Befores and Afters: House 2 is ready to sell, and we are ready to roll!

I wasn’t going to put all our home improvement photos on the blog because they don’t have anything to do with RV travel or living. But…

1. I’m stinkin’ proud of what we did, even though I whined nearly constantly about having to do it, and
2. It’s all part of Owning Less. Once this house is sold, we will own no property other than what we’re rolling around in, and both the BFT and The Toad are paid for.

(Confused about why we’re selling another house? That story is here, with a little more here, plus some NSFW ranting about it here.)

It took us

• 7 weeks (out of a planned 4, and a hopeful 2)
• more than 60 trips to big box and locally-owned home improvement/hardware stores
• help from nearly a dozen friends who loaned us tools, garage space, sweat equity, and/or their grown sons who were eager to work for some summer cash (all three former Boy Scouts, and friends to our boys when we lived here)
• around $10,000
• and I don’t even know how many hours of our own labor. A million, maybe. We didn’t take many days off.

Witness the transformation of our 1912 Craftsman-style bungalow. She’s beautiful, and awaiting new owners to enjoy not just her charms, but also the best neighborhood we’ve ever lived in — and we’re a retired military family, so there’ve been lots.

Befores are on the left; afters on the right.

Full list of what we did:

• Replaced cedar shingles on west side of house
• Had shingles painted on all 4 sides, plus trim, front porch, and front door
• Refurbished back deck, front porch, and garage doors
• Replaced rotting framing on 3 windows and above garage doors
• Repainted garage interior, and several ceilings inside house
• Had kitchen flooring replaced
• Repaired HVAC disconnect switch
• Refreshed mulch beds on 3 sides of house
• Repaired cracks in plaster walls in living and dining rooms
• Fixed like a hundred other pesky small things, like busted outlet covers, cabinet door hardware, window screens, etc., etc., etc.

Sacrifices to the cause:

• 1 canopy
• 1 pair of sneakers
• 2 pairs of jeans
• 1 pair of fitness capris
• 4 t-shirts
• 1 hoodie

Also, a bird pooped on me on Mother’s Day, and our dog died.

I could have done with a little. less. character building.

Interested in the house? Of course you are. At the very least, we know you want to see the asking price because everybody wants to know the asking price, so visit our real estate listing here. (The virtual tour wasn’t available as of this posting, so check back again soon if you want to see photos of the interior.)

Tomorrow, we roll. First stop: Northern Virginia for a few days, to visit with Air Force, Marine, and Navy friends from prior duty stations. After that, it’s westward ho, with a stop in Chicago on Friday to pick up our younger son for the remainder of our summer travels!

Other posts on this topic:

1. How it all started
2. Getting things started
3. Bye, Lola.
4. Coping Inappropriately