[Ikeafreak]

I feel like such a dimwit! I completely forgot that my husband and I installed an Ikea kitchenlast summer in our rental property just before we sold it. And I have some great before and afters.

First, let me say that this rowhome in Baltimore is TINY. 3 floorswith 800 total square feet, and that's being generous. We hadvery good luck withtenants for about7 years and then last summer,thelastset of rentersgot transferred and moved out 2 months before the end of their lease.Fortunately, their new company bought them out of the lease,so we had8 weeks toget the place ready to sell without havingto worry about the mortgage. Money from the sale is paying for the new addition to our current home.

My husband and I lived there for 10 months right after we got married until the walls started closing in on me. Here's the kitchen before:







And after:







Long shot looking straight through from front door to back door BEFORE:



And AFTER:



Living Room BEFORE:



And AFTER:



Dining Room AFTER:



Downstairs bath BEFORE:



And AFTER:



Master bath BEFORE:





And AFTER:





And last but certainly not least, the'just flooded' basement BEFORE:



And AFTER:



As you can probably tell, something fromIKEA was used in just about every room.Kitchen cabinets, light fixtures, shelving, drapes, shower curtains, towel bars, accessories, etc.

I am so very proud of the work we did. We had help from one of my husband's co-workers for a few of the bigger projectslike installing thenew shower and moving some of the plumbing, butother than that, we did itourselves.We priced itaggressively and soldit without a realtorfor a little more than asking pricein less than 24 hours!I get emotional thinking about what ahard, yetrewarding experience it was.

Heather

[DesignDiva]

You really turned that house into something beautiful. GREAT job!

[Ikeafreak]

Thanks, Eva.

I hadn't seen the inside of the house for seven years before the tenants moved out. I was appalled at the condition of the place. Holes in the walls, filth in every corner. The dust layer was about 5 inches thick on the master bedroom ceiling fan blades. When we turned thefan on, it looked like it was snowing...brown disgusting dust bunny snow!

I was amazed when I compared the before and after shots. We managed to do everything--new floors, new kitchen, new bathrooms, paint, carpeting, drywall, etc.for under $4,000.(My husband and I had a bet that I couldn't keep the totalcost under $5k.)

[GardenOfDarwin]

That's FANTASTIC! I love Baltimore...sigh.

Susan

[chabuchie]

You did a great job fixing everything up for resale. I hear you on the shock at how filthy renters can leave a place. Our family rents out a condo in Florida for a couple months in the winter, and it's always a shock to see how terrible it looks in April. We rent it furnished, and after a mere three months of occupancy, we arrived one April to find that the man who rented it chose not to wash his hair (ever it seemed) and he had stained head spots on the couch and armchair. Pillow cases had to be thrown out, and after hours of cleaning, we just replaced all the lampshades.