I bought my first fixer in October 2003 at 26 years old as a single woman. I had owned a condo since 2001 and was finally ready to make the jump to my first fixer upper home. The condo had seen a great increase in its value, so I pulled an equity line on the condo and used it for a down payment and repairs for my soon to be new home. Then rented the condo out covering all the costs of the equity line payments. I moved into a construction project!
This house did not show well! 3 bold colors in each room, a badly mosaiced fireplace facade, a disgusting patio overhang, overgrown trees! I remember going the first time with my mom who was a real estate broker and turning my nose at it. She urged me to go back and look for a second time, to see around all the cosmetic issues. Boy was she right! With the help of my dad’s construction skills and mentoring, it turned into the cutest little house with guest house on a nice size lot in the middle of the big city. I lived happily in this home until I moved in with my finance Justin to the home we refurbished together. I kept this home as a very profitable rental for many years and then sold it in 2014 to a friend. With the proceeds I bought the 1905 bungalow in Paso Robles.
Click on the photos to flip through the before and after slideshow! Sorry for the quality, these were taken with a point and shoot never thinking I would be posting them online.
Before 
Before 
After 
Before 
After 
Before- fireplace 
Before-Living Room Colors 
After-Living Room 
Before Bathroom 
After-smaller mirror & pedestal sink for more space 
Before 
During 
After 
Under Construction 
After 
Framing the bathroom 
Drywalling the bathroom 
