The Farmhouse with Potential

This little house was being sold by the family whose mother, now well into her 90's had to move into a nursing home. The "kids" were all in their late sixties and seventies and needed to get rid of it.

The house had not been selling because, in addition to it being outdated, it only had two small bedrooms upstairs and a partial basement that was mainly dirt crawlspace.

One thing that attracted me to the house was a new addition that really opened up the family room and brought light to the whole house

From this family room addition you could see into the rest of the house and it was a great space for a great room, but I knew that in order to sell this house later,  I would need to make this area into a main floor master bedroom.

The kitchen cabinets were old, but they were super solid  44" cabinets that great potential once painted, so I kept them.

Main floor bathroom. I would combine this bathroom with the laundry and make it one large space.

A little peek at the hardwood floors in the dining room

Upstairs bedroom 1

Upstairs bedroom 2

little sitting room off of bedroom 2 that would become a closet

Original upstairs bathroom. Seven people shared this bath when the five kids were growing up in the 50's

The house was full of paneling and once that came off you could see how bad the framing was, so the first thing we did was reinforce the framing

Starting to frame up the new bedroom. Seems like it is going to be dark, but it gets better.

The floor joist on the second floor were 24 inches apart and the floor sagged, so we had to reinforce the structural by adding a joist every 12 inches. Better than new construction!

New bedroom. This side is where the closets will be.

Kitchen cabinets getting painted. When we took out the ceilings we discovered another ceiling that had been buried, so we gained an extra foot of height.

The original maple floors starting to take shape after the first sanding.

Floor refinisher laying down the first coat.

The old siding style worked well using a dove gray, white trim and black shutters. I removed the awnings and it brought in 50% more light.

I had this rock brought in at the last minute to make a statement when you first drive up to the house.

Simple rough slate tile made a nice entrance off  the deck.

Floor are done, and for the first time I tried a stager. That was probably one of the best investments as it really made the rooms come together.

I also invested in a photographer who could take much better photos to really make the place come to life on the MLS.

This is now the new family room. Since it was narrow it really need to be staged to show potential buyers how the furniture would fit. The master bedroom would be on the right side of this room.

The cabinets with a fresh coat of enamel and new hardware. I love the uneven slate for the mudroom area.

Great nuances of the old hardwood floors. The kitchen had three layers of linoleum and plywood over the top of it, so they were really well preserved.

Main floor bathroom

Upstairs bath. The space is only 44" wide, so I didn't have any room to add on to it, but we were able to get in a shower instead of that little tub, to make it usable for today's family.

Bedroom #1

Bedroom #1

Bedroom #2. Also original wider plank red fir floors.

This room was a closet but was also staged as a playroom/nursery.

Main floor master

We kept the deck and restained it a coffee color and added some flowers by the new boulder. It was a great house in a nice neighborhood with nice neighbors. The woman who lived next door used to play with the kids in this house when she was a little girl. She was blown away with the transformation, but the most rewarding thing was to show the family the rehabbed home. They were so happy to see the home preserved, but the character still remained.

100 year old downtowner that needed help.

Here is what I started with. The previous owner had sold it on a contract for deed a few years ago to a guy who tried to work on it himself and eventually gave up. It was in rough shape, but structurally sound. The lot was very small and as you will see it was only 4 ft away from the neighbor's house. This one needed everything from ductwork to furnace to wiring to plumbing. it was just a shell, but that is what made it exciting. I had planned on keeping it as a rental, so I put more into it than I should have, but the end result is nice and now there are very few houses that I would not take on as a project.

The house is near Bryn Mawr which is a popular area in near downtown Minneapolis, but its a little more industrial and urban, so the home prices are lower. But this particular house had a nice view of downtown, since it was only 5 blocks away. Built in 1915 and had fieldstone in the foundation.
I couldn't pass it up.

This is what Minneapolis looked like when the house was built.

Other then some bits of insulation, this house was completely stripped. The agent had 20 showings in 20 days and everyone else had passed on it. Smart people.

Silence of the Lambs basement.

This room was the back side of the house and has no floor in it

Looking into the future kitchen from the front door.

Look at the dips and wear on the steps from over 100 years of use.

Yes previous occupant was using this method for flushing the toilet since there was no running water.

This bed was nailed to the floor and walls. Beautiful setup they've got going here.

upstairs bedroom

This space will become main level bedroom with walk in closet

kitchen

Cool front door I found, but it didn't work for this property. Maybe the next one.

Off street parking which is unusual for the area.

The windows had been boarded up for years.

I used this photo to create a simple vision of what I wanted. (below)

My photoshop version of what I wanted: shutters, a blue door and wide trim.

Nice view of downtown,  great for watching 4th of July fireworks!

kitchen area

main floor family room

I loved the hardwood floors on the main level, as some of the pieces were quarter sawn oak, but in the end it was in too bad of shape to salvage.

Family room in its original glory.

We don't know why tarpaper was hung, maybe to preserve the paint.

Look how much lighter since taking off the boarded up windows.

No I don't want to go down there either.

This was the room without a floor. We are adding a window and removing the door.

Reinforcing some existing framing

Upstairs bedroom with new window

Starting the siding. I wanted the small windowpane look, but to keep the opening the same, code would not allow a double hung window, so we went with sliders which are not as nice looking, but they function and met our budget.

We repoured a new basement floor, added block for the crawl space area, and tuck pointed existing stonework.

New furnace and ductwork.

This is the upstairs bedroom that had the bed in it.

Kitchen

We had nine foot ceilings so I added recessed lighting in some areas for the brightest look.

One of the crazy neighbors got drunk and ran his Volkswagen Toureg into the tree. The tree is still alive, his car is not.

 

Plumbing for main floor bathroom that we added. Existing house had only one bathroom upstairs.

We always do very light staging as not to clutter up smaller spaces.

Since it was a smaller house, we kept the kitchen and living room open so as much light as possible could flow through the home. The back door had a stackable washer and dryer unit next to it so the new owner would not be subjected to the scary basement.

Inexpensive stock cabinetry and an Ikea countertop.

Standing in the kitchen looking towards the front door.

Those sweet steps. Painted black on the tread and white on the riser.

Upstairs bathroom, now with running water. Original floors were salvaged up here.

Original red fir floors in upstairs bedroom

I wished we could have a summer photo, but we listed the house right after New Years. Overall, for a first time homebuyer, this was the perfect house. If it was in a different area I would have done something more elaborate outside, but by the time it was finished, I was ready to move on to something else....

To be continued!