the childrens room and the main bathroom. The rest we have been doing over time. We have not done the kitchen yet, because that is the biggest expense, even more than the pool. We want to do it right the first time so we are saving. We still have many projects to go including landscaping, but it feels good to look at how far we have come in four years. We never could have afforded our home had it come with all the needed improvements already done. Good luck, and remember when you find those unexpected problems - becauese you will - and when you question your sanity at the time of purchase - because you will, try to imagine your home in a few years and smile! It can be so much fun!

[Sharon in SC]

My, my. I'm just encouraged to hear that we are not alone in doing what we're doing! :-} Our venture started a year and a half ago and we're not through. We're doing exactly what you're looking at doing. We lived in our old house while we did the worst of the work at the new. We did begin residing in our new home back in Sept and have, since the start of this year, shifted gears to get the old house ready for the market.

We're doing 99% of the work ourselves. We prioritized according to need - first thing we did was have the bubbled ceilings scraped and painted. (The one thing we hired out though we did go back and do a bonus room later). From there, all the flooring came up (carpet, layers of linoleum, etc) to include the subflooring (most unexpectedly!). One thing led to another. Be prepared for unexpected findings that, for us, created a domino effect. For instance, pressboard for subflooring led to one kitchen and 3 bathrooms being gutted. ;-P In any case, keep a running list and you'll find that the things that hinge on another will often be your driver decision maker.

Have fun! :-D
Sharon