When my realtor first mentioned a property that she was selling that was in the midst of a renovation and wanted me to look at, I was skeptical. I had heard great things about the community, and even looked at a few other units in the same location. My only hold up was that I felt like it was ~little~ too far from my ideal location but after months of looking at houses to no avail, I thought it couldn’t hurt to see what this property had to offer.

I had looked at a few properties where the seller did the renovations themselves, and had an emotional attachment to it, which resulted in unrealistic prices. Upon walking through the construction zone that would become my house, she let me know that I would have the opportunity to pick a lot of the finishes. UMM… SOLD! It was so important for me to have updated finishes that were in my style.

So, I decided to work with the seller to pick some of the finishes. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to pick everything since some of the work had already been done, but I feel so lucky to have the input that I did. That doesn’t happen for most people, especially before having any type of paperwork drawn up.

How My Townhouse Looked The First Time I Saw It

Second Bedroom

Entrance to the Master Bedroom

Sunk-In Living Room/Deck

Bathroom

Kitchen Wall

 

My Wishlist

Kitchen

• Remove the bulkheads so that the cabinets could go all the way to the ceiling. It’s a smaller kitchen so, I wanted to make sure we were maximizing space.
• It’s hard to tell in the photo, but on the right side, you can kinda see a wall. The kitchen was really closed off by two walls. I had them remove these to make it as open as possible into the dining room
• White cabinets. This was nonnegotiable lol
• White marble-like counter tops
• Stainless steel appliances
• Garbage disposal
• One big sink with the divider in it that is sunk in. I hate sinks with two sides. I think it makes it so much more difficult do this, and gets water everywhere especially in a smaller sink

Bathroom

The shower and floors were already done the first time I saw it, so I couldn’t make changes to them

• White vanity with white or grey counter top
• A vanity that had drawers on the side to maximize storage
• Make the ceiling flat. It originally had these awful florescent lights, which not only make you look terrible, but collect so much dust. I wanted can lights added

Other

• Washer and dryer hookups added to the second bedroom
• New air conditioner
• New water heater
• Overhead lighting in the living room, bedrooms and bathroom

 

In my next post I’ll share the “During” process, including which wish list items were done, and the what I learned during the process.

xx,

Nicole