Before and After : Extreme Home Makeover

When Neal and Fred got out to our Virginia home, Neal was on a mission to get as much done as possible before we all arrived. I just wanted to document all of Neal and Fred's hard work in making this home more "Hinson Homey". We are renting this place, and feel very blessed that our landlord has been extremely supportive and encouraging of our wanting to improve his home. He has even paid for many of the improvements.

OVER-HAUL

I think Neal's intention was to spend a 22 hours per day working and sleep only when absolutely necessary during his critical week with no work or family distractions. He decided to start in the kitchen. While Neal worked in the kitchen, Fred was busy painting the entire house. Neal's plan was to replace the counters, sink/faucet, and floors, and repaint the cabinets. He started by ripping off the cupboard doors, and pulling out all the appliances and existing sink. Then he painted the cupboard skeleton and enhanced the existing cupboard doors with new panels around the edges. Painted and sanded cupboards. Sized, cut and installed the new counter. Then came the sink and faucet. Next he laid the tile, which happened to be vinyl. A little less mess and steps, and with the grout it turned out great! Picked out a color and painted the walls of the kitchen. And finally he replaced the cupboard doors and put the appliances back in. Minus the fridge, since our CA fridge would replace the old one (which was later moved to the basement for extra fridge space). Unfortunately our CA stainless fridge did not fit in the "fridge space". Since this old kitchen already needed additional cabinet space for a pantry, Neal decided to build one in the fridge spot, and we moved the fridge to another wall. The new pantry, and the hardware were added to the kitchen after we moved in (over the last month or so).

Besides painting nearly every room in the house, including the dark brown panels of the basement, Neal's dad, Fred, spent hours replacing nearly every electrical outlet and lightswitch in the whole house. By the time we arrived, the house was painted, all the outlets were working and the kitchen was very close to being complete! All that in one week!! My guys are amazing!!

Since we moved in, we have completed multiple projects. Neal laid tile in the downstairs bathroom(Millie's). We have touched up trim in all the rooms, and started painting the crown, baseboards, trim and window frames in the downstairs den, which used to be ugly brown. Neal cleared out a lot of the giant weed bushes and leaves in the front yard, and planted some cute bushes and flowers in our flower beds. He also replaced the front screen door with a glass door and added a house number which for some reason the home didn't come with. We also bought a large shed from our next-door neighbor who moved right after we moved in. We had to transfer it over the fence. Our landlord had a couple giant dead oak trees cut down, and Neal convinced the tree guys to hang a tireswing from a very very tall limb for us. The kids love it!!

Future Projects include repainting the front door, and installing a new door handle and deadbolt, repainting the outside shutters, tiling both upstairs bathroom floors, replacing the sink/counter and toilet in the main bathroom and painting the walls, painting the master bedroom and bathroom, and painting the downstairs bathroom and guest room. I am sure I have left something out! We definitely still have our work cut out for us!